Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Nancy Allen Encore

Episode Date: July 18, 2022

GGACP marks the 35th anniversary of the classic action/sci-fi/social satire "RoboCop" (released July 17, 1987) with this ENCORE of an interview with actress Nancy Allen (“Carrie,” “Dressed to Kill,” “Blow Out"). In this episode, Nancy talks about her 40+ year career in movies, her firsthand experience of Hollywood’s “New Wave,” her love of film noir and her memories of working with influential directors Hal Ashby, Brian De Palma, Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis. Also, Roger Moore holds court, John Belushi turns on the charm, Gilbert stands in for Sissy Spacek and Nancy sees a (very) rough cut of “Star Wars.” PLUS: Remembering Martin Landau! The chaos of “1941”! Abel Ferrara talks turkey! Michael Caine puts on a dress! And Nancy reveals the horrors of “RoboCop 2”! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Dine-in only until 11 a.m. at A&W's in Ontario. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadreadre and our engineer Frank Ferdarosa. Our guest this week is one of the most recognized film and TV actresses of the 1970s and 80s and beyond. With dozens of notable credits, you've seen her in the TV series The Commish, The Outer Limits, Touched by an Angel, Law and Order SVU, and Judging Amy. But it's her work in feature films that made her a 1980s screen icon with memorable roles in the Philadelphia Experiment. The Last Detail. Strange Invaders. 1941. I Wanna Hold Your Hand.

The Buddy System. Blowout. Dressed to Kill. Robocop. And Out of Sight. And of course has Sissy Spacek's tormentor in the horror classic Carrie. In a prolific career that spanned four decades, she's worked with some of the most prominent directors in cinema, including Steven Spielberg, Hal Ashby, Robert Zemeckis, Paul Verhoeven, Steven Soderberg, and Brian De Palma.

She's even worked with and alongside some of our favorite screen stars and character actors, including Kirk Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss, Michael Caine, Christopher Lee, Martin Landau, Piper Laurie, Will Jordan, Eddie Deason, and Michael McKeon. Hell, she's even shared the screen with Pat McCormick. Please welcome to the show one of our favorite actresses and a woman who says if she could have dinner with any three people in showbiz, she'd choose Stephen Sondheim, Mel Brooks, and Ethel Merman. The Bronx's own Nancy Allen. Hi, Gilbert. Hi, Frank. Hi, Nancy. How are Frank. Hi, Nancy.

How are you? I warned you the intro was too long. It was very, very, very long. I feel like I must be so old. And I do have to clear up something once and for all. Go for it. I have never been on Judging Amy. They won't take it off my IMDb.

I don't know who put it on there to begin with. I haven't seen the show. Never been on it. It's done now. Tripped up again. Foiled again by IMDb. I hate them. You know, they reported that I was dead once.

Someone actually reported that I was dead. And I got three calls from people oh, just calling to see if you're okay. And so I wrote to them. I said, hello, I, just calling to see if you're okay. And so I wrote to them. I said, hello, I'm not dead. Just want to report that. And they said, well, we can't take it off until we confirm it.

We'll confirm that I was dead. I'm just wondering. Wow. So they wouldn't take your word for it. They would not. But every other credit we read is legit. Oh, God. IMDB. for it they would not but every other credit we read is legit oh god imdb curse you imdb now now the first question i want to get to is an excuse that you are sincerely meant to a director who wanted you to do a nude scene. Say that again.

Okay. There was one movie early on he wanted you to do a nude scene and your reason for not doing it. Yes. Well, that movie was The Last Detail and the director was Hal Ashford. Ah, yes. And I met him briefly

in a hotel room when they were casting in New York. Forgot about it. I didn't really read anything. It was just a conversation. And then I got a call from my agent saying, you're cast. They want you for the last detail. The script is on its way to you. So I start reading the script.

And it was the hooker. And she's saying, hey, let me check you out. She's zipping down this guy's pants. And I thought, oh my God, my father will die if he sees me doing this. Your father's a cop. We should remind people. Yes, yes.

So I called Lynn Stallmaster, who was the casting director. I said, look, Lynn, I'm really flattered. This is really exciting. Lynn, you know, I'm really flattered. This is really exciting. But I don't even know if I could act and be naked at the same time. Never stop Gilbert. So anyway, they end up casting me in the party scene opposite Jack Nicholson.

And as it turns out, it took a few more years before I was sure that I could actually act and be naked at the same time. Right. You managed. I did. And you said in that, well, oh, you paid a tremendous compliment to Nicholson in that you said at one point he started doing the scene and you didn't know he started.

Absolutely. We were just sitting and chatting across the table from one another. And we had done another little scene before that. And we're just talking. And the next thing I know, he starts. He just started acting. Strangely, and I got more and more uncomfortable, which was perfect because I was supposed to be. And then I realized he was in the scene.

And he's just masterful. I remember the scene. You're complimenting his uniform, and he says something obscene. I haven't seen the movie in years. It's one of Gilbert's favorites. But what a movie to start your career with. I mean, Hal Ashby and Jack Nicholson. Oh, my God.

Were you 19, 20? I'm trying to remember. I think I was about 20, maybe 21 at the time. And it was terrifying, actually. I was excited, but terrified. And I was so nervous. It was almost worse. We did the first scene, which was improv,

and with Jack saying, hey, and I said, oh, yeah, I like your suit or whatever I said. And at the end of that particular segment, Jack said, oh, my God, you're really good. And isn't she great? And I felt even more self-conscious, which fortunately worked for the scene. But I was so nervous that I actually had a glass of wine at lunch when everybody went to lunch. And I came back after lunch and the cameraman said, what makeup did they put on? Her face looks really red. What's going on there?

Can you take down? So I guess I was flushed from the wine. Big lesson I learned. Yeah. You were a movie buff. I mean, you were telling me on the phone that you loved, even now, you're a TCM fan, as we are. You're a big movie watcher did were you aware i mean nicholson wasn't even quite as big a star as he would become but you were you aware of ashby too and his body of work and uh you know i don't think so i don't

believe i was i just really knew who jack was but i of course subsequently found out a lot about Hal Ashby yeah what another great career you got into movies at that you know the crazy time period of when old Hollywood was on its way out and they would often say like the uh the inmates took over the asylum in their 70s. Well, yes. And it was the beginning of going from older Hollywood into more of the auteur phase. But what was so amazing, I mean, everybody was so young then. We were all so young, including the directors, who were a very tight group and the socializing

i look back now some of the pictures i have and the memories and the things that we did people sitting around talking about movies and dissecting films it was like for me it was like being in film school you know sitting at a table with george lucas and steven spielberg and brian de palma and and uh trying to think oh occasionally coppola was around but mostly not but you know really um john millius well yeah he wasn't he wasn't really socializing with us that much but he was around and i got to know john who's who's a really incredible guy. And I think about that, and it just seemed normal because we were all so young and just excited and wanting to make movies. And they'd be talking about movies they loved and why they loved them and projects they were developing and all talking to each other. And just thinking that I was right in the middle of that, it didn't really have the meaning now.

Then, as it does now, of course, looking back and saying, my God, this was a tremendously exciting, transformative period in film. It sure was. And there I was right in the middle of it. Yeah, Gilbert and I were talking about Peter Biskin's book, which I'm sure you've read, Easy Riders, R about about that period and it's fascinating you were smack in the middle of that movement yes yes now i was remembering zemeckis bob zemeckis came into that period sure sure i got really angry reading that book because i looked in the table of contents and I didn't see your name there

well you know you should I don't know if that's good or bad you should some things in that book you don't want to be associated with you know you never know what they're going to say so oh yeah that's true bite my finger. So you dodged a bullet. Maybe, yes, yes. Yeah, I felt that. There was another book I'm trying to remember. Oh, Warren Beatty's book, but we won't go there. Oh, boy. Okay.

Give us a little backdrop, Nancy. Tell us about growing up in the Bronx, which we were talking about before we turned the mics on. Your dad, as you mentioned, was a police officer. Yes, I was the third of three children. My brothers were eight and six years older than me, so I was the baby and acted accordingly. When I was really little, we lived in three rooms. We had one bedroom, and it was all very tight.

And it just, you know, it was, you know, for me, it was great. I mean, I was like another generation, so I spent most of my time alone or with my dog. And I watched, I wasn't a cartoon person, but I liked movies. I liked movies even then. And so my fantasies, I think, my first training really began by watching these old movies. What did you watch? What were your favorites? I have read somewhere you were a Twilight Zone fan too. Well, that was later.

Yes, I love Twilight Zone. I love Alfred Hitchcock's show. Good taste. Oh, I love Twilight Zone. I love Alfred Hitchcock's show. Good taste. Oh, thank you. I loved, I was a dancer when I was little, so I loved Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies. I thought they were, I mean, I loved the dancing. I thought they were funny. I liked that sort of silly humor.

And, you know, then, you know, I can remember as I got a little bit older, I was watching, I like film noir. Don't ask. I don't know why. I guess there was something, you know. Even at a young age? Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I like, I always liked darkness.

I liked, I liked the idea. And I read all of those, you know, James Caine and. Dashiell Hammett. Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. I love characters, the idea of a woman or a man that appear to be one way, but there's this whole other side to them. And you see, you think they're one thing and they turn out to be another thing. So it's kind of my philosophy about human beings.

You see what's in front of you. You get to know the person. But there's so many facets to a personality. And I love that dark side, which I think is in all of us. And what better way to let it out than in a movie? And now tell us about your… I love that. I love that you were watching.

She was watching film noir as a kid. I know. What, like Asphalt Jungle and... Maltese Falcon. Lady in the Lake and that kind of stuff. Well, I am the daughter of a cop. I do love a good crime industry. You know, so it's in my DNA.

I still watch those, Big Heat. Oh, there was a funny story. You were on... When you were doing RoboCop, you were fighting with the director about something that a cop would never do, and you knew because you were the daughter of a cop. Yes. Well, I was actually fighting with Peter Weller about it.

You know, the director, you know, was on the outside of this, but we were, it's a scene where we're in the car, we're chasing the bad guys and I'm driving and Peter's hanging out the window and he says, you know, give me your gun. And so I'll be using both guns. I said, no, you're a cop's not supposed to surrender their gun.

I'm just not going to do it. I know my father would say that. So I actually asked my father and he says, well, under the circumstances, yeah, you'd probably give up your gun, which I was infuriated. I hate being wrong. That's one of my character defects. I like being right.

It makes me happy. Own that, Nancy. You know how they say, would you rather be right or happy? I'd rather be right, and then I'm happy. What a nutty movie. Watched it again last night. Gilbert and I were talking about it. Yeah. You have to tell us about Verhoeven too. Oh, first of all, I have to say, I have to give kudos to the writers because that's truly one of the best scripts I ever read. I picked it up. I saw the title RoboCop and I said,

oh God, they're going to have to change that. I'm sure that's terrible. And I'll read a little bit. I'll read a few pages. I picked it up, and I absolutely couldn't put it down. And I had seen Soldier of Orange, which I loved. Yeah. And I realized I really want to make this movie. So I went in to read for him, and there was the lineup of casting director, the writers, the producer, everybody was there.

And Paul actually read with me. And so we read one scene and then we went to read another scene. And he says, you know, I'd really like you to try whatever it was. And he gave me a very specific direction of how he wanted me to change the scene. So I said, can you give me a minute? So he said, sure, sure. So I go outside, I come back in and I do the scene. I said, is that what you wanted? And he said, not at all, but it was very interesting. So Paul's the kind of guy who on the set would,

he was used to making films in Europe. And in those films, they were really laying the sound in later. So there was never a sound problem. They just shoot. They in those films, they were really laying the sound in later. So there was never a sound problem. They just shoot. They were constantly shooting, very loose. And so we'd walk on the set and they'd be setting things up. And his first thing would be, why are we not shooting? He was like, we got to go, we got to go. And that energy really infused the whole set and the shooting process. And it was, you were going like this. And then, no matter how many people were in the scene, he'd come out, and he'd basically act out the whole scene and play all the characters. And then he'd say, but don't copy me.

So, you know. Interesting directing style. He's like a mad genius. Yeah, people have referred to him as a mad genius. Have you seen his films? He is. The Dutch films? Oh, yeah.

You've seen Soldier of Orange, and there's a great one called The Fourth Man. The Fourth Man and also Spetters. Spetters and Turkish Delight. Yeah. Rutger Hauer, yeah. Yeah. And when you weren't sure, when you were inexperienced and weren't sure about your acting, and they'd hand you a page that had dialogue on it.

I heard you used to excuse yourself from the room to use the bathroom. Well, those were my early days of commercials, and that's what I would do. I'd sign in, and they'd give me the paper, and if it was just something to act out, I'd think, fine, and otherwise, if there were lines on the page, I'd say, oh, you know, I'll be right back. I'm off to the ladies room. And of course, I got caught in about three months. I got away with it for three months. Anyway, so finally, I started showing up and I was too afraid to go into an acting class.

So I started working with an acting coach. That's as brave as I was. One-on-one was scary enough. The acting coach who taught Salminio, right? He did. She did. She coached a lot of, they would bring her out to California to coach actors for film. So you were a film buff as a kid. You went to the high school of performing arts, but as you told me on the phone, that was short-lived. Yes, sadly, it was. Yeah. But, you know, I went there as a dance major. And if you see the movie Fame, which is based on High School of Performing Arts, it looks like if you don't make it in one, you can just switch over to the drama department.

But it wasn't like that. And they were really, really tough there. And at the end of the year, they meet with each student. And Ms. Scher, how could I ever forget Ms. Scher, said to me, you know, Nancy, we just think that you're lovely, but we think you might be happier somewhere else. I thought, oh, wow. OK, well, thank you, Ms. Scher.

And I spent the entire summer keeping this information from my parents. I was terrified to tell them. And at the end of the summer, I had heard about this private professional school. And I knew my father hated me being in public school. So I said, I went to him, dad, you were so right. Oh, yes, you were so right. Oh yes, you were so right. I never should have gone to that school. Can I change? I really don't want to go back. So I totally lied, completely scammed him there and ended up in this professional children's school, which really changed the course of my career pretty quickly.

I mean, I really didn't know what I was going to do. Right, right, right. So it was good that that woman didn't know what I was going to do. Right, right, right. So it was good that that woman didn't know what she was talking about. Absolutely. Well, she did about my dancing because I loved it, but I wasn't obsessed.

And you have to be obsessed if you're going to be a dancer. There's the scene you don't see in fame. We'd rather you weren't here. Yeah. Never see that in those musicals. So how did you make the jump into commercials? I mean, how did it start to become a profession for you?

It was actually, there was a girl who was in my class, another student, who stopped me one day on the way to class, and she said, you know, my mother's a manager. She manages teens, and you would be great in commercials. And I thought, well, summer's coming up. I know I'm going to have to get a job. And I said, well, do they pay you for that? And she said, yes, they do.

They pay you. So she introduced me to her mother, who was a manager, who then introduced me to an agent. And that's how it began. While Gilbert tries to remember who our guest is... And what's your name? A few words from our sponsor. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. hit the wrong note. Oh. Instead, gift

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Please enjoy our products responsibly. Gil and Frank went out to pee. Now they're back so they can be on their amazing Colossal Podcast. Kids, time to get back to Gilbert and Frank's amazing Colossal Podcast. So let's go. You know, I did the research. I was looking for some of these commercials that you did. Tell us. I didn't come up with many. Oh, well, the first one I did was Wink. Wink Soda?

Remember Wink, a grapefruit soda? Yeah. Grapefruit soda? I did that. That was my break into stardom. I started out as an extra, as a go-go dancer, and they thrust me into stardom playing the piano out as an extra as a go-go dancer and they thrust me into stardom playing the piano and lip syncing to the song. So that was my

Do you remember when you saw it at Gilbert? Yes. What else? What other spots? Well, I did the first Cool Whip commercial. Cool Whip. Okay. Remember Cool Whip? Yeah, sure. I ate Cool Whip and strawberries for two days and at the end they offered us each a case of Cool Whip and strawberries for two days. And at the end, they offered us each a case of Cool Whip, and we all declined.

And I'm trying to think of what else. I did a lot of Clairol commercials. I was the frost and tip girl, the hot stuff girl, legs pantyhose. Do you have these? Do you have copies of them, Nancy? Do you go back and look at them for a laugh or show them to friends? No, I don't. But I'll tell you what.

They started to show up on YouTube, and people started posting them, which is really annoying, especially some of the really bad ones that I did. Oh, okay. I will dig deeper. And there was a point where you were ready to leave California because you felt like your career wasn't going anywhere. And then you went for a steam. Yes, I had been here for two months, which I thought was an extraordinary long period

of time. And I was in the steam room and I came out and I ran into a woman named Harriet Helberg who had cast me in commercials in New York. We had her husband on the show. You know Harriet? Sandy Helberg. Yeah. Sandy?

Her husband's a famous character actor. Yeah, we had him here. Oh, okay. Yeah. Anyway, so she said, look, tomorrow, she says, I'm casting a movie. And, well, tomorrow's the last day and you won't get the part, but at least you'll meet a director. And come to Culver City, pick up the script, which I did.

It was actually, it was Carrie. And I went to the library, got the book. I stayed up all night. I made notes. I wrote a biography of the character. I thought, if anything, I'm going to go in, and I'm going to make a good impression. So I did. I was the last person on the last day to read.

I left my notes there, which was really upsetting. I was the last person on the last day to read. I left my notes there, which was really upsetting. I was so embarrassed. But by the time I got home, there was a call saying, we're going to screen test you. So that was it. If you hadn't gone into that steam room. Yes, that's right. Who knows?

Being out of work pays off. We do so many of these interviews and it's fun. There's always that kind of weird turning point that, you know, obviously people don't see coming in their lives. Some innocuous choice. You know, I'll go into this deli or I'll go into this steam. And things change. They do.

Things turn on a dime. That's fascinating. And after you did RoboCop which was a big success uh it was followed with RoboCop 2 that you weren't crazy about oh you're so kind I hated it I not only hated it but I can tell you I absolutely had the worst experience of my career with Irvin Kershner. He was just really abusive and horrible. Sorry to hear that.

But other than that, I had a great time. Did you learn martial arts while we're on the subject of RoboCop 2? Did I read something about that, that you did some specialized training? I did go out to the police academy and an officer officer astrada steve astrada uh worked with me with guns because even though i had a father who was a policeman i'd never held a gun so we we did that we went out to the range and as

it turns out i'm a pretty darn good shot and i really enjoyed it it. But I also had to learn some specific movements that were going to be incorporated into a few of the things that we did. So I learned some martial arts, but I, please, I'm just such a girl. I can't do anything. I was watching it last night. The punching is

very convincing. Yeah, for that moment. The editing is so good in that. Maybe a good kick, but that's about all I can do. Was it all the editing? Let's credit the two writers, too, since you brought them up. Michael Miner and Ed Neumeier. Yeah, they're incredible. I love those guys. It's a great black

comedy, Robocop. You forget that it's also a satire of television and media. Local news gets savaged. Consumerism. It's a very smart piece of work. Oh, yeah. There was also a lot of political. Yes.

Yeah. A very smart script, and that's what I liked about it. I'd never read anything like it before. A lot of depth to it. And you were in a movie where you kept getting slapped really hard in the face. By John Travolta. Yes. Yes. Oh, yes. And John Travolta. Yes. Yes.

Oh, yes. And Betty Buckley. Constantly. I was going to ask you about Betty Buckley. See, that Betty Buckley thing, I just blacked that up over and over again because it was so awful. 29 times. She'll say it's less, but it was 29 times. I counted.

Really? Yes. Hit her harder. Hit her harder. I should have known then. I counted. Really? Yes. Hit her harder. Hit her harder. I should have known then. Let's talk about Carrie, too, because we're coming out of the steam room now. And by the way, like I warned you on the phone, you notice we jump around and there's no chronology to this.

That works for me. It's just like word association. What you guys were all paid, 600 bucks a week? 605. 605. Yes. Looking back. That $5. 605. Yes. Looking back. That $5 was really important.

And I heard you say that Brian was smart because he had a rehearsal period. He gave everybody a week or so to get to know each other, to kind of click before the cameras rolled. It was really great. We bonded, or most of the cast bonded, I would say. And we played theater games we had to elect a um a school president a class president and we actually each had to campaign for ourselves uh in order to be voted for and i figured chris would say you know this is really boring it's totally not interesting to me who would even want to be class president? So by the end of the two weeks, since I only stayed in character when we were playing, everybody just hated me.

They just hated me. So it took them about two weeks into filming to say, oh, you know, she's not really, she's okay. She's nice. But I think at the end of the day, it really worked for the film because you really do feel that this ensemble, because we were an ensemble, had been together for some time. So it was good. Even though, and I heard you say that Carrie, excuse me, that Sissy and Piper were isolated when they did their scenes. They were separated from the rest of the cast.

They were. It was did their scenes. They were separated from the rest of the cast. They were. It was a closed set. Yeah, it was a closed set, which is understandable because what they were doing together was a little bit different than what the rest of us were doing. It was very intense. And so I never really, I got to know Sissy, of course, but I never met Piper until a few years ago.

Isn't that funny? They made the film and you never met her. No, never met her. And you like Sissy Spacek. Oh, very much so. Sissy's a... Terrific actress. She's that first, but really just a sweet, good person.

You know, she's just a doll. I loved working with her, and I liked her process. It was very interesting. You thought of Chris as a wronged woman? Is that kind of, I heard you say that, but that's kind of how you accessed that rage and that hostility? For a teenager, not actually a woman, but hey, you know, she's not getting her way, and she really should have her way.

So, yeah, I thought so. She didn't get to go to the prom, so everybody was going to suffer, especially Carrie. What was the surprise when you got to the dubbing stage everybody was going to suffer, especially Carrie. What was the surprise when you got to the dubbing stage? That's kind of fun. Oh, that. Yes.

Am I putting you on the spot? No, I don't care. I heard you tell the story. At this point in my life, if I can't laugh about this stuff. No, there's the car scene with John and I and where I'm seducing him

and manipulating him into doing what I want him to do so as we were shooting the scene I'm kissing him and kissing him and I made the assumption my head was going completely out of frame come to find out there was my head way in the frame and you know I looked at that I went are you went, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? I can't have my father see that. And so John thought it was hilarious.

And of course, just to be clear, I was kissing his stomach. That's what was going on. Of course. So Brian said, I was begging him to cut away from this. So he said, okay, look, I'll tell you what, I'll compromise. We'll keep you talking through the whole thing. And I said, oh, okay, I'm good with that. So a lot of people would write, oh, she can talk and do other things or chew gum and do other things at the same time.

I remember hearing a story that Sissy Spacek said that when they were about to do the shower scene she told the Palmer she said okay just don't show my vagina on screen and then when they when the movies aired she she just said out loud really angrily thanks Brianrian well that's that's that that's close but that's not exactly so so we'll print the legend exactly how that's a better one so here's what it is so we're shooting if you recall everything was in slow motion sure so here's the frame. The frame is blank. And then you see the, what do you call it? The clapper with the coming into frame. Yeah.

Really, really, really, really slow. In the meantime, there's a close-up of Sissy's, well, below her waist and above her thighs. So it would be her vagina, I guess you would call it. And so she said, nice shot, Brian. So the whole cast, everybody was seeing it. They did frame up after that, but it took forever. So that's kind of the idea behind that one. I wonder how that story got out.

That's great. You were close, Gil. Yes, yeah. It was very, very close. I like my version better. Well, it is. It is. And then, of course, Betty Buckley was so funny because she was not naked.

All the rest of us were naked. After we saw it in rushes, we came out, and a couple of the girls were upset. And I just thought, well, at least it looked nice. I mean, the lighting was good. And Betty was like, oh, I just, I can't believe it. And I know what it was, too. We were supposed to be, it was, Brian said, oh, there's going to be a lot of fog. You'll see an arm here, a leg there.

Well, me, PJ, and a couple of the of other girls we were just full on head to toe naked so Betty was trying to oh this is awful and this is terrible and if I were you

I'd be really upset so she was trying to get us all riled up but it didn't work it's funny you watch it now and you realize it's 1976

and back then Hollywood films would do that there you know you'd have there would be nude scenes not gratuitous nudity but it was And back then, Hollywood films would do that. You know, you'd have, there would be nude scenes, not gratuitous nudity, but it was more commonplace. Oh, there was nudity in everything in those days. Yeah. You know, pretty graphic.

I was watching Animal House the other night, and I'm thinking, there's no need at all for this topless scene. It's funny, with Belushi on the ladder. Right. I mean, it doesn't bring all that much to the movie, but you realize in those days that they were trying to sell these movies internationally, and nudity was a thing. I liked movies a lot better back then. Despite the no nudity clause in your contract, Gil?

What was it like seeing it with an audience again back in 2016? Because you guys, there was a 40th anniversary, Nancy. Oh, my God. It was amazing. And there were 1,000 people. And we just did a check before the screening, how many people have seen this five times, 10 times, 20 times, 30 times, 40 times. Yeah. I mean, people have seen it so many times.

And they just loved it. They laughed. They talked back to the screen. I mean, it was phenomenal. People are obsessed with that movie. Yeah, they are. And actually, a lot of the people who came came dressed as one of the characters in the film. And so we did a costume contest. And I think, you know, people identify.

Everybody identifies with someone or a couple of the people in that film. And maybe obviously not the same experience, but the feelings that are associated with being in high school and the hierarchy and what it's like. I know you're not a big fan of remakes of iconic. I was just going to ask that. Go ahead. Oh, my God. You can ask it. All right. Did you see the remake of Carrie actually I did not see it and uh you know I just yeah I didn't want to we

were invited to the opening but it just I actually I think Piper went I think she did go oh interesting I yeah I just I just you know I I look at things and I think that, Psycho, Robocop, a lot of the films that are remade, I just don't see. The in-laws? Why do it? Find a film that almost worked and fix it. If you want to remake something. That makes more sense. But to take something that's so iconic, it usually doesn't work.

And generally what happens is they throw a lot of money at it, they get star names, spend a lot of money, and then it still doesn't work and generally what happens is they throw a lot of money at it they get star names spend a lot of money and then it still doesn't work we'll assume you didn't see the robocop remake either then no you know you know it's interesting when we i said we interview a lot of people on this show and it comes up a lot i think we had john aston and i found out we didn't even ask him on the show but i found out he's never seen the new Addams Family movies. Oh, is that right? Because he wants to retain a certain memory of it. You know what I'm saying?

He doesn't want anything to intrude on that memory and change it for him. Well, I think it's true, because I think when you're involved with something that's unique and special and it's the first one of its kind, it really does have a special place in your heart. You don't want to spoil those memories. Carrie holds up very well the original. I just realized

Nancy and I have a weird degree of separation in that we both worked with Randy Quaid. Yes. There youaid. Yes. There you go. Yeah. And it's like, that was back when you'd say,

oh, I'm working with Randy Quaid, and that was fine. Well, I didn't actually have a scene with him. I would have if I had taken my clothes off, but unfortunately, I just got to meet him on the film. Yeah, he's taken some interesting turns in life. Well, you could put it that way. Randy Quaid. One last thing about Carrie. We have

more questions from fans about it that I'll ask you later, but I found this funny too that while making the film, you and John were getting so many laughs from people on the crew that you thought, oh, we're going to be the comic relief. Yes, I did. I thought we were hilarious.

And we are pretty funny. But I was not prepared that people would just hate me in this movie and scream horrible things from the audience at me. Like, slap that girl. Two seconds in the movie, you walk up to her and you call her. What do you say to her? I say, you eat shit. My first line. The credits haven't even rolled.

Oh, can we hear you say that? Pardon? Can we hear you say that line? You eat shit. Ah, yes! Nicely done. Do I need another reading? Do we do it again?

Did I get it right? Yeah. I'm still insecure. You know, it's, did you have, did you deal with any kind of, not typecasting, but having to convince people that, because you're so convincing as this awful girl, oh, I better turn around and do something different. I better do a comedy before people perceive me that way or put me in that box. Well, you know, I did get a few scripts over the next year or so that were,

you know, high school movies, teenagers, the mean girl, the bitch, whatever. And it was like, I really didn't want to do it again. First of all, the scripts weren't very good and you don't want to repeat the same thing. All the scripts weren't very good, and you don't want to repeat the same thing. So I was pleasantly surprised when I got the script for Animal House, and then I want to hold your hand and the opportunity to do something a little bit different. You auditioned for Karen's part in Animal House? No, not for Karen's part. It was one of the two blondes. I don't remember those characters' names.

Oh, Babs and Mandy. I think it's Mandy Pepperidge. Yeah, one of those two characters. I don't remember, but I went in and I read for that. And actually, I read for that, and then I read for I Want to Hold Your Hand, I think within a week for both of those films. And they were going to cast me in Animal House, but they wouldn't make the deal. I was asking for a raise from Carrie and they're like, no, we're not going to pay it.

And so in the meantime, I made the deal for I Want to Hold Your Hand. And then they came back and said, okay, we'll pay her. And they said, well, it's too late. She's going to do I Want to Hold Your Hand, which I'm really, I mean, as much as I love Animal House and I really wanted to work with John Belushi because I was a huge fan of his. I think I ended up in the right movie, in the right role, with the right group of people.

So things tend to work out. You're a lot of fun in I Want to Hold Your Hand, the whole cast. Thank you. The whole cast is. I told you we had Eddie here. Oh, I love him. And the whole cast, I mean,

Pam is a fun character because she's not really, she's just going along for the ride. She's waiting to get married. Oh, she's waiting to get married and she's scared. I mean, it's me. That was me in 1964. We can't, it's too bad. We'll get in trouble. I mean, that was me. I was the

spoilsport. My father was the trouble. I mean, that was me. I was the spoilsport. My father was the cop. So it wasn't a stretch. I just had to go back into my memory bank and pull that character up. And you originally, I think, read for the part of Carrie. Again, a falsehood. I never read for Carrie. IMDB again? Yes.

Yep. But you know what? never read for Kerry. IMDB again? Yes! Yep! But you know what? I didn't bite on that one. I have to tell you, I can't tell you how many times this has come up, and only two people read and tested for, well, a lot of people read for it, two people tested,

and I was not one of them. I only read for Chris. Did you read for Sue? I wish I could have. I'm glad I didn't read for Sue because to me, I think Amy Irving did a great job, but let's be honest. Chris is a much more fun character. She is. It's much more

fun to be bad. Always fun to be the villain. Did you audition for Star Wars, or is that bullshit too? I was not one of the actors because they were casting Brian and George Lucas they were casting together for about three months I was past that

Brian was casting only for Carrie I was literally the last person to read for that role so yeah last person on the last day of casting so I missed that whole scene. Interesting. But all the other cast had been on that casting call.

Interesting. And you say in the 70s, all those, you know, legendary directors, you know, Scorsese, Spielberg, you know, were all pals? They were all pals, and they all hung out, it was a dinner or at someone's house and talking about movies what they were working on looking at each other's uh you know rough cut screenings and uh i'll tell you a funny story i was first uh well it was i was first dating brian and i think it might have been before carrie came out and there was a he said do you have you ever been to a rough cut screening I said no and he said do you want to go to San Francisco

and see George's rough cut screening of his new movie and I thought oh okay that sounds like fun so we all go off in this plane it's Steven Spielberg it's uh Gloria and Willard Huyck it's uh Jay Cox and and on and on and on. It's a whole group of people. So we go up to San Francisco, and it's a rough cut screening of Star Wars. And we're watching the movie, and you see these pencil marks of arrows. I guess that's where the special effects were going. And whatever music was in there, and I'm watching this film and going, oh my God, this is so bad. This is terrible.

All I could do to stay awake. And then we all go out afterwards and everyone's giving him feedback. You know, this is great. And Steven writes down on a secret piece of paper, how much money it's going to make at the box office. And Brian says, oh, get rid of the force. It's terrible. Nobody will like the force. And, you know, just joking, joking. And I'm thinking, I'm not saying a word because this is, this is really bad. And of course, then I went to the big ta-da screening on the MGM lot and the music started and the horns and everything. And it was, of course, you know, a very big success.

That's a great story. Beware of rough cuts. With pencils running through them. So there was no John Williams score, obviously, which makes a big difference. Oh, yeah. Huge difference. And also the effects were phenomenal, you know. And they had, in the dogfights, it wasn't really what you saw in the finished product.

It was some old footage that had been placed in there, black and white. I'm thinking, oh, my God, this is a disaster. But what a thing to be in the middle of. It's funny how you don't know what's happening. You don't know the importance of it or the significance of it as you're going through it. No, but you're learning. That's the thing. Like I said, it was like being in film school.

You're learning all the nuances of how everything's done and put together. And it was really an incredible period to be involved in film. Let me ask you a couple other things about I Want to Hold Your Hand. Because I love when Pam, it's funny because she's really along for the ride, but she's the one that gets into the inner sanctum. She's the one that gets into the Beatles hotel room. And that scene where you're crawling and you're kind of making love to the guitar neck. You know, it's a great scene. But something funny, we had a guest on this show.

We had Ron Delsner, the famous music promoter. And he told us a funny story. Do you remember he told us that he and his sister snuck into the Beatles hotel room and actually took some of that stuff. They took the plates that they were eating on and the ashtrays. And I'm watching you and I want to hold your hand. Is this the scene where you're going through the cigarette butts and the ashtray? He really did it.

Well, that's pretty crazy. In real life. But you're great in that scene and you're practically orgasmic, and then you hide under the bed. It's very funny. Yeah, no, it was really hard to do. I'd never done anything, obviously, like that before. And, you know, some of it, a few of the things were scripted, but basically, Bob just said, you know, just here's all the stuff. Do what you want with it, you know?

And I liked the—my favorite thing was taking the hair, taking the hair out of the brush. It was great. And getting caught on my lipstick and then grabbing. I mean, that was sort of fun. And, you know, it just, it was a ball, really. You're our fourth guest from that movie. Eddie Deason, Will Jordan, who played Ed Sullivan.

Oh, yeah. We had on the show. And who did I leave out? The great Dick Miller, who we just lost. Oh, yeah. I love Dick. Oh, he was such a great guy. Yeah. You're sweet. You're in 1941. You're in with him too. That's right. Yeah. What was Spielberg like to as a director? Well, you know, I think he's a great director. I always wish that I had

been in any other film with him than 1941 because it was a cast of thousands. And I think it was sort of a runaway train, if you will, because it was a very tight, really good script, Zemeckis and Gale script. But at that time, everybody in Hollywood wanted to work with Stephen. So he'd be at Imperial Gardens and run into someone and they'd say

oh put me in the movie I want to be in the movie so they were really forced to continue to add in all of these characters I love that he'd just throw parts at people as he would meet them absolutely we'd keep getting

new scripts or you know how they keep changing the pages. It's pink, it's blue. Well, we ran out of color, so they finally printed up a whole new script. But Tim and I, Tim Matheson and I, I think we're very lucky because our storyline remained the same from the original script, the finished product. And our stuff was very simple. Get the girl in the plane. And she obviously only liked to make love in a plane. So Stephen was, I would say what was great about Stephen was, and it's true of good directors, they have a vision. They know what they want to do. But if you present an idea to them, they'll say, you know, it's like I remember in the scene in the plane. And I couldn't tell you, unfortunately, I can't tell you what it was.

And it was an approach to the scene where I'm going to punch him. And he said, well, here's what I want you to do. And I want you to do this and this and this. And I said, oh, really? I was thinking this and this and this. And he said, well, you know what I want you to do. And I want you to do this and this and this. And I said, oh, really? I was thinking this and this and this. And he said, well, you know what? I don't know. Show me.

And he let me do it both ways. And then he said, you know what? You're right. Let's go with that. And so he was very open-minded to it. And I also think Stephen had, in those days, a very childlike enthusiasm. He loved being on the set. For him, it was just one big party.

Now, obviously, he was under a lot of stress. It's only his fourth feature at that point. It was, and it was a lot of money. I think the cost of the film, I want to say $40 million, which was a tremendous amount of money then. And we started out on a 14-week shoot and shot for about six months a year total if you add in the miniatures so uh it was um yeah it was unfortunately he lacked what he needed which was a really strong producer but he was so successful

that nobody would say no to him like no we can't we can't do that. Stick with the script. So it is what it is. And actually, we saw, there was a screening a few years ago at the Egyptian and the movie's got a lot of good stuff in it. Is it the greatest movie? No, but it's got some good stuff. A lot of good stuff. It was brutal. It was, I mean, it was, the critics were brutal when it came out, Spielberg's Christmas bomb and, you know, and on and on from there. So anyway, it was fun. Did you interact with Belushi much because you wanted, you had wanted to work with him? Oh, I loved him so much.

I met him, the first time I met him was when Sissy did SNL. Oh yes, I remember that. Which, early days. And I met him at the after party. And he was such a flirt. He was a shameless flirt and adorable. And we didn't, you know, we did have, one of my treasured pictures from a set is a picture of John, you know,

hugging me and Robert Stack in the background. It's just such a, it's like a great Hollywood picture. I love it. And he was, you know, John was, when he was, when he was present was phenomenal. And then, you know, there were days he'd come in and say,

okay, 10 o'clock, you got an hour to shoot me. That's it. Yeah. It's really sad. I think he would have turned out to be such a great actor. I really do.

It was a big career ahead of him. Oh, God, yeah. Yeah. I love that he plays the Godfather, too, in 1941. People forget that. It's a dual role. Yeah, that's right. There's the cameo.

You know, he's dressed as Vito Corleone eating a plate of pasta when something comes crashing through the window. There's a lot of good stuff in that movie. As you just said, I mean, tell us about Robert Stack because that's still well going and crying while he's watching Dumbo. Oh, my God. It's one of the highlights of the movie. What was he like to work with, Nancy?

Well, he was very nice. I mean, Turt was, of course, a professional, and he treated me like a daughter or something. He'd say, now, okay, we're doing the drive-up, so now wait for them to open the door. He was giving me a little bit of direction. He was protective of me. A very, very nice person and a consummate professional. He really was.

So I liked him. I had dinner with Robert and with, I'm trying to think who was with us one night. We had dinner. And then, of course, I mean, I got to meet Tashur Mifune. How about that? Christopher Lee. These are just, you know, what's better than that? By the way, the Christopher Lee, Tashur Mifune, Slim Pickenstein

is one of the things that works very well. Oh, it's hilarious. In the movie. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And I love that Christopher Lee and Tashur Mifune only speak their own language to each other, Japanese and German. It's great.

Now, you know, I don't know if you know this story, but, you know, Tim and I are in the airplane, which was a mock-up on the stage. I don't know if you have you heard the crazy story about the fire and everything? Yeah, I know. You just got you got out of there in a nick of time. Yeah, I mean, they practically incinerated the plane. But other than that, it was a lot of fun. I heard that Spielberg asked John Wayne to be in the picture, and he said, don't make fun of World War II. Well, I don't know that story, but I believe it. Yeah. Now, the other thing that I found interesting was that Kubrick watched it and told him that he shouldn't have made it as a comedy.

That he should have taken the subject matter and made a drama out of it. Well, that's believable, too. Yeah. I got to ask you one thing about home movies, which is a movie of Brian's canon that not a lot of people have seen, but you are very funny in it, and it's a very, very strange role. Yes. How did you react?

You're very good in comedy. How did you react when he said, well, you're going to have this romantic relationship with a hand puppet? Oh, well, to be honest, I actually gave Brian that puppet as an Easter present. I thought it was really cute because he talked about dissecting rabbits in the lab. And anyway, it was one of our really weird things. And I used this rabbit, this rabbit. When I had something to say to Brian that I didn't want to say, I let the rabbit say it. Like, hey, you're not paying attention to me.

Or, hey, you know, I want to go out tonight or, you know, whatever. Just as a so. Sherry Lewis and Lamb Chop. So when he wrote it into the script, I thought it was really crazy. And I like that she was seemingly, again, a very sweet girl. And then you find out as you go on, she's crazier than you can imagine. And in fact, I remember the screening when Brian screened the film for George and Stephen, who had also invested in the movie. They said, do you have any more stuff with Bunny? This is really good stuff.

Bunny the puppet. Yes. It's a strange movie, but fun. But you know, it's autobiographical. I know. I know. I found that out that it's about his childhood. Yeah.

Yeah. And what was it like it's about his childhood. Yeah. Yeah. And what was it like working with Michael Caine? Oh, he's a dream. I absolutely adore him. He was so kind to me when we, at the first rehearsal, I was so nervous. And, you know, I'm saying things. Can I curse on here? Of course.

We insist. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how it works. Anyway, you know, the first thing I'm saying is like, you know, do you want to fuck me? And I just, I was shaking. And he said, isn't it funny how we are as actors? It's like, we don't even know someone. And the next thing you know, we're saying, do you want to fuck me to them?

And he put me at ease. And then when we got to shooting um that particular scene on the set where I'm telling I'm walking around and I'm talking about this dream that I have it was a very tight set and uh it's just me talking and every once in a while Michael was supposed to say uh-huh and so Brian said you can go to your dressing room and you can relax and we'll just shoot Nancy and then we'll bring you back when we do the reverse. And Michael said, no, I'm going to stay because even if she can't see me, she'll feel me. She'll feel me in the room and it'll make a difference.

And I thought that was extremely generous. Morris. And he's funny too. He's very funny. Yeah. You told me on the phone you had a Michael Caine story. Well, you know, the day that he, the first day that he was going

to get into the wig and the makeup and the shoes and the hair and the whole thing, Brian said to me, look, go to his dressing room,

knock on the door, take a good look at him. If you need to laugh, laugh, get it over with because you can't do this on the set. So,

I said, okay, and I, you know, I walk in there and he's sitting there like a truck driver with his heels with a big cigar in his mouth and I took a look at him I walked out of there had a good laugh he walked on the set and the crew you know these big macho guys in New York are just standing there they don't even want to look at him and he he says, well, I always know if I worked hard, long enough and hard enough, I'd get to play me mom. And everybody laughed. And that was the end of it. So he's a good guy. I like him. That is a kinky movie. And that's an understatement. Yes, I would agree. And so is home movies. I mean, I didn't know. I had seen it years ago. I didn't know it was about loosely based, maybe not so loosely based on Brian's childhood.

But it's a pretty wild ride, too. He gathered divorce evidence for his mother. I know. That's what he did. Did you know this, Gilbert? I don't know. He spied on his own father who was having affairs behind his mother's back. Stop me if I'm getting this wrong, Nancy.

He was having an affair with his nurse. His nurse. And he followed his father and photographed him so his mother would have divorce evidence. Now, I don't think he did it in blackface. Right. Keith Gordon, the character in the movie, do it in blackface. It's a pretty funny movie. Any memories or fun stories about Vincent Gardinia, one of our favorite actors? Oh my God. This is truly one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life. We love him. When we do the dinner scene and he's it just, I could barely get through the scene without laughing.

And he's always doing something that you don't expect. But again, you know, in the meantime he'd sit there very quietly waiting, always ready but once he was on, he was on. Really good actor. People don't think of Brian directing comedies, but that's a funny movie. Yeah, and that's where he started.

I mean, people forget he did Hi Mom, Greetings, Get to Know Your Rabbit. Those were the early ones. What was Martin Landau like? Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. It was, of course, a terrible movie movie and we were stuck in Manila. And one thing about him is he never sat down when we were off camera. He'd stand, he'd pace, he'd smoke, he'd tell stories. He was just constantly moving, constantly moving. One of our favorites.

And very funny. Yeah, and he's a funny guy, too, or was a funny guy. One of our favorites. So we tried to get him on this show, and he unfortunately had taken a turn for the worse. Another actor that we adore that you worked with, Richard Dreyfuss in The Buddy System. Oh, adore. Absolutely adore. I had so much fun working with him and learned so much from him he's all about the words and the timing and getting it getting it right and working it out

and every beat in the film so the first the first day he said to the director we're not doing anything until we've rehearsed this film this scene scene. And so that's kind of how it went. I learned a lot about taking your time and making sure the words work. And I can say I definitely had a big crush on him. You did. And I was married at the time, so that's probably not the best thing to say, but I did. How good is he in The Goodbye Girl, by the way? Oh, he's so good in everything.

He deserved that Oscar. He really did. He did. He did. He really did. And another legendary star you worked with, how is it like working with Kirk Douglas? Well, Kirk is great.

We didn't have a scene together, but, I mean, it's Kirk Douglas. What more do you have to say? He's larger than life, even in person, you know. And still with us at 102. I know. It's amazing. Gordon, I think, had his hands full with Kirk because over here, Brian was directing him.

And then every time we go back to the set, Kirk would start directing him. So he was kind of like, who do I listen to here? It was really, really frustrating. So he was kind of like, who do I listen to here? It was really, really frustrating. But he was actually, I think he also read the script. He loved it. And Brian wanted him to play the father.

The Vincent Gardena part. Yes, but Kirk read it. And I think Brian's idea for that role was George Memoli. And I think you know who George Memoli is. From Ace Trucking Company? George Memoli from... He's in Mean Streets. Yes. He is. Yeah. The big heavy guy. What's a mook? Yes. So he wanted...

That's how he saw the professor of star therapy. But Kurt Redding says, well, I want to be the professor of star therapy or whatever. Wasn't he in Phantom of the Paradise? I believe he is in Phantom of the Paradise. Yes. he is in Phantom of the Paradise. Brian tended to use a lot of actors again and again. Kind of an ensemble.

He was in the Ace Trucking Company I believe with Fred Willard and our friend Billy Saluga. Remember the guy that used to do You Can Call Me Ray. You Can Call Me Jay. Remember that guy? Of course. With a cigar. But he doesn't call me Johnson. Doesn't call me Jay. Remember that guy? Of course. With a cigar. But she doesn't call me Johnson.

Doesn't call me Johnson. Yes. He and George Memoli were in the same sketch group. We love the fact that he built an entire career out of like three seconds of material. It's true. It's true. in some material. It's true.

It's true. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this. One other actor. What about Roger Moore? Nancy, because I know you worked on

The Man Who Wouldn't Die. I have to tell you, he is one of the, you wouldn't think this to look at him, but he's one of the funniest people I know. I read his memoir. It's hilarious. He was so hilarious

on the set that he'd have us all like crying. We were laughing so hard, right? But right before taking, then you'd have to, you know, the thing with these English actors, they don't take themselves very seriously. So on that movie, it was Roger Moore and it was Malcolm McDowell. And they're yelling at each other. Hey, Mary,cdowell and they're yelling each other hey mary how you doing over there mary teasing each other and they'd be laughing and poking fun at each other and then they go action it was like all of a sudden they were you know in their characters i love that malcolm mcdowell i've met he's bawdy and and it was very very edgy sense of humor

oh yeah somebody we got we got to get here. Roger Moore, we never had the pleasure. I like to go down the list of people we missed out on. Yes. All these people that Nancy got to work with, like Martin Landau. Oh, depressing. And Roger Moore. You got to work with the great Albert Brooks, too, in Soderbergh's Out of Sight.

I did. I did. And, you know, I don't come into the movie until the very end. And I remember my agent contacting me and I thought, you know, I don't care what it is. I love Steven Soderbergh and I'd love to work with him. And then it was even better when I found out I was going to work with Albert. And he liked it. Steven liked it so much. He kept adding a few little lines for us and putting things in the script. And I thought, I knew at the time, you know it's not going to end up in the movie.

Nobody cares about these two characters at the end of a movie. You can't start creating a whole new movie. But it was fun to shoot with him. And I just, I love him. No, it's great when they're trying to shoot the safe out and you walk into the doorway and just read them the combination to the safe. Can I throw a couple of questions at you from listeners? Sure. This is a fun one.

Oh, we referenced the great Pat McCormick in our opening. He's someone near and dear to the show. You did an episode of Fairytale Theater. Yes, I did. Yeah, with Liza Minnelli. Liza Minnelli and who's the wonderful actress who was in Network?

Oh, Beatrice Strait? Beatrice Strait. Yeah. Do you have any memories of Pat McCormick? Well, not much, to be honest with you, because we didn't really interact.

We take a shot. Yeah. We take a shot. Yeah. We take a shot. Sorry. Sorry to disappoint. Any memories of Zelda Rubenstein? Linda Mancino

wants to know any memories of Zelda Rubenstein on Poltergeist 3? Oh, a lot of memories. Zelda really liked those cute young boys and boy,

they liked her too. That's interesting. It's true. It's true. We were all staying in the same hotel. And at night, we'd be going up in the elevator. And I'd see Zelda with whoever the end is like, oh, hi. Nice to meet you.

How'd you get this cute young boy, Zelda? Where'd he come from? But on the set, Zelda was really a pro. She loved the work. She was thrilled to be there. And she had a fierce sense of humor. I really enjoyed her. She's interesting.

She's very interesting on screen. Very interesting performer. Here's one. Eric Conner wants to throw in, how does he know you, Gilbert? He writes, I'll bet you that Gilbert would like to ask Nancy about the shower scene filming in Carrie. Well, he was right. Oh, yeah. We already covered that.

Jason Grissom says, I want to know if Nancy has any stories from the set of Not For Publication. Paul Bartel was a great one, and she also got to work with the great Dean Stockwell on Limit Up. Yes, yes. Not for publication, almost probably not for release, really.

But we love Paul Bartel. How could you not love him? I adored him. I saw Eating Raoul three times. Yeah. And when I was contacted to meet Paul, I met Paul. I said, yeah, I don't care what it is. I want to work with this guy because I thought that film was so crazy.

You've seen it, haven't you, Gilbert? Yes. Oh, it's a screen. Oh, it's hilarious.

So anyway, so now Paul could do anything he wanted and not for publication was his passion piece. It's something that he'd wanted to do his whole career

and it's just, of course, this crazy, crazy movie and I got to work with David Naughton wanted to do his whole career. And it's just, of course, this crazy, crazy movie. And I got to work with David Naughton, who was an old buddy of mine. And, oh, God, who was it? Lawrence Luckinbill and other people.

It was just, you know, it was kind of kooky. And ultimately, the movie really doesn't work. But we really had a lot of fun doing it. Dean Stockwell, I actually was such a great fan of. I think he was just of his generation. We love him. One of the best. And one of the scenes we did together, I did something and I went, oh, that's not what I wanted to do.

And he says, but that's what happened. I said, no. He says, no, but that's what happened. In other words, he says no but that's what happened in other words be in the moment trust what happens and just go with it so I really um I really uh uh enjoyed I enjoyed him tremendously what a what a group of people you've gotten to work with yeah I mean we didn't we didn't even mention Christopher Walken and so many other people. Well, yeah. I mean, that was my generation of actors. Absolutely.

That's where I was in that time. So I was very lucky. You were in the middle of it. And speaking of Michael Caine, see if you can find a movie called Shock to the System, a black comedy that he's great in. Oh, I've never even heard of it. With Peter Rieger that not a lot of people have seen. I love Peter Rieger. Yeah, we had Peter here.

See if you can find it. I will. I think you will love it. And I will definitely tell our listeners to find Home Movies. Okay. If they can. I don't know if they can. Honestly, honestly, I ordered a copy of it online.

I think on Amazon and it arrived and the sound was so bad you couldn't even hear it. So I think it's, I don't even think it's out. Did it not come out on DVD? I don't believe so. People, maybe they can find it on Netflix or somewhere. It's really shocking. It's such an extraordinary film.

No, I'm kidding. It didn't make it to a DVD. This is, Gilbert will appreciate this. You worked with the legendary Abel Ferrara. Oh. Oh, my God, yes. Did he say, did he tell you the movie you were about to make was a piece of shit when you first started? Well, here's what he said.

Just about right. He came into the trailer, and it was me and, God, what's his name? That adorable, gorgeous actor. And he says, okay, so what are we going to do with this piece of shit? Oh, my God. We're in big trouble here. You have to admire the honesty. I love Tim. What actresses do you like, Nancy?

I mean, both contemporary actresses and also, because I know you're a TCM fan. We were talking on the phone about classic movies. I heard you reference A Face in the Crowd as one of your favorites. I bring it up too because I found an article on a website called Metrograph where the writers compared you

to Veronica Lake and Rita Hayworth. Wow. I'll send you the article. Wow, that's interesting. Yeah. I would never imagine that. I'll send it to you. I loved Jane Fonda. I loved Billie Holiday, Carol Lombard, Barbara Stanwyck. Loved Marilyn. I thought she was really Jane Fonda. I loved Billie Holiday, Carol Lombard, Barbara Stanwyck. Loved Marilyn.

I thought she was really funny and wonderful. Absolutely. Contemporary. My God, there's so many wonderful young actresses. I love Emma Stone. She's great. She is great. Did you see The Favorite?

I did. I couldn't wait to see it, but I'm one of those people that really didn't like it. Interesting. I didn't like it. I loved the work, but I didn't wait to see it but i'm one of those people that really didn't like it interesting like it i love the work but i didn't like the movie interesting yeah no my favorite movie this season was black klansman i thought that was by far the best which i haven't which i haven't seen yet oh my god it's fantastic and it's really funny i know i have my screener i'll watch it did you did you get a screener for Black Klansman, the Spike Lee movie? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I got to get to it. And this is interesting too

and I found you, you were talking about how, you know, you never set out to be a horror actress or turn out in sci-fi, so many sci-fi films or thrillers.

It was sort of just the way things went. But you like going to the chiller. You told me you like meeting these fans. Oh, I do. You like interacting with these people who happen to be obsessed about these movies. I do. And first of all, it's the best fan show out there, I think.

It's the best run. Gilbert's done it. He's done it. He's got a table there and signed autographs. Is it great? Oh, yeah. It's really well run and the fans are really nice.

I put it off for the longest time and then somebody said to me, he goes, look, you sit there, they tell you they love you and they give you money. Kind of true.

But I would think people would love you at these shows. I really would. I told you, I told you Richard Dreyfuss, we were at one with Richard Dreyfuss last year, and he had a line around the block. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah.

You know who was really popular? Remember Patty Duke? She was. I mean, talk about line around the block. She was so popular and so sweet. She would stand up the entire time meeting people. And I did a couple shows with Piper, Lori, and PJ Souls. We had a good time doing that

together. Tim and I did a show together. Tim Matheson. It is, it's fun. I'm always fascinated that people know more about your movies than you do. And it's kind of crazy. I'd love to tell you.

There aren't those. Yeah, there are these people who are obsessed with it. And they'll remember movies that I've done that I've forgotten about. They know too much, in other words. You find that, Nancy? Well, you know, yeah, sometimes it's a little bit much. What I don't like, there's a lot of touching involved. It gets a little bit.

When it comes to the picture, their arms are, you know, it's like, it just can be a little bit too much. But for the most part, it's a lot of fun. And you get to meet other people, other actors and performers who you wouldn't necessarily get to meet. And I'm a fan, too. I like meeting people. Yeah, that's how we got Riegert and Matheson to do the show, is I accosted them at Chiller.

Oh, perfect. Yeah, and tell Gilbert how you're always confused with Karen Allen, which is kind of fun. Oh, people say, oh, Karen, I love you. Or Debbie, I love you. Debbie Allen. They're way off. Yeah. The resemblance is uncanny.

I know. Please don't call me Woody. Then we're really going to be off. You know? So I was so excited when I heard that Karen was a thriller. And I found her. I hunted her down. And Karen was a thriller. And I found her. I hunted her down. And we saw each other.

And we hugged. And I said, please tell me they call you Nancy. And she said, all the time. So we posted a picture of ourselves on Facebook going, this is Karen. This is Nancy. Remember it. Perfect. Perfect.

Tell us about the charity. Before we get out of here, tell us about your charity, about WeSpark. And how it developed from your relationship with Wendy Jo. So Wendy Jo Sperber and I met on I Want to Hold Your Hand, and we were those girlfriends that met each other, were kindred spirits, and even though we were a little bit different in age, but we really just loved each other. Great physical comedian, by the way.

I'm sorry? She's a great physical comedian, by the way. Oh, sorry? She's a great physical comedian, by the way. Oh, my God. One of the funniest things in 1941 is her. Totally. And a complete natural. She could do anything. Her timing, everything.

We bonded, and I want to hold your hand over the fact that she said, I'm so afraid I'm not going to be able to cry. So I told her how she could cry, and she was like, oh, I love you. We'll be friends forever. That's great. Anyway, sadly, she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997, and she had a couple of young kids. They were 10 and 7 and lived in the community in Sherman Oaks, and there was really nothing

available for support and nothing at all in Los Angeles for her children. So in 2001, she decided she wanted to create a center where people could come, all kinds of cancer, not just breast cancer, any kind of cancer, men, women, cancer patients, their loved ones, anyone whose life was being affected by cancer. And she wanted everything to be free. And everyone said to her, no, no, no, you can't do it. It's impossible. And fortunately, Wendy did not, the word no was not even in her vocabulary. So I got involved as a celebrity golfer to help her raise money. And then when she found the place she wanted to open, she said, okay, you're into all the woo-woo stuff.

You need to come help me do this. And I thought, well, I'm not really working right now. Okay, I can help you a little bit. That was in 2001. That's now 2019. I've been executive director here for the last 10, 11 years, the program director. Because I was into yoga and integrative modalities for healing. So she said, okay, you're going to be the creative program director.

And she was the fundraiser. And that's what we did until she passed away. And then I had to grow into another area of doing the fundraising. And so we serve, we give over 11,000 services a year. Everything is free. What's the website? How can our listeners support it? It's www.wespark.org.

Okay. And it's a beautiful place. Congratulations. That's a nice thing to be doing with your life and your time. She was a great talent. And again, I think she had a big career ahead of her. No question. She really could do anything.

I'll tell you a quick story if we have time. Sure. When I, she was first, it's after we did 1941. She says, you know, I just started rehearsing for this series and we were always looking for something to do together. She found a play that she really liked called Pizza Man. He delivers and she says, why don't you come over to my place tonight?

And there's an actor who I think would be, it was a three character piece. I think it would be good, the three of us together. So we read through the play and he leaves and she says, what do you think? I said, you know, I think he's pretty good. I think it'd be pretty good. Well, that actor was Tom Hanks. So I guess he was pretty good. Wow. And good enough to go on to be a big star. Nice outcome. Wow. Yeah. Nancy, so much we won't get to. There's so many other things you've done. Did Ray Stark want Suzanne Somers in your part in Dressed to Kill,

or is that also bullshit? He certainly did. That was the end of him. I got to stop the presses there. I don't buy Suzanne Somers in Dressed to Kill. I don't know what he was thinking. Chrissy. So Brian said, well, actually, I wrote it for Nancy, but, you know, anyway.

Oh, God. Don't let producers cast. No, absolutely not. This is so much fun. I hope you had a good time. I did have a good time. I hope you guys enjoyed it. And I really appreciate you

giving me the opportunity to be on the show of course my god I mean you've done so much there's so much stuff we didn't even get to but I got to a lot

well you can visit me when I do Chiller and we can talk about it when are you going to do it again? well I think I'd like to do it in the fall so I didn't want to do it this spring

I like the fall show that's my favorite one. Okay. So when is that? October? Yeah, usually the end of October, near Halloween. I will make a pilgrimage. Sounds good.

Just to meet you because it's fun. You guys come out here at all? He's out there. I don't get a chance to. Gil? Yeah. In L.A.? Yeah.

When are you going to be there again? Although she doesn't want to be touched. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I can't promise you anything. Don't touch me. You might need a can of mace. No hugging.

Okay. Nancy, did you say hi to Eugene for me? I certainly will. Thanks a lot, you guys. Of course. I went to college with Nancy's nephew. First, let's do the... He's going to rap.

Okay. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this has been Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre. And we've been talking to someone who I've been picturing naked in the shower and Carrie

the entire time. Oh my god. Nancy's sitting in shadow and I think she just, I just saw her blush. I can barely see her face. I'm glad I didn't start out that way. We all know her

We all remember her best From touching Amy Judging Amy And touching Amy Very good I want to thank our mutual friend David Pomerantz Nancy too for making this happen David Pomerantz?

Yes, no not that David Pomerantz? Yes. No, not that David Pomerantz. I was about to sing. And also our engineer, Sam Kiefer. Thank you, Sam. So we've been talking to the beautiful and talented Nancy Allen. Nancy, a thrill. Thank you, Frank. Thank you, Gilbert.

Thank you. Bye-bye. I'm not sure. But the more that it's real the more it's right ooh what a night it's as though we've been lovers all of our lives there must be a god could it be that he's heard

me last because you look at me as though I'm beautiful could it be the lady's me I never dreamed someone like you could want someone like me.

All the pain and the pleasure's the same. It me have it while I have the chance Cause there's another world Where there are other girls But tonight there's only me I never dreamed Someone like you Could love someone like me