The Only Major Actors Still Alive From The Original Texas Chainsaw Massacre Movie
Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is so raw, bleak, and gritty that one could be forgiven for thinking they discovered a legitimate snuff film. The interior of the killer family's household, festooned with human bone-encrusted furniture and lampshades made from skin, looks more like a grim discovery than a constructed set. It's well known among the film's fans that many elements of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" were inspired by the crimes of notorious murder and arts-and-crafts enthusiast Ed Gein. Gein, who actually lived in Wisconsin, is confirmed to have murdered at least two people, although he frequently plundered a nearby graveyard for building materials. A list of Gein's grisly crafts can easily be found by true crime enthusiasts, and the makers of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" recreated some of them in shocking detail.
The main characters of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" were a quintet of city slickers — Sally, Jerry, Pam, Kirk, and Franklin — who were passing through Texas to check on the gravestone of a relative. They run afoul of a strange hitchhiker, run out of gas, and have to wander into the overgrown underbrush to ask the very, very remote locals for aid. The locals are, of course, a pack of cannibals who are all too eager to torture, murder, and likely eat passersby. Most terrifying is the hulking mute butcher called Leatherface, who wears a mask made of human skin.
"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" turns 50 in 2024. Let's look up the surviving cast of the original movie and see what they have been up to.
Allan Danziger (Jerry)
One of the core five characters, Jerry was the one in the outsize '70s glasses and ultra-fashionable, large-collared shirt. He was also the one who found Pam's half-dead body in a freezer before having his head smashed in with a hammer by Leatherface. Sorry, Jerry.
Perhaps the experience was too intense for actor Allan Danziger, as he wouldn't appear in another film for 48 years, only recently turning up in Sean Haitz's 2022 B-movie "Cannibal Comedian," which he narrated. It's likely that the makers of "Cannibal Comedian" hired Danziger because of his association with Tobe Hooper's notoriously icky horror classic. The film also features actor Edwin Neal, another one of the surviving "Chain Saw" actors.
Prior to "Chain Saw," Danziger was in Tobe Hooper's 1969 debut film "Eggshells," a deep cut even for staunch horror fans. After "Chain Saw," Danziger founded his own corporate entertainment company, called Three Ring Service, which provides door-to-door novelties like singing telegrams and delivery guys in gorilla suits. A noble profession indeed. He is also not shy about exploiting his association to "Chain Saw," as his own personal website can be found at ChainsawJerry.com.
Edwin Neal (The Hitchhiker)
The action of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is kicked off by the appearance of a terrifying and bloodied hitchhiker who commits acts of self-mutilation in front of the five main characters, all while cackling maniacally. He is played by Edwin Neal, whose performance assured audiences were left off-balance and terrified. Ever since "Chain Saw," Neal has become a mainstay of the horror community, collecting posters and memorabilia.
"Chain Saw" was Neal's first film, but he has continued to act in horror films since then, in addition to appearing in the 1986 romance "My Two Loves" and as a supporting player in Oliver Stone's 1991 prestige picture "JFK." He also appeared in the zany horror romantic comedy "My Boyfriend's Back," as well as various ultra-low budget genre films, including the above-mentioned "Cannibal Comedian." On top of all that, Neal has carved out a niche for himself providing English-language voice-over work for high-profile anime productions. Only deep-cut anime fans might be able to recognize titles like "Sakura Wars" and "Getter Robo Armageddon."
Outside of film, Neal has lent his voice to several video games, including "Metroid Prime 3: Corruption" and "DC Online" (where he played the comic book supervillains Killer Croc and Two-Face). In 2023, he reprised his role as the hitchhiker in a new "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" video game. He has not forgotten his roots.
William Vail (Kirk)
Kirk is the character on the left in the picture above, the one standing next to the van in the blue shirt. That's actor William Vail, a man whose acting career remained modest, but whose career as a set decorator lasted many years.
Prior to "Chan Saw," Vail only appeared in a short called "No Chance," and would play "Implosion Man" in Hooper's "Poltergeist" six years later, as well as a ghoul in Michael Dugan's 1983 film "Mausoleum." His only other acting credit is for the 1988 home invasion comedy "Glitch!" From the late 1980s all the way through 2012, however, Vail got a lot of work as a set decorator, working on high-profile TV movies and feature-length spinoffs. For instance, did you know there were three straight-to-TV sequels to "Midnight Run" in 1994? They were called "Another Midnight Run," "Midnight Runaround," and "Midnight Run For Your Life." Vail decorated all three of them.
He is about to celebrate his 73rd birthday.
Teri McMinn (Pam)
One of the most harrowing deaths in "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" was that of Pam, played by actor Teri McMinn. Pam was the one in the red short-shorts who was seized by Leatherface, brought into the abattoir, and hung on a meat hook, all while still kicking and screaming. It was her body that Jerry, above, found stuffed in a freezer. Perhaps not the most glamorous thing to be remembered for, but memorable nonetheless.
McMinn was a Texas local actor who merely auditioned for the part. Like some of her co-stars, she seems to have been soured to the biz after "Texas Chain Saw," perhaps because of the harrowing subject matter, or because the shoot was notoriously not very fun. She later turned up in a 2009 horror film called "The Cellar," and another cannibal thriller called "Butcher Boys" in 2012. Beyond that, she has worked more extensively on the local stage and served briefly as a leg and foot model for TV commercials. It's likely we've all seen her appendages selling hosiery or shoes.
According to her IMDb profile, McMinn was shy about appearing at horror conventions like some of her co-stars and was only convinced to take part in a cast reunion as late as 2008. In an unknown interview, also in IMDB, McMinn was astonished that she is part of a gory cult flick like "Chain Saw" and noted that images of her hanging on a meat hook have been put on the walls of modern art museums. She only has pleasant thoughts of the film.
John Dugan (Grandfather)
Every scene in "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" could be described as "disturbing" or "repellant," but another notable standout among the horror was the scene wherein Sally (the late Marilyn Burns) was invited to dinner by the hooting cannibal family. The family wheels out the mummified corpse of their grandfather in a wheelchair and sits him at the table. Sally is horrified. The cannibals haul Sally over to the mummy and cut her fingertip with a blade, putting the bleeding wound in the mummy's mouth. To everyone's shock, Grandfather is still alive, and begins instinctually sucking the blood out of Sally's finger.
That was actor John Dugan, only 21 at the time, wearing a full-head old man mask. Like several of his co-stars, Dugan also took a break from acting after "Texas Chainsaw," staying out of the business for 20 years. He was game enough to appear as a cop, sans mask, in the 1995 sequel "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation," one of the worst movies ever made. By 2000, the acting bug bit him again, and Dugan began appearing in horror movies once more. He also appeared in "Butcher Boys" with Teri McMinn and briefly reprised his role as Grandfather in the 2013 film "Texas Chainsaw 3D," ultimately tearing through more than a dozen B-pictures from 2013 to 2017.
Dugan held a record for many years as the actor who reprised the same role with the largest number of years in between performances; there were 39 years between "Chain Saw" and "Texas Chainsaw 3D." That record was broken in 2018, however, when Nick Castle played Michael Myers in "Halloween," made 40 years after the original.
John Larroquette (The Narrator)
Hooper's film begins with a narrator gravely setting up events:
"The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But, had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected nor would they have wished to see as much of the mad and macabre as they were to see that day. For them, an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."
Horror fans the world over now know that the narration was provided by then-upcoming superstar John Larroquette. Laroquette is one of the more decorated actors of his peer group, having appeared in "Night Court," "The John Larroquette Show," "Boston Legal," and, as of 2023, "Night Court" again. He also appeared in "Stripes," "Cat People," "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock," "Madhouse," "JFK," "Demon Knight," and dozens of others. His TV career is too long to get into here.
Never forgetting his roots, Larroquette also narrated the 2003 "Texas Chainsaw" remake, the 2006 follow-up "The Beginning," and the 2022 follow-up.
Larroquette has won five Emmys and a Tony. He will soon celebrate his 76th birthday.