At a glance
The scream of an actress's mother signaled the birth of a horror-film franchise.
In 1980, Adrienne King and her mother were attending a test screening of "Friday the 13th," in which King had a major role. In the back of the room, director Sean Cunningham was pitching the movie to studio officials.
As the film wound down, King's mother was ready to leave. King, knowing that a significant scare remained, told her to wait.
When the big moment arrived, King’s mother shot out of her seat and began to screech. King turned and saw Cunningham shaking hands with the executives.
“They saw it right in front of their eyes,” she recalled, “and they said, ‘We’re going to change history.’”
With that, Jason Vorhees and the 12-film “Friday the 13th” series were born.
King will visit Columbus to attend screenings of the Nite Owl Theatre with Adrienne King Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse, 3055 Indianola Ave. 6141-261-1581, www. studio35.com; niteowltv.wixsite. com/main Saturday 11:30 p.m. Friday and $13 original movie on Friday and Saturday as part of "Nite Owl Theatre.” The monthly show mixes horror movies with prerecorded bits featuring host Fritz "The Nite Owl" Peerenboom and vintage commercials at the Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse in Clintonville.
"Nite Owl Theatre" also has a monthly screening at the Grandview Theater & Drafthouse in Grandview Heights.
King, who was born and raised in Oyster Bay, New York, began acting as a baby, first appearing in an Ivory soap commercial. Through high school, she appeared in other commercials and had small roles in TV shows and off-Broadway theater productions. King had a few uncredited roles in movies when she was chosen for the role of Alice, a counselor at doomed Camp Crystal Lake, in “Friday the 13th.”
She wasn’t a fan of horror movies, especially after seeing “The Exorcist” as a college freshman.
“Being raised Catholic,” she said, “that one did me in for a while.”
Filming for "Friday the 13th" began on Labor Day in 1979 at a Boy Scout camp outside Blairstown, New Jersey, with six actors (including Kevin Bacon, in his fourth big-screen performance) portraying young camp counselors. Everything was fun and games until a killer began to stalk the counselors.
Veteran actress Betsy Palmer (who played Jason Vorhees' mother in the film) took King under her wing, especially during the climactic fight scene between their characters.
“She said, 'Do not hold back because I’m really going to go out to kill you, and you’re going to have to fight back. And the camera doesn’t miss a beat; you can’t hold back,’” King recalled of Palmer.
The movie was shot for a paltry $550,000. But Paramount put its marketing weight behind the film, which opened in 1,300 theaters and reached No. 1 at the box office. According to the website thenumbers.com, which tracks movie box-office numbers, “Friday the 13th” has grossed almost $60 million worldwide and spawned a series that has grossed $466.2 million worldwide.
“It was incredible what that little film begat,” King said.
After appearing in “Friday the 13th,” King was tormented by a real-life stalker. She had a brief appearance in “Friday the 13th 2” but then turned to voice acting and art.
Today, the 62-year-old King lives in Jacksonville, Oregon, with her husband of 30 years, Richard Hassanein, the founder of United Film Distribution. She paints, acts occasionally and sells