PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY


KIRKUS REVIEW


THE NEW YORKER


PREMIERE MAGAZINE


AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN


TAOS HORSEFLY


AUSTIN CHRONICLE ARTICLE


AUSTIN CHRONICLE REVIEW

ATTACK OF THE B MOVIE MEMOIRS!
Two actors escape Hollywood's shadows scouring for credit.
By Jewel Shepard

This month, we're treated to two new autobiographies: Adventures of a No Name Actor (Bloomsbury) by Marco Perella (JFK, Home Fries), who's made a 16-year career out of playing the sort of characters you see in the credits simply as "Man #1," or "Good ol' Boy"; and Bruce Campbell's If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor (St. Martin's), which gives us a behind-the-scenes peek into the horror genre that has made Campbell (Sam Raimi's Evil Dead movies) a star — of sorts.

And then there's me, Jewel Shepard, actress-idol in lots of movies where I get whipped and/or take showers (Hollywood Hot Tubs, Caged Heat II). I wrote If I'm So Famous, How Come Nobody's Ever Heard of Me? a few years ago. Get the theme here? We're Hollywood's second-class citizens, but that doesn't mean we don't have a few stories to tell.

SHEPARD: I started out getting my top ripped off telekinetically by Scott Baio in Zapped!

PERELLA: I started out as a dream figure, floating down the Guadalupe River in Kevin Costner's Fandango…. But my scene was cut.

CAMPBELL: I started out making a bucketload of Super-8s. I owe a lot to Super-8.

SHEPARD: …And dead people.

CAMPBELL: I've worked with an army of dead people.

PERELLA: I've killed more than been killed. Too bad I didn't waste Mary Tyler Moore in Keys to Tulsa. It would've been a great career move, like Bruce Dern killing John Wayne in The Cowboys; he's famous forever.

SHEPARD: Fame is a strange bird.

PERELLA: It is. My fan base is five-to-ten-year-olds because I worked with Wishbone.

SHEPARD: The dog on PBS?

PERELLA: Kids are in awe of me.

SHEPARD: I got a used condom from a fan…

CAMPBELL: Ugh. That's awful. I get an occasional adoring e-mail…from 15-year-old boys or gay men.

SHEPARD: No women's underwear?

CAMPBELL: No. It pisses me off.

---