Adrienne King

Adrienne King
King in 2009
Born (1960-07-21) July 21, 1960
Oyster Bay, New York, U.S.
Residence Jacksonville, Oregon, U.S.[1]
Education Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation
  • Actress
  • winemaker
  • painter
Years active 1965–present
Spouse(s)
Richard Hassanein (m. 1987)
Website adrienneking.com

Adrienne King (born July 21, 1960)[lower-alpha 1] is an American film, stage, and voice actress, visual artist, and former stuntwoman. She is best known for portraying Alice Hardy in Sean S. Cunningham's horror film Friday the 13th (1980), a role she later reprised in Steve Miner's sequel Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981). A child actor, King made her film debut as Melinda in the television feature Inherit the Wind (1965) before appearing in Between the Lines (1977), Saturday Night Fever (1977), and Hair (1979) in uncredited roles.

After appearing in the Friday the 13th films, King suffered an aggressive stalker which prompted her to go into seclusion. King worked as a stunt performer and extra for the supernatural comedy film Ghostbusters (1984). She reemerged doing voice acting and dubbing in the early 1990s, providing looping voices for a wide range of films including The Night We Never Met (1993), The Man Without a Face (1993), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), The Good Son (1993), Wolf (1994), While You Were Sleeping (1994), Jerry Maguire (1996), and Titanic (1997).

In 2009, she made her first onscreen appearance in nearly three decades in the independent film Psychic Experiment, followed by supporting parts in All American Bully (2011) and The Butterfly Room (2012).

Life and career

1960–1979: Early life and roles

King was born and raised in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. She is a first-generation American; her mother was English and from Liverpool.[2] She appeared in her first commercial when she was six months old.[3] In 1965 around age five,[3] she appeared in the Hallmark Channel television film Inherit the Wind in a supporting role.[3] The experience sparked an interest in performance, and King went on to appear in commercials and act in local theater and Off-Broadway productions throughout her childhood.[3]

Beginning in ninth grade, she began auditioning for films in New York City: "As long as I kept my grades up, everyone was cool with it," she recalled.[3] During this time, she worked as an extra, as well as performing as an uncredited dancer in the films Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Hair (1979).[3] She also had a small supporting role in the comedy film Between the Lines (1977). During this time, she studied art at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology.[4]

1980–2008: Friday the 13th and aftermath

In 1979, while King was appearing in a commercial for Burger King, she was referred to producer Sean S. Cunningham through a mutual friend for a role in his directorial debut, the horror film Friday the 13th. Cunningham felt King embodied the qualities of the film's lead heroine, Alice Hardy, and he cast her in the film.[3] Shot in New Jersey in the summer of 1979, Friday the 13th went on to become a massive box office success, grossing nearly $60 million worldwide.[5]

The following year, she reprised her role as Alice Hardy in the sequel Friday the 13th Part 2, in which the character meets her demise,[6][7] and starred in a Downy commercial.[8] After the success of Friday the 13th, King was pursued by a male stalker who managed to learn areas she frequented, where she exercised, and ate lunch.[9] The man took Polaroid photographs of King that he would slip under the door of her apartment in New York City, and at one point, broke into her apartment and defaced her artwork.[9] On one occasion, the man confronted her in her apartment and held a gun to her head.[9] The assailant was apprehended and spent some time imprisoned, but the incident traumatized King, prompting her to leave the public eye.[9] Subsequently, King was hired as a stunt performer and background actor for the Ivan Reitman film Ghostbusters (1984), having been acquainted to the stunt coordinator Cliff Cudney.[10]

She subsequently relocated to London,[9] where she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, studying voice and dance.[2] Upon finishing her studies, she returned to the United States, settling in Los Angeles, where she met her husband, Richard Hassanein, the founder of United Film Distribution.[11] Reluctant to appear onscreen, King reemerged doing voice acting and ADR work, first for Mel Gibson's The Man Without a Face, and the Lasse Hallström-directed drama What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (both 1993).[12] She continued to provide voice work for numerous Hollywood productions throughout the 1990s, including Philadelphia (1993), The Pelican Brief (1993), Wolf (1994), Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire (1996), and James Cameron's Titanic (1997).[12] She would later state: "Voiceover work saved me. There's no question it came all around full circle, and I'm a better, more compassionate and stronger actor and artist."[12]

2009–present: Film and other projects

In 2009, she signed on to the science fiction/horror film Psychic Experiment, marking her first onscreen film appearance in 27 years.[13] In 2012, she starred in the Welsh Christmas horror film Silent Night, Bloody Night: The Homecoming, an unofficial sequel to the American horror film Silent Night, Bloody Night (1974)[14] and The Butterfly Room.[15] King is set to portray Jackie Winters, an investigative reporter, in the upcoming horror film William Froste and Theresa in the short film Admonition.[16]

As of 2010, King also worked as a winemaker and wine company coordinator in southern Oregon.[1][17] She has sold her own line of Friday the 13th-themed wines through the company, called Crystal Lake Wines, as well as paintings.[18]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1965Inherit the WindMelindaTelevision film
1977Between the LinesYoung LadyUncredited
1977Saturday Night FeverDancerUncredited
1979HairDancerUncredited
1980Friday the 13thAlice Hardy
1981Friday the 13th Part 2Alice Hardy
1984Friday the 13th: The Final ChapterAlice HardyArchive footage
1984GhostbustersWoman Dodging Cab[19]Stunt performer; uncredited
1984Terror in the AislesAlice HardyArchive footage
1993The Man Without a FaceVoice looping
1993The Good SonVoice looping
1993What's Eating Gilbert GrapeGroup (voice)
1993PhiladelphiaVoice looping; uncredited
1993The Pelican BriefVoice looping; uncredited
1994WolfVoice looping
1995While You Were SleepingVoice looping; uncredited
1996Jerry MaguireVoice looping; uncredited
1997TitanicVoice looping; uncredited
1997MouseHuntVoice looping
2000Almost FamousVoice looping; uncredited
2010Psychic ExperimentLouise Strack
2011Back to the LakeAlice HardyShort film
2011Back to the Lake 2Alice HardyShort film
2011All American BullyPrincipal Kane
2012The Butterfly RoomRachel
2012Gabby's WishAngela
2013Silent Night, Bloody Night: HomecomingThe StrangerVoice role
2013Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13thHerselfDocumentary
2013This Is the EndVoice looping; uncredited
2014Tales of PoeQueen of Dreams/Private Nurse
2017Friday the 13th Part 3: The Memoriam DocumentaryHerselfDocumentary
2018AdmonitionTheresaShort film
2018William FrosteJackie Winters
2019Killer TherapyMrs. Perkins
2019Friday the 13thAlice HardyShort film, writer

Notes

  1. ↑ While some sources such as Rotten Tomatoes list her birthday as February 4, King confirms her birthdate as July 21 on her official, self-maintained Facebook page.

References

  1. 1 2 "First 'Friday the 13th' star's dreams are now in rural Oregon". The Oregonian. Portland, Oregon. October 19, 2010. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  2. 1 2 King, Adrienne (March 18, 2012). "Episode 31: Friday the 13th". The Hysteria Continues! (Interview). Interviewed by Justin Kerswell.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Norman 2014, p. 84.
  4. ↑ Norman 2014, p. 85.
  5. ↑ Box Office Information for Friday the 13th. Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. The Numbers. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
  6. ↑ Williams 2015, p. 198.
  7. ↑ Verongos, Helen (May 8, 1981). "Horror of horrors; 'Friday the 13th' sequel nothing new". The Clarion-Ledger. Jackson, Mississippi. p. 4D – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "1982 Downy Commercial with Adrienne King". campblood.net. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Norman 2014, p. 86.
  10. ↑ Squires, John (August 31, 2018). "'Friday the 13th' Star Adrienne King Reveals She's Hiding in 'Ghostbusters' as an Uncredited Stuntwoman". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  11. ↑ Newman, Vanessa (May 10, 2018). "Cult Classic Star Toasts Paradise: Adrienne King, Friday the 13th Survivor, Thrives in Southern Oregon". Rogue Valley Messenger. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  12. 1 2 3 Norman 2014, p. 87.
  13. ↑ "Title Change: Walking Distance Leads to Experimental Activity". Dread Central. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  14. ↑ "Gory New Stills from Silent Night, Bloody Night: The Homecoming". Dread Central. May 14, 2012. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Video: Teaser Trailer for The Butterfly Room is Here". Coming Soon. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  16. ↑ "Adrienne King Joins Stacked Cast of William Froste". Dread Central. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Adrienne King takes you back to the lake with Crystal Lake Wines". horrorsociety.com. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  18. ↑ Decker, Sean (October 13, 2011). "Exclusive: Friday the 13th's Adrienne King Talks Crystal Lake Wines and More!". Dread Central. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  19. ↑ James, David (September 1, 2018). "Friday The 13th Star Adrienne King Reveals Her Secret Uncredited Role In Ghostbusters". We Got This Covered. Retrieved September 2, 2018.

Works cited

  • Norman, Jason (2014). Welcome to Our Nightmares: Behind the Scene with Today's Horror Actors. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-786-47986-3.
  • Williams, Tony (2015). "Trying to Survive on the Darker Side: 1980s Family Horror". In Grant, Barry Keith. The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-1-477-30242-2.
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