If It's A Good Movie, It's Miller Time! By: Terry & Tiffany DuFoe The mark of any true B-movie is the appearance of Dick Miller. Born in the heart of the Bronx Richard Miller began his career as a boxer, a writer, a commercial artist, a truck driver and a drummer for musicians like Dizzy Gillespie. He got the acting bug painting flats for a stock company. He watched them perform and then said,"I can do that." Unfortunately his first appearance as a butler met with terror as the petrified Miller blew every line that came out of his mouth. The disenchanted actor almost gave up acting except Dick Miller was never a quitter. Instead of closing another chapter in a history of short careers he used uncomfortable memories (like his first role) to create personas that included the tormented Walter Paisley in AIP's "A Bucket Of Blood". This was the beginning of a career as a Roger Corman mainstay starting as an Indian in "Apache Woman" and later morphing into characters as diverse as Miller himself with the likes of Sgt. Neil, Burson Fouch, Murray Futterman, Uncle Willy, Joe Piper and Shorty in "Rock All Night". Dick Miller has few regrets except for turning down the lead role of Seymour Krelboin in "The Little Shop Of Horrors" where Miller fears that turning down the lead for the flower eating Burson Fouch led to the end of his chances to star in future Corman films. Miller feels that while Jonathan Haze denies seeing "A Bucket Of Blood" it appears that Seymours characterization was directly lifted from that of Walter Paisley. Although quite humble Miller agreed with me that he (Miller) would have made a better Seymour. Where today’s spoiled stars would protest if offered cameo roles the truth is Dick Miller just wanted to work and he would adapt to any job requirement to put bread on the table. The start of his long career with Roger Corman happened quite by accident. He met Roger Corman as a writer after moving to California. His friend Jonathan Haze was already working for Roger and asked Dick to tag along to drop off something at Corman's office. In a history making moment Roger asked Dick Miller, "What are you?" Dick told Corman that he was a writer and Roger commented, "I've got plenty of writers. Don't need any writers. Need actors." Never to pass up any money making opportunity Dick Miller quickly blurted out, "Ok, I'm an actor!" It certainly beat becoming a pro boxer in which Miller claims he used to bleed from every opening whenever he was hit. Dick Miller is a smart man because stage blood is a lot easier to clean up and hurts a whole lot less. The meeting with Roger Corman turned a would be boxer into a cult film actor. Dick Miller made small roles and brief pages of cinema dialogue memorable revealing the depth and soul of his character in few words that takes other actors pages of lines to communicate. When a Dick Miller fan watches a cult film it makes any viewing experience a sort of Where's Waldo game in seeing just how many times Dick Miller unexpectedly pops up in a B-movie. With 119 film roles to his credit Dick Miller also wrote the screenplays for "T.N.T. Jackson", "Four Rode Out", and "Which Way To The Front" for Jerry Lewis. It is ironic Dick Millers only starring roles were in 2 features which include Bucket Of Blood and Rock All Night when it seems that he had much larger roles because he is always popping up in cult film classics like "Hollywood Boulevard" & "Rock 'n Roll High School". Unfortunately even with legends Hollywood tends to bite the hand that feeds it. While Miller appreciates his success he is still bitter about being cut out of Quentin Tarentino's "Pulp Fiction". He didn't mince words about the person responsible for his performance winding up on the cutting room floor. Only Dick Miller could be a gentleman about even this. Proving that Dick Miller is the nicest guy I ever met in Hollywood after letting out a few choice words about this incident, in true Miller fashion Dick pointed out that Tarentino probably had nothing to do with the editing and that it was ok because the deleted scene was finally added to the DVD release. Unfortunately Dick Miller does few interviews for whatever reason according to Joe Dante. Joe forwarded our message to Dick after many dead ends including one from Roger Corman who surprisingly told us he had no contact for Dick anymore. After hope seemed to be gone we finally got a call from Dick's wife directly from Hawaii (Thanks Joe) where the Millers were on vacation. We were asked to submit our questions by fax so that Dick could be prepared for our in person query when returning to California. Dick prided himself in being known as "One Take Miller" and wanted to be prepared in granting this rare Videoscope interview because he speaks to the media so seldom. Perhaps a lack of current interviews resulted in a popular Hollywood web site reporting that Dick Miller died years ago from a heart attack. Dick Miller only laughed when we informed him by stating , "I didn't like being dead!" This was only one of the entertaining comments Dick Miller gave us in his home very near the Warner Brothers lot where Corman disciple Joe Dante (Thanks again Joe) revived Dick Miller's long career with films like "Looney Toons: Back In Action" assuring that bread will always be on the table. In that home where an authentic Gremlin resides (a gift from Joe) and walls display a career in film crammed with Miller lobby cards and one sheets Dick sat at his desk with a nameplate reading Walter Paisley & gave the following answers: Terry: I understand you're from the Bronx, but a lot of sources say you're from Brooklyn, New York. Can you tell us about your childhood and growing up in New York? Dick: Yes, they're wrong! Terry: They're wrong? Dick: I'm from the Bronx. I don't know where this came from and I guess that everyone who came from New York is from Brooklyn. But I was born in the Bronx. Bronx Maternity Hospital on Christmas and that's it. I don't know where they get that from. Terry: There's all kinds of mis-information out there, especially on the internet. Dick: I guess so. We tried to change it once or twice. Terry: Well, we managed to change one thing. There's a website called TV Tome. It's a very popular website and they reported you as passing away. I made sure I corrected that. Dick: Oh, you did? Terry: Yeah, I told them about that. We got ahold of them and had them change it. Dick: Oh, well that's good. Terry: They didn't thank me or write me back, but... (Laughs) Dick: I didn't like being dead! (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) No! There's no future in it! What was your family like at home Dick, and were they supportive and you wanting an acting career? Dick: No, they weren't because they didn't know I wanted to be an actor. I didn't want to be an actor. I tried everything else and the only thing left was acting so I wound up in it. Well, it happened by accident. I was a commercial artist and did a thousand and one things from driving trucks to everything... stock boy... everything. When I was about 15, I went into a stock company as an artist to paint flats. I didn't know anything about acting. I watched them perform and I said, "I can do that." I remember, the first job I had, they said, "All right, we'll cover you. Don't worry about it." I played a butler. I blew every line. Not a word that came out of my mouth was right. The other actor I played with, he just covered me. He said, "Yes, yes, yes." He fed all my lines. The director said, "Alright, forget it. I'll do it next time." I said, "No, I can do it." and I tried. I did about six or seven characters for him in that movie. That was the beginning. I was 15 then and I just about gave it up. I forgot about acting for a while and went into the service. I went into a lot of other things. I came out and started writing. I was writing for Bobby Sherwood and working for his band at the same time. Terry: You were a drummer, right? Dick: Yeah, I was a drummer. I played a little jazz drums. I played with Dizzy Gillespie. I played with Thelonious Monk. Terry: Wow. Dick: I came out here to California as a writer and a friend of mine, Jonathan Haze, was working for Roger Corman at the time. He said, "I have to drop something off. Come on by with me." So, I first met Roger Corman just socially. He said, "Where are you from?" I told him New York. (Corman) "What are you?" "I'm a writer." He says, "I've got plenty of writers. Don't need any writers. Need actors." I said, "I'm an actor." (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) What was the very first movie you did for Corman? Dick: "Apache Woman". I can't forget it. "Apache Woman"! Right then and there, he said, "Would you like to play an indian for me?" I said, "Oh yeah. I can play an Indian. Sure." Terry: What did you think of playing an Indian? Do you think you look like an Indian? Dick: No. (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) Dick: I put a lot of dark make-up on and put a funny hat on. I made a funny looking Indian. I worked about three days on that. I had a number of lines. I finished the part. I got killed and he said, "Do you wanna play a cowboy?" I said, "Oh yeah, sure. When does this picture go on?" and he said, "Oh no no. It's the same picture. I need cowboys." I said, "People are gonna know me." He said, "They won't recognize you. They won't recognize you!" So I played a cowboy and an Indian in my first picture. Terry: You could've shot yourself! Dick: As a matter of fact, I was in one of the towns people's big posse. We went to a big shoot out at the end and I said, "You can't do that because they're going to recognize me in the gang." So, we dropped that. Terry: Do you think it was easier starting out being an actor in the '50s than it would be if you tried to break into it today? Dick: I think acting will always... ALWAYS be a difficult job. I don't think there's much difference between then, between now. Very little has changed in film making. The film speeds and some technical things, but I don't think it makes any difference. Terry: What did you think of the B-film genre that Corman became famous for? Did you personally like that type of film? Dick: There's a misunderstanding of what B-films are. They were just that, B-films. There was an A-Film and a B-film. Big companies like Warner Brothers, they made these on a regular basis and nobody thought of putting them together until Roger and American International came along. They were gearing to the Drive-In trade. They decided, let's make a horror movie and let's make two of them and put them out together. That's really how it started. Terry: Am I right in understanding that you were also a boxer and won some awards for fighting? Dick: Oh yeah. Terry: Were you a middle weight or...? Dick: No. (Laughs) I was a fly weight. 112 pounds. It was in the Navy. I don't know where they boosted me up.. I never weighed that much. Well, I did weigh that much at one time but I was a fly weight. I had 7 fights. You become champion in about 2. There wasn't anybody to fight. There was no body that size. Terry: Wow, do you think you would've pursued that if you hadn't gone into acting? Dick: No. Terry: No? Dick: It hurt. (Laughs) It really hurt. I seemed to have won most of my fights very easily because they had nobody for me to fight. Little Phillipinos. Little Irish kids. Guys that weighed 115 to 120 pounds, you know. I slowly got into the ring with this Phillipino kid who made me bleed from every opening. Terry: Ohhh! Dick: He just pounded me. It didn't hurt. He'd hit me and I'd bleed. (Chuckles) It was like, "Don't worry Champ. Don't worry Champion." I said, "Forget it. I don't want to fight anymore." Terry: Acting's a lot safer. I understand that you got a psychology degree from Columbia University as well? Dick: Yeah, it took a long time. I went to NYU. I went to city college. I finally, from Columbia, got my degree. Terry: How was that? Is going to school something you enjoyed? Dick: No, I went to work for Bellevue Hospital for about 4-6 months. I just figured, "There must be an easier way!" The nuts were coming in bunches! I just figured I could do better than that. Terry: Yeah. With the background you had as a boxer and of course being from New York, do you think that helped you any in playing some of the characters you've portrayed? Dick: Not really. I think being from New York is enough. You know, the city life just helps you. Terry: So, you mentioned that you first met Roger socially. What did you think of Roger Corman when you first met him? Dick: I don't know. I thought that he was a nice man. He was giving me work and I enjoyed working. He was all business. He wasn't very much social-like. We never went out together. We never hung out together or anything. He used to call me in and say, "Do you wanna work?" and I'd say, "Yeah." and that was it. The relationship was actor and director. Terry: Do you have a relationship with him today? Dick: Well, you know, it's been 50 years. That's a long time. Terry: Yeah, a long time. What about Jonathan Haze? What kind of a guy was he? Dick: Jonathan was my buddy in New York. I met him and he was in show business. He wasn't acting. I don't remember what he was doing exactly. He wasn't acting but he was in show business. He just one day said, "I'm going out to California." and he left. About half a year or so later I got in kind of a bind in New York. Shows were petering out. I was doing very well but shows were petering out. I had The Bert Parks Show in the afternoon three times a week, and The Bobby Sherman Show every night. This is all TV. Terry: Mmmhmm. Dick: I was a disc jockey on WAW. I spent my last summer on a dude ranch in New York. Terry: Man, you've done everything! And that helped you in your cowboy movie too! (Laughs) Dick: (Laughs) Listen, listen. You're going to find more out about me. The thing that helped me out with my cowboy movies was, I was a jockey. Terry: There you go. Dick: At 11 years old. Terry: So you could actually ride the horse. You didn't have to fake it. Dick: No! (Laughs) No, I couldn't! I came out of the gate just three times. I was an apprentice. Never rode any races or anything like that and I said, "This is not for me. This is, again, very dangerous!" But, as I was saying, Jonathan went out there and things got slow and I said, "I think I'll go out there, to California, and look up Jonathan." And that was how I met Roger. It didn't happen right away. I was out here about a year and a half trying to earn a living as a writer when Jonathan said, "Well, I have to drop something off at Roger Corman's office. You want to come with me?" "Yeah!" Terry: I bet you didn't have any idea at the time when you were doing that first film with Corman that it would turn into such a long career, did you? You were a Corman mainstay for years! Dick: No, I didn't. The funny part is, and I just recently discussed this with a bunch of guys, they said they always had this drive to see what the next move is. I said, "I didn't." I just took a job and that was it. I was fine. I was still writing. I needed another job, it came along, and I said, "That's fine. I'm still writing." So, it was one job at a time. I never thought about the future. I never thought about next year or the year after that. Terry: So basically, you just wanted to work? Dick: Yeah. Yeah. Make a living. Terry: Let me ask you this, do you think the actors of today are spoiled compared to the way they were back in your day? They want so much money and they don't want to do this or that... Dick: Getting the jobs and getting into the industry.. I don't know how to do that. But, they're spoiled. They are. There's a great deal of money to be made and that's about it. I don't know what careers run on when I was starting in the business, but I see careers and people with no talent and no background getting series. And from there, they're stars. A week later, they're stars. Terry: Too fast! Maybe that's why they don't appreciate it, because it's too fast. Do you think that's true? Dick: I don't know. I think in 20 years, down the line, we'll see whether they're still around. But by then they've made so much money it doesn't matter! Terry: (Chuckles) Yeah. Now, your first sci-fi film for Corman was "It Conquered the World". You played Sgt. Neil. What did you think of that film? Dick: "It Conquered the World"... Terry: With what I call the vegetable creature... (Laughs) Dick: (Laughs) Yeah, that one! (Laughs) Terry: Haha. Yes... Dick: It was just a job playing a soldier. Jonathan was in that. By then we were a team. I guess Roger thought we were a team and he kept placing us together in pictures. I thought it was nice, I just didn't think much of it. I loved the animal... the creature... whatever the hell it was. I learned one thing on that picture: only the director yells cut. Terry: (Laughs) What happened? Dick: We were shooting a thing where they shot the creature and they yelled cut and I said, "Don't cut! Don't cut!" Smoke started pouring out. A magnificent effect! Terry: Out of the creature? Dick: Yeah, out of the thing. They went in there, and it caught fire inside. (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) And you said don't cut! Dick: Don't cut! The smoke started pouring out of the creature! Terry: That's a better effect than Corman could've ever paid for! Dick: Fantastic! And he said, "What's going on?!?" It was just confusion! He says, "I'm yelling cut! I'm yelling cut!" Terry: Was there an actor inside the costume? Dick: Yes. (Laughs) All blazed up! The guy who created it was in there. Terry: So how did it catch on fire? Was he smoking? Dick: They don't know. I don't know. Terry: Wow. I've read certain reviews that say that the creature was wheeled in on furniture castors and that in certain scenes you can see the furniture castors. Is that true? Dick: No.. that's a lie. Terry: That's not true? Dick: That's not true. That's some critic who's trying to claim super eye sight. Terry: Yeah. When you were in the film, I know it was work for you, and you wanted to work, but did you think it was particularly silly or did you take it in good clean fun like everybody else was? Dick: In that picture? Terry: In that film. Dick: Oh, to me, really, it was a job. It was fun and I just went along with it. Terry: Is that where you first met Beverly Garland? Dick: No Beverly I met in... well, actually I guess that was when I met her. I don't know. She did about four or five pictures for Roger. I worked in some of them. We went to Hawaii for "Thunder Over Hawaii" ("Naked Paradise") and I think that's the picture that kind of changed it because at the sneak preview she came up to me and said, "You son of a bitch, you stole the picture!" I said, "What? What did I do? I didn't do anything!" and she was laughing about it. I think Roger kind of for the first time he said, "Oh, really? I have somebody who can act in here?" (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) Well it's good to be nice to Beverly. You can always have a hotel room if you need one. Dick: That's true! Terry: She didn't have the hotel at the time, right? Dick: No, that's was after she quit working pretty much. It was towards the end of her career that she got into the hotel business. Terry: Then you did a movie called "Gunslinger" and I heard there was some complications because it rained throughout the whole thing? Dick: "Gunslinger", yes, I remember that. Terry: And they had to put up tarps everywhere and move a lot of the scenes inside due to it raining so much? Is that right? Dick: Yeah, that's true. I was a pony express rider in that film and in those days the contract called for a six day contract. You got paid for six days. We used to shoot a western in six days. There were very few second takes and if there was any trouble with the weather or something, you went along with it. There was tarps put up. We shot in places with tin roofs and they made so much noise! Terry: Yeah, I heard they had to put the musical score over that to drown out the rain sounds. Dick: Yeah, they had to take down the sound. I don't know how they did it but they took down the sound and everything was muffled. Terry: Now, Corman's productions were known for being cheap. What were the accommodations for the actors like? Did you have trailers? Did you have Craft Services? What was it like? Dick: Well, the westerns were pretty rough. We'd change out where ever we could. There weren't any dressing rooms. There was always craft services. There was nothing to eat on the tables, but there was always craft services. (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) Were his productions SAG or were they non-union? Dick: Oh yes! SAG! Terry: Oh, they were SAG? Dick: The guy is a strict union user. Not with the IADSEN people, but he always used SAG people. He started out a very strong union man and only recently in the past few years did he stop using IADSEN people, but they don't bother us so much. Terry: Knowing that Corman often reused many of his actors over and over like you and Jonathan and Beverly, were you guys on some type of retainer or was it just a verbal agreement that you were always going to be in his films? Dick: It was an understanding that we were actor's and we wanted to work. Most of the deals that I had with Roger, and this is 5 films a year for 5 years, easily... I made about 25 films... I made actually 49 films with Roger between projects that he was connected with, that I was connected with. We just dealt with a hand shake. When we were working, a contract came in sometimes during a shoot. A contract came in for one week's work. Terry: Did you ever meet any really big actors who tried to talk you out of doing Corman films? Dick: Does anyone try to talk you out of working? (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) A lot of the early Corman films were done for American International. We had an opportunity to interview Sam Arkoff before he passed away. Did you ever meet Sam? Dick: Yes, Sam Arkoff. I went to his funeral. I went to his funeral. I knew Sam. It was very loose. Sam and James Nicholson and Roger, we were all together. The wrap parties used to be kind of a delicatessen and some drinks, and that was it. We just had some fun. They weren't anything special. They were just business men trying to get along. Trying to get by. Terry: How much control do you think Sam and James Nicholson had over Roger? Did Roger have most of the say over what he was doing when he was working for AIP or did Sam and James hold tight reins? Dick: I don't understand the inner workings of what went on. No body did, but I imagine Roger pretty much had a deal with them that he'd make them and they'd release them. Terry: I understand in "Naked Paradise" Sam Arkoff and Roger Corman actually appeared as actors in the movie? Dick: Yeah. We were in Hawaii and everybody when over there. Terry: Yeah, did you think they were pretty good as actors? Dick: Nope. (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) You didn't offer them any advice? Dick: (Laughs) Nope. Nope! Terry: Well, they knew what it was like on the other end of the stick that way! It would've been funny if you had gave them some advice. Dick: It would've been, but it would've been funnier if I'd gotten fired. (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) A lot of the fans really denote "Not of This Earth" when you played the vacuum cleaner sales man as one of their favorite roles. Did you like doing that part? Dick: I liked it. I liked it because it was so against my character and Roger said, "Well, the only thing in the picture is a sales man." He dressed me up in a bow tie with pencils and I said, "What IS this? That's not the way they sell things. I sold pots and pans in the Bronx." He said, "How do you want to dress?" I said, "Just the way I dress; a black shirt and a sports jacket, you know." He said, "Alright." So we pretty much ad libbed the whole thing. The repeating thing... the "You wanna purchase? You purchase. You don't wanna purchase? You don't purchase."... it was all ad libbed. And they were breaking up on set because there was nothing there. A guy comes in and just says, "I'm here." It was funny. Terry: Do you like doing the ad lib stuff better than lines? Dick: No, I usually find lines easy. I read it through once or twice and I know it. Terry: You were called "One Take Dick" in the Corman days? Dick: Yes I was! Terry: So you pretty much nailed it in one take? Is that how you gained the nick name? Dick: Well I got it from Roger. I didn't know that they were allowing second takes. (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) Dick: The only time we did a second take was when the camera fell over! Terry: (Chuckles) Oh, ok. Then, another film that was a groundbreaker for you being the first time you played a lead was the picture "Rock All Night"? Dick: Yes. Terry: You played 'Shorty'? Dick: Yes. Terry: Did you like doing that? Tell us about that film a little bit. Dick: "Rock All Night" was... Terry: It was a teen movie right? Dick: I think after "Thunder Over Hawaii" (AKA "Naked Paradise") where Beverly Garland said I stole the picture, the next thing I heard was Roger Corman saying, "I've got a job for you." I said "Fine." I worked for minimum. I worked six days for minimum and that was fine with me. But, it was a TV script and it seemed that Roger had gone out and gotten this script for me. I didn't know it at the time. I just thought, "Oh, here's a part for a little guy." and we did it. It was a half hour, or probably 23 minutes long, TV show and he just expanded it into an hour show. I enjoyed it! Terry: Did you like doing the teenage films? Did you maybe become a kind of hero to the teenagers back then? Dick: I didn't know, if I was. Terry: Really? You didn't have any contact with them? Dick: I didn't. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but Roger kept me in the dark. (Chuckles) Because he was working. I was working for him and he could keep me at that same salary. So, I didn't know until after it was all over. After shooting, months later, you find out about it. Terry: Do you think that Roger Corman's teenage films were pretty true as to what was going on back then? Do you think that they represented the teenage scene properly? Dick: Yeah. Terry: You do? Dick: Yeah. He somehow had his finger on the pulse of what was happening with kids. I don't know if he would style it after them, but he would just see what films were being made by the majors and as soon as ONE of them came out, he was ready with the second one. Of course, he could make it for a tenth of the price. Terry: Then in 1959 "A Bucket of Blood" was your big film. Dick: Yep. Terry: That's the one every body loves. Dick: Yeah. Terry: Walter Paisley lives! That was the first time you played Walter Paisley. Dick: I loved it too! I love Walter Paisley! Terry: And then you kept on playing Walter Paisley! (Laughs) Dick: (Laughs) Yeah for about 7 or 8 roles! Terry: How did that come about that you kept having Walter reoccur? Was that because of Joe Dante? Dick: Joe who in his own way is a marvelous marvelous man... Terry: Oh, he's a genius. Dick: He's just full of inside humor. I played a character, Walter Paisley. We made a second movie and he says, "We're gonna use the same name, Walter Paisley, just for fun." I said, "It's ok by me." Terry: Did he have to get permission from Corman to do that? Dick: No. And the same thing happened in the third picture. He said, "We're gonna use the name Walter Paisley." and from then on, I was Walter Paisley. No body said anything. It just went on for about 7 pictures. Terry: Now of course, even though you're playing 'Walter Paisley', it was different Walter Paisley's, correct? Dick: Oh yeah. Terry: You weren't supposed to be the same character from "A Bucket of Blood", right? Dick: No, no. The only thing that was the same was the name. Terry: Were you tempted to be like the "Bucket of Blood" Walter Paisley? Dick: No, not at all. Not at all. To me, that was just the character's name and that was it. Terry: What did you base A Bucket of Blood's Walter Paisley on? He was a man you felt sorry for. Dick: I'll tell you the truth. I don't know. I read the character. I said, "This man is slightly retarded, huh?" and he (Roger) said, "Yeah, slightly." I said, "Ok. I'll play him slightly retarded." That's all I did. That's all I can remember about the part. Terry: You didn't perhaps know anybody that was like that who you studied or copied? Dick: No. No, because my looks belied the fact that I was playing a retard. I didn't feel it. I didn't see it. I see what's shown up there on the screen or just felt it everyday that this character was straight and there was nothing wrong with him. Terry: What did you think about the fact that "A Bucket of Blood" was very similar to "House of Wax"? Dick: Oh, that was explained to me. That I understood. That (film) I had seen. I had saw something before that, way before "House of Wax", French film where the same theme was used. Dead bodies being covered with clay and I said, "'House of Wax' was not an original either." This French film preceded the "House of Wax" by 10 years. So I figured it was just theme that was used over and over and over again. Other than that, I think the story was kind of original. Terry: The scene which is basically the first shocking scene where you put the knife in the wall and you get the cat... Dick: Yeah? Terry: How was that done? I assume it was a stuffed cat of course? Dick: Stuffed cat my eye! (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) Dick: It was a stiff cat! The cat was so stiff! I picked it up. I held it. I was trying and Roger's yelling at me, "Hide it! Hide it!" And I picked the cat up like this, and the claws were like that (stuck in his shirt) and it got stuck in there! I thought, "Oh God, how am I gonna get this loose?" It was SO stiff! Terry: (Chuckles) Wow. Was there any scenes in "A Bucket of Blood" that was cut out that we didn't see? Dick: Not that I know of. No, I don't think so. I don't think they cut out much of anything in those days. Film was precious because of cost. Terry: Do you see any comparisons between your character of Walter in "A Bucket of Blood" and Jonathan Haze's Seymour in "Little Shop of Horrors"? Dick: YES I do! Terry: Yeah, tell me about it Dick. Dick: (Chuckles) Roger said, "We're doing another picture right away." and I said, "What is it? Can I read the script?" I read it and I said, "I don't want to do it." Now I didn't know of sequels. In those days, there were not many, except for "Tarzan", but I didn't know of anything. I said, "I just finished this part. I don't want to do the same character now." He didn't understand me. He said, "What?" I said, "No, I'll do something else in the picture. Any part...," I said, "Give it to Jonathan." And that's how Jonathan Haze got started too. He swears he never saw my picture. I don't believe him. Terry: Oh really? I don't believe him either! Dick: But, that was it. Terry: Are you satisfied with the fact of knowing that you made a good decision in not doing it or are you sorry now? Dick: No, I'm sorry now. I'm sorry now because I broke the starring role trend that I was in and I gave up this part. I still wasn't thinking as an actor. I still was thinking, "Well, this is another job. Another pay day. Fine. I'll write." Terry: Well, I love Jonathan and I respect him as I do you, but I really think you would've been better in the film because even my daughter made the comment that she felt more empathy for you in "A Bucket of Blood"... Dick: She's your daughter?!!! Terry: Yes. Dick: Son of a gun!! Terry: (Laughs) Yep, and the other woman here is my wife. Dick: She's your wife? Terry: Yes. (Laughs) Dick: (Smacks knee in surprise) A whole family affair! Terry: I understand they promoted "A Bucket of Blood" by telling people if they brought a bucket of blood to the theatre, they'd let them in free. Did you know about that? Dick: I knew about the campaign. I don't think it paid off. I don't think one person ever brought a bucket of blood. Terry: Did you go and see the film with a real audience in a public theatre? Dick: No, we used to have real sneaks in those days. They'd go out in the toolies somewhere... which was the toolies then out in Burbank or out in Simi Valley some place. They'd show it one night, get a reaction to it, and just kind of see what the reaction was. That was the only time we saw the movies with an audience. They didn't know who we were or anything. Terry: Getting back to "Little Shop", what did you think about the fact that "Little Shop of Horrors" was made into a musical? Dick: You could've knocked me over with a straw! Terry: Yeah. Dick: I never... It's amazing! Terry: Would you have liked to have been in a musical version? Dick: Yeah. Terry: Would you sing and do the whole thing? Dick: Yeah! Terry: Yeah? Dick: Yeah. Terry: So can you carry a tune well then? Dick: I was a singer. Terry: Oh! Well, there you go. You've done everything! Dick: You have to. I'll tell you; if you ask me what the background is of an actor is, it's just doing. Doing everything! And doing it young! Terry: Do you think "A Bucket of Blood" was better than "Little Shop of Horrors"? Dick: Yeah... Terry: Not just because you were a lead, but your personal opinion... Dick: Yes, yeah. "A Bucket of Blood" would make a nice musical. Terry: It would! Dick: (Breaks into song) "OH, give me that bucket of blood!" Terry: (Laughs) Of course, the thing you're really known for in "Little Shop of Horrors" is eating the flowers... Dick: Yeah. Terry: Prop flowers or real flowers? Dick: Real flowers. Terry: Really? Dick: Real flowers. Really eating them. He (Roger) said, "What do we do with these things?" The salt shaker was my own bit. I put some salt on them and I said, "I'm going to taste it and then I'm going to spit it out." I tasted it, and you know, the prettier they smelled, the prettier they taste! (Laughs) And they were good! I'm chewing them up and Roger's saying, "Ok, you can spit them out." I said, "No, they're pretty good." Terry: It would've been funny if that would've been the first time Roger would've wanted to keep doing it over again! (Laughs) Dick: The picture was done in two days. Terry: Wow. Dick: Two cameras and you had to see yourself clear on each camera. One was a close up on who's working, and one was sort of a loose master. If you weren't on one camera or another, you weren't in the picture! Because, you know, that was it. You had to clear yourself for those cameras. It was an amazing style. We only ran it through once or twice most of the time and that was it. Terry: Of course, you were a good friend of Jonathan's, but who else did you particularly like to work with on "Little Shop of Horrors"? Jackie Joseph? Mel Welles? Jack Nicholson? Dick: Jackie Joseph, I met her on another picture. Terry: She seems really sweet. Dick: She is. I've worked with her since then a number of times. Terry: Yes, like in "Gremlins". Dick: Yeah. Terry: What about Jack Nicholson? That was probably the first time you met him right? What was he like on that shoot? He was pretty new in the business then. Dick: I met Jack before. I was introduced to him right after he had done "The Crybaby Killer" and Roger said, "This is my new leading man. This guy's going to be something." I couldn't see it. Terry: Really? Dick: Couldn't see it! The truth was, I just didn't see it, but he was a good looking kid. And I said, "He'll make it on his looks." Terry: Now, you did a movie called "Premature Burial". I understand that there was a little bit of a riff between Sam Arkoff and Roger Corman. Do you know about that? Dick: No. I remember reading the question and I said, "I don't understand that." It could be that I wasn't paying too much attention to the inner workings of the business deals that went down. I just really didn't care. Terry: What did you think about doing an Edgar Allen Poe film? Dick: Oh, they were nice. They were fun. Terry: Did you feel more 'dignified' doing classic literature? Dick: No. (Laughs) Terry: No? (Laughs) So it wasn't anything that you thought was particularly better than any of the other material you'd done? Dick: No. The big difference was that Roger was spending some money now. It still wasn't a lot but he was spending money and he was getting nice effects. He was getting good sets. He was getting good lighting. Things that were missing in the earlier pictures. (Dick's cat interrupts) Terry: I bet you that cat is paranoid all the time! (Laughs) Dick: (Laughs) She keeps wondering about a bucket of blood? Terry: I know! Don't let her see that movie! When you worked in "The Terror" and you met Boris Karloff... Dick: Yeah.. Terry: Were you a previous fan of Karloff's? Dick: Karloff has always been... you've got to understand this; my mother took me to movies when I was very young. When I was three of four years old. The first pictures I saw were "King Kong" and "Frankenstein". I didn't foretell anything at the time but I look back and I see where it all came from. Boris Karloff is just tremendous. He was the nicest man I ever met. I don't know what he really was like. He could've been something else, but I was just in awe of him. Completely in awe of him. Terry: What did you say to him when you met him? Dick: "Duh ah duh dah duh!" Terry: (Laughs) How was his health? His health was kind of failing around that time wasn't it? Dick: He was doing this picture because he had done a picture for Roger where they were supposed to tear down the sets on Friday night and he had made a deal with Karloff for three days work. He (Corman) said, "I don't know what we're going to do." He (Karloff) said, "Well, I'm leaving for London." Roger said, "Well, we'll just shoot some scenes that will fit in any picture." Leo Gordon wrote these scenes in a hurry and put them together. Roger said to the crew, "You're not tearing down the sets Friday. You're tearing them down on Monday." We worked on the weekend and we shot a bunch of scenes. One after the other. They had no meaning. They had no basis. When it was all finished, he'd (Karloff) worked like a dog! I just said, "This guy's amazing. How can he...? He can't come down the stairs! He can't walk!" He made about two pictures afterwards and died. Terry: Yeah, I heard a lot of times he'd do scenes and then collapse into a wheel chair when they'd say "Cut." Dick: Well, we didn't have a wheel chair. I don't know where that came from, but he'd rest. He'd sit down and rest and they'd say, "Are you ready Mr. Karloff?" And he was just so whipped. I'd say, "Are you ready?" and he'd say, "Yeeeah." He'd get up and he'd act! He was marvelous. Terry: Did you ever meet Lugosi? Dick: No. Terry: No? Dick: No. Terry: Did Roger ever try to get him? He wound up being with Ed Wood, but... Dick: I think by that time Roger must have known that he was a hopeless case. You know? Because he wasn't there anymore. Terry: Yeah. Dick: Lugosi.. he didn't... I think I got in trouble for this once before but, Lugosi was like a one shot actor. I'm sorry! (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) Dick: He hung onto this one character and it probably killed him too. Karloff was magnificent at owning all these characters that he played. Terry: Lugosi was a little criticized for being with Ed Wood. Do you think he would've been a little more respected in his last days if he would've been with Corman? Dick: No. I think by the time that was happening, Lugosi was well into his drugs or whatever it was. Terry: Yeah, it was heroine. I understand in "The Terror" they were supposed to burn down the castle but they decided to flood it at the last minute and they didn't tell the actors? Dick: Oh no. No, they told us. Terry: They told you? Dick: We had the basement. We had the set... these were the days when they were just shooting the scenes. They had to have the scenes. We used every set we could. We used every room. They said, "Let's shoot this! Let's shoot that!" "Well, why are we shooting?" "We're just shooting! We're shooting down in the basement. We're gonna shoot down there." and he (Roger) said, "What are we gonna do? Well, we got a flood system here. We can knock out the walls. The flood will come in here and we got the tank. The flood will come into the tank and we'll all die!" Terry: (Laughs) Dick: (Laughs) So, that was how that came about. We said, "How does this work?" and he (Roger) said, "I don't know. I don't know." Roger was really, "I don't know." Terry: Let me ask you this, you did "The Trip" with Jack Nicholson and his friend Bruce Dern, Peter Fonda, and Dennis Hopper. I understand that they took part in a group LSD trip for research for the film? Dick: Yeah, so did Roger! Terry: So did Roger? Dick: Yes! He was with them. Terry: Does Roger care that you say this? Dick: Uh... I didn't. Good boy that I am. They all got stoned. Terry: Wow. Dick: It was controlled. Terry: Well, what happened? Did you see any of this? Dick: No. No, but I know it's true. Terry: They told you about it? Dick: Yeah. Terry: Well, it was research. (Laughs) Dick: (Laughs) Terry: Would you ever go that far to research for a film and do something like that? Dick: No, I don't think so. I think I'll just use my imagination. I think Jack Nicholson is probably still researching. (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) Then, later on you met a young lady that would become very popular in Corman films: Candice Rialson who appeared in "Candy Stripe Nurses" and of course "Hollywood Boulevard". Dick: Oh, Candy! Yeah, Candy Rialson. Terry: What was she like? Dick: I only worked in one or two pictures with her. I don't remember too much about her. She was a nice kid. Terry: So she was nice though? You got along well with her? Dick: Oh, she was a nice girl. I don't remember too much about her. Terry: Now here she was coming into the business young and naive. Did you give her any advice? Dick: No. (Laughs) Terry: No? (Laughs) Dick: (Chuckles) You keep looking for advice. "Did you give any advice?" I didn't do anything. (Laughs) It's a gag, you know, where one actor says, "Are you going to read that like THAT? Are you going to say those lines like THAT?" "Yeah... why? What's the matter?" You don't give advice. And you DON'T give advice to directors and you don't give advice to producers. You say, "Yes, sir." and then you go ahead and do what you want. (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) Well, we re-saw "Hollywood Boulevard" the other day and your character there was great. Of course, you were an agent... Dick: Ahh yes... Terry: Was that by chance based on any agents you had? Dick: No, none of my agents were that good! Terry: (Laughs) Ok! That's not too good! Dick: I didn't find any agents in this business in 50 years. I've gotten most of my work through contacts with writers, directors, and producers. I kind of envisioned the movie version of an agent, "Ok kid, we're gonna get this. We'll do it. We'll fight for you. Here's your rent money." and all this kind of thing. These wonderful personalities. I never found them! Mira Mishkam got me a job. He was one agent who got me a job, but he didn't last. He was just about quitting the business. Terry: It was in "Hollywood Boulevard", I believe, where you first met Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov, right? Dick: Yes. Terry: What did you think of them? Did you like working with them? Dick: Nice guy. Paul Bartel was a talented talented man. He just died recently. Mary, I didn't understand her at all. At that time she was fresh from the Andy Warhol school of acting and I didn't know too much about her at the time. But, I've come to know her over the years and she's a wonderful person. Terry: Oh, we love her. We interviewed her as well. Dick: She is just a bullet. We went to Switzerland together. We were there for a film festival and she just opened up like a flower. She's a wonderful girl. Terry: Were you married at the time that you were doing "Hollywood Boulevard" because I was wondering if there was ever any romances on the set between you and Mary or Candy or any of the actresses? Dick: (Laughs surprised) No... no.. I stayed away from Candy, you know... (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) Dick: Mary was ok, but there was nothing there. Terry: We particularly enjoyed the one scene in "Hollywood Boulevard" where you go into the projection booth to save Candice from getting sexually molested and you try to pick her up. You're having a hard time and you grab her right by the chest and pull her up. Now, was that planned or was that ad libbed? Dick: Weeellll... (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) Tell the truth Dick! Dick: It was ad libbed, but it was with the director's permission! Terry: But did she know about it? Dick: I don't know! (Laughs) Terry: Did she say anything to you after the take? Dick: No. Terry: No? Dick: No. Terry: The consummate professional. You did "Cannonball" which was very much like "Death Race 2000", but you weren't in "Death Race 2000". Was there a reason for that? Dick: No, I guess different people had control of the situation. I don't know. I just sort of was never informed when the picture was being made. About half way through I heard about it. I said, "Oh, really?" "Cannonball" was nice... Terry: What did you think of David Carradine? Dick: He's a weird guy. Terry: Mary loves him. She told us. She said, "I like David because he's like, 'Fuck you!'" She said, "I like that." Dick: Yeah, that's his attitude. Terry: (Laughs) Dick: He ad libs a lot. He tries things on the spur of the moment and you go along with it and some of them just turn out wonderfully. Terry: Who do you think was a better director, Paul Bartel or Roger Corman? Dick: That's a toughie. I don't think either one was a particularly "great"... and I say that in quotes.. "great" director. They knew what they were doing when they hired you as an actor. The most important thing, I feel, that a director can do is leave his actor's alone. Once he's got them down, he knows who they are, he knows what they can do... which is very important... and then from then on you leave it to them. You leave the choice to them. I think a good director is one who doesn't direct so much. I hate those guys. I won't mention any names, but I've worked with a few who were, "Well, listen, you've got to try this and how about that? Get a little louder. Be a little softer. And in this line, you make this movement..." and it's like, "What the hell are they talking about? I said, "You ever act?" "NO, that's not important. I'm blah blah blah..." Terry: Well John Sayles was a writer for "Piranha" and if this is correct, I heard that he said that Corman was known for not using good actors and that's why he didn't elaborate on characterization in the film. What do you think about that? Dick: I think he's wrong. If he said... if he didn't say it, I don't think anything. But if he said it. I've always thought John Sayles was a talented talented man. I've worked with him as an actor and as a writer. I really don’t think that he could say a thing like that because Roger's forte was hiring the best people for the job. Terry: On the set of "Piranha", was there any bloopers or anything funny that happened on the set or went wrong? I assume they used a lot of stock footage? I'm sure they didn't bring in real piranhas for everybody? Dick: Oh, we had pet piranhas. Terry: Oh! And how were they pets? (Chuckles) Dick: Well, let's see, we used the pool over at UCLA I think it was for a lot of the underwater stuff. We poured tons... (Chuckles) This sounds terrible. We poured tons of fake blood into the water to get the underwater stuff. Fake blood, as you know, is karo syrup. At any rate, it started to grow. (Laughs) It must've grown so bad they couldn't clean the pool and the Olympic team couldn't train. We lost the swimming meets in the Olympics that year. Terry: (Laughs) Wow. Going back to "Hollywood Boulevard", was there any crazy stories you might have from there? Dick: No, I just was amazed. When I got into this thing, I said, "What is this video script here?" and Joe (Dante) said "We're stuck with a lot of stock footage. We have to make the picture for a price.." A very low price. I'm not quite sure... $30,000 or something like that. Some are $60,000! "We have to make it, and we have to use all the stock footage up." and I said, "Oh, well.. ok. We'll try with what we can." So, I was amazed that the picture turned out as good as it did. Terry: That was the first time you ever worked with Joe Dante, right? Dick: Yeah. Terry: You've really been lucky because when you stopped working for Roger constantly, you started working for Joe and it's just kept you going. And you're still doing it! Dick: Well, I hadn't thought of it that way... (Chuckles) Terry: Well, it's true. (Laughs) Dick: Yeah, but it wasn't quite that. It overlapped a bit. I was still working for Roger quite a bit at that time. Joe was few and far between in the beginning. He had "Hollywood Boulevard". He did "Piranha". Terry: "Rock N' Roll High School" Dick: "Rock N' Roll High School"... and by that time I was already loosing a little speed. In "Rock N' Roll High School" I was playing a bit. I was doing a cop. We shot down in a section of town where they said, "Don't where your uniform until we shoot." I said, "Why not?" They said, "Because there may be snipers around." And I'm working under this condition! I'm like, "What? I'm a target!" There was a lot cut out in that. It just boiled out to almost one scene or something.. or two scenes. Terry: They actually blew up the high school too right? And you were there when they did that? Dick: Yeah, yeah. Terry: What was that like? Dick: It was loud. It was fun. It was supposed to be demolished anyway, that was the deal. I don't know what the inner workings were with Roger, but I imagine that the fire was kind of arbitrary whether they used it or didn't use it. Because, you know, they don't take down building with fire. Terry: I heard that the explosion was bigger than it was supposed to be and it woke up neighbors for blocks and blocks around the school? Dick: Oh yeah. Well, that goes without saying. Everything is louder than it's supposed to be. "Oh, we're just going to make a little poof."... and then... BOOM! Terry: You mentioned that a lot of your scenes for "Rock N' Roll High School" were cut down or out. Do you remember any of the ones that were cut out? What could we see in a director's cut someday? Dick: I don't know. I've really forgotten. The Ramones... Is that a Ramones shirt your wife is wearing? Terry: Yeah. Dick: Are you a Ramones fan? Terry: Oh, we love the Ramones. Dick: Well I'm gonna tell you about them! Terry: Ok.... Dick: I didn't know who the Ramones were. I said, "Who's this guy? Pretty geeky looking kids." And he said, "They're big. They're very big." I said, "Ok." They had a kid who ran around with them who was a groupie of some sort that they accepted and he was just always doing the 'funniest' things. Funny to them but no body else. There was a girl on the set down there and she had a birthday. They went out and got a cake for her. They said, "At 12:00 we're just gonna bust into this cake." I said, "Oh, that's wonderful. Nice surprise for her." Well, the clown thought he was funny and he started grabbing handfuls. He just destroyed it. This is where I got hot. I said, "What are you doing?" He said, "Ahh, it's just for laughs." I said, "What about her birthday?" He goes, "Oh.. welll.." I said, "Go get another cake." He said, "Where am I gonna get a cake in this neighborhood?" I said, "Get her a cake... OR..." and I grabbed him and I had him by the collar. Terry: You grabbed the groupie? Dick: Yes this little clown.. the groupie. Everybody was standing around and I said, "Get her a cake or there's going to be trouble." And this guy's like "Oh.. no.." and he went out and got her a cake. He found a Ralph's or something and he got her a cake. It soured me on the Ramones. It wasn't until after the picture came out that I said, "Ahh.. well, there's something here." That's it. Terry: So, you didn't buy their albums, right? (Chuckles) Dick: No... (Chuckles) Terry: Not your kind of music... Dick: No... Terry: So, in other words, when you delivered your line that they're 'ugly ugly people'.. you kind of meant that? Dick: That was an ad lib. (Laughs) Terry: It was an ad lib! (Laughs) Dick: We were supposed to be doing reaction shots. First Mary... and I was just supposed to look at her in disgust and I said, "What ugly people!" (Laughs) I said, "Sorry!" He said, "Leave it in!" Terry: So why do you think you're cast a lot as cops and security guards? Do you think you look like a cop? Dick: No, it was just a matter of trying to be kind to the guy who's getting a little old now. We don't know where he's going to go. My whole career was TV and these B-pictures. The TV was good. By that time I was working in big stuff. I just couldn't get off the ground and they said, "Whatever you are, this is it. You started late." I started when I was 25 I think in my first picture. So I'm missing five years. Five years and you tag it onto the end... you shorten your career. I wasn't a leading man. I wasn't a leading character man. Terry: Would you liked to have been? Dick: Oh yeah. Oh, sure. Terry: The love interest? Dick: You know, I did some of those pictures with "Sorority Girl" and things like that where I did my first 'movie kiss' and I thought, "Aww, gee. What am I going to do?" But I was grateful. I still wasn't worried about where my next meal was coming from. I just said, "Oh well, I'll try this for a little longer and then I'll try something else." I wrote a bunch of scripts at the time. Terry: You wrote "Which Way to the Front" for Jerry Lewis didn't you? Dick: Yeah. I didn't write it for HIM, but I wrote it at the time. He did it. He ruined it. I had a good little thing there with the Japanese and they decided to change it to Germany and make a big picture out of it, and I thought, "Oh, man..." Terry: Well, that's Jerry Lewis... You worked with Joe Dante again in "The Howling". Did you have a good time doing that film? Walter Paisley once again. Dick: "The Howling" was, I think, my favorite part. My favorite part was "The Howling". I just wail through this one seen. Terry: As a book shop owner right? Dick: Yeah. Terry: Did you get to meet John Carradine on set at all? Dick: Yeah, I met him everybody on the picture. I met John Carradine when I first came to this town. Terry: Did you like him as a person? Dick: Well, he was swinging. He was doing very well. He was a young vibrant guy (when we first met). This was 25 years later and I reminded him I had met him once before and he goes, "OH yes. Yes, my boy." Terry: Mary told a great story where she did "Silent Night, Bloody Night" with him and he kept track of all the actor's time so they'd get paid properly. Dick: Hmm, that's very interesting. Terry: Well, it's kind of interesting you worked with the father and the son. You worked with David and John. Dick: Yeah! Yeah. Terry: Let me ask you this, you were in "Twilight Zone: The Movie". When you found out about Vic Morrow and the accident, did it kind of make you concerned about safety on the sets after that even though you were in a different segment? Dick: Not any more so than I'd always been. I worked for Roger a lot of years and did a lot of my own stunts. I always knew that you've got to be careful about this stuff, because accidents happen. Jonathan (Haze) one time shot a guy with a blank. Well, he didn't know it, but from this close a blank does a lot of damage. Tore up the guy inside. I said, "Don't you..." He said, "Well, it's a blank!" I said, "Those things are dangerous!" I always watched out for my own stunts. I just thought that it was a shame. I thought the director was to blame. I don't care now because I'm practically finished with the business... Terry: You're a legend. You don't have to care. Dick: (Laughs) Oh, ok. But, I just think, from the reports that I've read and everything from the stuntman, from the pilot, that it shouldn't have happened. I put Vic Morrow in the business. Up in the Bronx, Bobby Van and I were childhood buddies and Vic Morrow was a kid about two or three years younger. I used to come up to him and he'd say, "Why are you guys always going down town? Why are you always running around? How do you get into show business?" So I figured, "Alright, I gotta get rid of this guy." So I said, "Vic, you pick up the green sheet. You see there's a play. You got up to the producer and you say 'I'm an actor.' and they give you the part!" "Ok, ok!" Terry: This would be the time you gave some advice! Dick: Oh yeah! Terry: There was a time! Dick: Yes! There you go! And I'll never do it again because the next time I saw him, he was in California doing "Blackboard Jungle"! I said, "Vic, what are you doing here?" He said, "I'm in a little picture over here.. blah blah blah." I said, "Yeah, well that's nice." I saw the picture. I almost flipped! I said, "How in the hell did you get that part?" He said, "I took your advice." He says, "I went to the producer and I told him I'm an actor and I want the part... and the guy gave it to me." I said, "Jesus Christ!" Terry: (Laughs) A film that our readers would be interested in hearing about is "White Dog"... Dick: "White Dog".. yeah... Terry: That film was pretty controversial. It was about a black man who was trying to train a dog not to attack black people and only whites? Dick: That was a picture I wasn't in. I talked to Jon Davison. He said, "There's nothing in this. Just a few specific parts and I just didn't get around to you." I said, "Thanks... thanks a lot." He said, "Well come on down and you'll play a guy who works with the animals.. an animal trainer." He says, "We've got this set we've got to show off anyway. It's in our contract." and he says, "Your dialogue will be something about an air gun for shooting darts and we'll have them stop in the office. It's a two minute scene and we'll get some dialogue from you." I said, "Fine." There's a monkey on there! They tell me the night before, I'm going to work with a chimp. I get down there and they tell me, "You can't work with the chimp because yesterday he picked a grip up, held him over his head for about 20 minutes, and put him down about 20 feet away!" Terry: (Laughs) Dick: He just flung him! I said, "My God, can they do that?" He said, "Yeah, they're very powerful." I said, "Well, what do we got?" He said, "I've got a little monkey for you." A cute little monkey! I said, "What do I do?" He said, "Nothing. You keep him on you. Every 10 seconds or so, give him a grape or give him a cherry." So he gives me a pouch full of them. He says, "And you just keep feeding him. Now if he bites you, you bite him back." I said, "WHAT?!" He says, "If he bites you, you bite him back. You pick him up and you bite him on the neck." I said, "No... this guy's putting me on." He says, "No, no. That's what you do." I said, "Alright, I'll.. I'll think about it." We're doing the scene and the trainer's over at the other end of the set by the camera and he starts signaling me. He says, "Look.. look..." and I look down and the monkey had peed on me. Terry: Oh man! Dick: I said, "Jesus Christ!" He says, "Bite him!" I said, "No." He says, "BITE HIM!" I said, "No, I won't bite the monkey!" I changed my suit, get back in and do the scene again... blah blah blah... and the monkey starts nibbling on me. I say, "NO! Don't you do that! No! No no no!" and I said, "See?" and he said, "Look down." I look down and the monkey has shit on me. "Alright..." He says, "Bite him." (Laughs) I said, "I won't bite the monkey!" We finished the scene anyway. Terry: You didn't bite the monkey though? Dick: I DIDN'T bite the monkey. (Laughs) I go outside and I see Jon Davison and I said, "A fine thing.. you've got a monkey that pissed on me, shit on me, and I'm down to biting a monkey." He says, "The legend grows!" Terry: (Laughs) What did you think about Sam Fuller as a director? He's a legend. Dick: Sam... yeah, he is. I took that picture because I wanted to work with Sam. I just wanted to be able to say I worked with him and he was a nice guy. He yelled at everybody. He yelled at me I said, "Oh.. what's.. what's this? He don't know me." but I saw that he was yelling at everybody so it was alright. Terry: We find that out too. We do extra work and they yell at you a lot. It's horrid, but we can't all be legends like Dick Miller. (Laughs) Dick: Ahhh yes... (Laughs) Terry: You had a very memorable role in "The Terminator". Did you like doing that? Dick: Yes, I liked it. It was a good scene. That's all I can say. I remember one guy wrote in Fangoria Magazine something like "In the brief time that he (Dick Miller) was on screen, I knew everything about him. What he had for breakfast. What his home life was like. I knew everything about that man." I don't see where this guy saw this, but it was a good scene. Terry: Did you get along well with Arnold? Dick: Yeah, yeah. He's a funny man. Terry: What do you think about the fact that he's governor now? Dick: Well, the less said, the better. Let's say that. (Laughs) Terry: (Laughs) Well, you could always run Dick. I'd vote for you. Dick: I'm too old to run! Terry: Oh no! Dick: Arnold was a good man. He's smoking his big cigars and he's having fun. I've got a good picture of him. Terry: I want to know, in "Gremlins 2", where you fought Stripe, Stripe turned into a bat, and you defeated him by covering him in cement.. how was that done? Dick: We turned on the cement machine and I covered him! It was as simple as that. There's nothing in it. Terry: Some fans have likened this to how Walter Paisley in "A Bucket of Blood" covered his victims in clay. Was this meant to be an homage? Dick: Oh.. no, there was no homage. It was simply a matter of this was what they had written. Terry: Joe didn't say, "This will be funny. We're going to spoof "A Bucket of Blood"? Dick: I don't think so. It wasn't close enough to be a spoof. Terry: Now Stripe, was he stop motion animation where they did one frame at a time or how did he come to life? How did they make the gremlins move? Dick: Oh, the gremlins.. they were everything! They were animated from the top. They were animated from the bottom. They were hand puppets. They were on strings. The used every kind of device known. We had the flying bats and they were on crane from up above. The wires and everything were taken out. And we had them from the ground! There were hand cranks on the bottom. Terry: And you were with Jackie Joseph again? Dick: Yes, I was with Jackie again. Terry: You were kind of like cheating on Seymour because now she was your wife! (Laughs) Dick: Oooh yes! (Laughs) Terry: What'd you think of that? (Laughs) Dick: (Chuckles) Didn't enter my mind. Terry: Later on you did "Evil Toons". That was kind of a strange film. What did you think of Fred Olen Ray? Dick: Fred's a nice boy. The least said the better. Terry: You also appeared in "The Burbs" with one of my favorite actors Bruce Dern... we interviewed him too. You played a garbage man. Was doing that film fun? Dick: Yeah, that was an ad libber's heaven. We just wailed, Bruce and I. He'd say something and I'd answer him. It was a lot of fun. Terry: After seeing him, since you hadn't been together in a long time, did you guys talk about the old Corman days together? Dick: Yeah... Terry: Did you? Dick: Yeah. I worked with Bruce in "Valentine's Day Massacre". He played the garage mechanic or something with a limp and I kick him in the leg or something and he says, "What the hell are you doing that for?" I said, "Cause I'm a mean man!" "Oh.. ok." Terry: What was the atmosphere on the set of "Matinee" like? Dick: Oh, down in Florida.. that's where I worked with John. Terry: John Goodman? Dick: John Sayles, and it was just a fun shoot. Terry: And it really was an homage to William Castle, right? Dick: Yes, it was! Definitely! I didn't know you were going to go into that. It was meant to be him and all the gimmicks were in there. The wired chairs and all that. Terry: What do you think of the use of gimmicks in films like Castle used? Dick: Oh, I don't know that that would increase the business any. The whole thing was trying to drum up some business, but I don't know that that would really change anything. Terry: But it was fun doing "Matinee" though? Dick: It was! It was a fun picture. Terry: It had a movie within a movie too that they showed. That was neat. Dick: Yeah. Well, when we did targets like that, I didn't know I was doing it until the picture was over and I said, "I'm in that movie! Something's wrong... you owe me some money!" Joe said, "Well how many days do you see up there?" I said, "I see three, four, or five days up there." He said, "No, wait a second! You don't!" I said, "Well, I see two days." He said, "Oh, ok, you see two days." Terry: Well, that's like in "Hollywood Boulevard", you're at the drive-in movie and you see yourself up there on the screen in "The Terror". Dick: I didn't know I was in that! Terry: Yeah! Maybe you should go back to Roger and be asked to be paid a little bit extra. (Laughs) Dick: Hmmmm... I didn't know that. An old sore from targets. Terry: Let me ask you this. I heard you were offered and performed a role in "Pulp Fiction" but were cut out? Dick: I was offered a role. We shot the role. It was a wonderful little scene. I played the part of 'Monster Joe'. They do ten minutes of talking about 'Monster Joe' and they come to it and they just cut it out. Now, I was told that it was cut out for time. Well, any picture that runs over two hours.. there's no such thing as time. So, some son of a bitch, and I don't care who it is, had me cut out of that picture. It's in the DVD. Now that one scene is in there so you can see it. It's at the end of the picture so you can see it. Terry: Did Quentin Tarantino say anything to you about "I'm sorry Dick"? Dick: No, but I went to the sneak preview. I couldn't get in for a while. I said, "What the hell is this?" They let me in and Quentin said to me, "Oh, I'm going to the bathroom..." He said, "Oh, Dick?" I said, "Yeah?" He says, "Uh, you're not in the picture." I said, "What?!" He says, "You're not in the picture. We had to run into a time thing." The scene only runs about a minute! Probably less than that! Terry: Did you think that after being in show business as long as you have (I mean, you're a cult icon!) that you may have thought perhaps they shouldn't have treated you like that because you're so known to people in cult films? Dick: I don't know whether they should have treated me or not treated me like that. I just knew that I was cut out of the picture and I didn't like it. To this day, it kind of gnaws at me. Terry: Would you do another Quentin Tarantino film? Dick: Oh sure. I don't think Quentin did it. I think that because of the fact that he stuck it in at the end of the DVD, he didn't do it. But, somebody, some where, some how, did it. Terry: What about your role as Uncle Willy in "Demon Knight"? What was that experience like? Dick: That was a fun picture. That was really fun! Terry: Were you a fan of "Tales From the Crypt" on television, before they made the movie? Dick: No. I played Uncle Willy and that was it. I loved the make-up on him. I just liked it. It was a good part. Terry: And of course your latest thing was "Looney Tunes: Back In Action"? Dick: Yeah... Terry: That had to be a blast. Dick: That was! That was fun. Terry: I thought it was pretty humorous that you and Corman had worked together and now you both are working at Warner Brothers. Dick: Yeah. (Chuckles) Terry: That's kind of ironic. Dick: Yeah. Roger now, he's pretty much an actor. He finds himself acting and everything. Terry: Well, he's in a position where he's as popular as an actor because of his legendary career. Some directors are as popular as actors. Let's put it that way. Did you get a chance to see Mary Woronov on the set of "Looney Tunes"? Your scenes were separate but did you run into her? Dick: I ran into her there. I said, "Hi, what'cha doing on this?" She said, "It's just a part." She had a nice part. Terry: You kind of had a bigger part than her I believe. Dick: Mmmm, I don't think so. Terry: She only had like two lines. You had more lines. Dick: Oh.. well I don't count my lines. (Laughs) Terry: Well, we get upset when we go see newer films with you guys in it. We just saw a new film with Mary in it and we get so mad because you guys should have a more substantial part but you always get like a minute. Dick: Yeah! Terry: Well for example we tried to go through Warner Brothers when "Looney Tunes" had just come out on DVD to get ahold of you and the publicist says "Oh, I suppose you want to interview Brenden and Jenna." I said, "No, actually we'd like Dick Miller" and she goes "OH, well, we're not doing any further press for the film." No one would help me. Dick: Those son of a guns! Terry: So, what do you think of Brendan Fraser? You did a lot of scenes with him. Is he a pretty nice guy? Dick: Nice guy. Talent guy. Terry: Is he a fan of yours? Did he possibly say anything to you about being a fan? Dick: Nope. (Laughs) "Who's he?" (Laughs) We were real professionals. "How do you do?" "How do you do?" "Let's go..." We did the scenes. "Thank you." and that was it. He took off. I took off. Terry: Do you think you'll continue to do Joe Dante films? Dick: Oh yes. As long as he wants me and my fans want me, I'll be happy to. I've got a show on Sunday, "Crossing Jordan".. so there's still work. As long as they want me, I'll be out there working! Terry: You look great. I wanted to find out if there's anything you'd like to say about your health, since you're still going strong and still acting? Dick: Oh yeah, well, I'm healthy as a horse! Terry: Well we're glad to hear it because you're here and we're all so glad you're here! We thank you so much for this interview... Dick: My pleasure! Terry: No, my pleasure. Dick: My pleasure!!