Biography for Mary Woronov
Mary Woronov as the Channeler
In Boston of 1691, a warlock escapes execution by conjuring up some kind of timestorm. He and witchhunter Redfern whisk forward 300 years to the living room of Kassandra, a native of Los Angeles. Before long, they're all hunting for the three parts of the Devil's bible, the Grand Grimoir, a book which contains the true name of God, which the warlock can use to un-create the world.
Biography for Mary Woronov
Date of birth
8 December 1943
Brooklyn, New York, USA
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Mary Woronov was born on December 8, 1943, at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida (some sources cite New York as her birthplace). A surgeon's stepdaughter, she was raised in Brooklyn Heights and attended Cornell University as a sculpting major. After a class trip to Andy Warhol 's Silver Factory, she joined Warhol's entourage and starred in a number of his underground films and appeared as a go-go dancer in the Velvet Underground's Exploding Plastic Inevitable shows. She left the Factory in the late 1960s and, after recovering from a heavy methamphetamine addiction, spent two years in Europe with a friend; during this time, Warhol was shot by Valerie Solanas, and with the altered Factory dynamic, "there was nothing to go back to." She supported herself with work in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theater, then "got scared and got married" to director/producer Theodore Gershuny. She appeared in of his films, Kemek (1970), Silent Night, Bloody Night (1973), and Sugar Cookies (1973). After the marriage broke up, Woronov moved to Los Angeles at the invitation of friend Paul Bartel, where she appeared on the daytime soap "Somerset" (1970) and had a memorable role in Bartel's Death Race 2000 (1975). Her best and most famous role came in 1982, with the part of Mary Bland in Bartel's black comedy Eating Raoul (1982). A major cult figure as an actress, she is also an accomplished painter and writer, having published three books--Wake for the Angels: Paintings and Stories, the autobiography Swimming Underground: My Years in the Warhol Factory, and the novel Snake.
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Trivia
Was the childhood sweetheart of folk singer/filmmaker Harry Chapin.
Appeared in the Suicidal Tendencies video for the song "Institutionalized".
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Personal quotes
"I knew what was art and what was shit. But sometimes the shit was more interesting."
Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
Cult movie starsupporting player most famous for her work with director-actor Paul Bartel. Woronov's best roles are in a pair of cult classics: Rock `n' Roll High School (1979), as authoritarian high school principal Miss Togar, and Bartel's Eating Raoul (1982), in which the pair play Mary and Paul Bland, middle-class murderers. She first surfaced as a member of Andy Warhol's Factory crowd during the 1960s, appearing in Warhol's The 14-Year-Old Girl and The Chelsea Girls (both 1966, in the latter billed as Mary Might). Her next screen roles were in such minor B films as Sugar Cookies (1973), Silent Night, Bloody Night (1974), and Cover Girl Models (1975). Woronov was in her element as an Amazonian bad girl named Calamity Jane in Bartel's Death Race 2000 (also 1975), and worked in Bartel's Cannonball (1976), and Joe Dante and Allan Arkush's Hollywood Boulevard (1976), playing Mary McQueen, a jealous actress, opposite Bartel's Erich von Leppe. Since the mid 1970s, she has had smaller roles in mainstream films: Mr. Billion (1977), The One and Only (1978), Black Widow (1986), and Dick Tracy (1990). She costarred in Bartel's Scenes From the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989) as a rich, snooty divorcee, and appeared briefly but effectively in The Living End (1992), playing a psychotic lesbian named Daisy. But most often, Woronov's credits have been bargain basement and bizarre: Angel from H.E.A.T (1982), Hellhole (1985), Nomads, Chopping Mall(replaying Mary Bland), TerrorVision (all 1986), Club Fed, Rock `n' Roll High School Forever (both 1991, in the latter as Dr. Vadar, another disciplinarian), Hellroller (1992), and Mortuary Academy (also 1992, as an instructor at a school for morticians).
The Devil's Rejects (2005) (completed) .... Wanda
Frog-g-g! (2004) .... Doctor
I Pass for Human (2004) .... Dr. Larraz
The Halfway House (2004) .... Sister Cecelia
Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) .... Acme VP, Bad Ideas
... aka Looney Tunes Back in Action: The Movie (USA: DVD box title)
Prison-A-Go-Go! (2003) .... Dyanne
New Women, The (2001) .... Lisa LaStrada
Vampire Hunters Club, The (2001) .... Receptionist
Citizens of Perpetual Indulgence (2000) .... Mary Richman
Straight Right (2000) .... Dr. Wright
Perfect Fit (1999) .... Mom
Zoo (1999) .... Prunella
Invisible Mom II (1999) (V) .... Olivia
Secrets of a Chambermaid (1998) .... Aunt Felicity
Mom, Can I Keep Her? (1998)
Sweet Jane (1998) .... Sales Lady
Munsters' Scary Little Christmas, The (1996) (TV) .... Mrs. Dimwitty
Glory Daze (1996) .... Mrs. Crump
Number One Fan (1995) .... Wedding Coordinator
Here Come the Munsters (1995) (TV) .... Mrs. Dimwitty
Shake, Rattle and Rock! (1994) (TV) .... E. Joyce Togar
Acting On Impulse (1993) (TV) .... Receptionist
... aka Eyes of a Stranger (1993) (TV) (USA)
... aka Roses Are Dead (1993) (TV)
... aka Secret Lies (1993) (TV)
... aka Secret Lives (1993) (TV) (USA)
Good Girls Don't (1993) .... Wilamena LaRue
Grief (1993) .... Attorney
"Flying Blind" (1992) TV Series .... Mona Savage (1993)
Hellroller (1992) .... Eugene's Aunt
Invasion of the Scream Queens (1992) .... Herself
Where Sleeping Dogs Lie (1992) .... Woman Tourist
Living End, The (1992/I) .... Daisy
Motorama (1991) .... Kidnapping Wife
Buster's Bedroom (1990) .... Jane
Club Fed (1990) .... Jezebel
Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever (1990) .... Doctor Vadar
Watchers II (1990) .... Dr. Glatman
Dick Tracy (1990) .... Welfare Person
Warlock (1989) .... Channeler
Let It Ride (1989) .... Quinella
Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989) .... Lisabeth Hepburn-Saravian
Mortuary Academy (1988) .... Mary Purcell
Kappa (1987)
Black Widow (1986) .... Shelley
Nomads (1986) .... Dirty Blond
TerrorVision (1986) .... Racquel Putterman
Chopping Mall (1986) .... Mary Bland
... aka Killbots (1986)
Challenge of a Lifetime (1985) (TV) .... Mary Garritee
Get Out of My Room (1985)
... aka Cheech and Chong: Get Out of My Room (1985)
Hellhole (1985) .... Dr. Fletcher
... aka Hell Hole (1985)
Bunny's Tale, A (1985) (TV) .... Miss Renfro
Movie House Massacre, The (1984) .... The Manager's Assistant
... aka Blood Theatre (1984) (Australia: video title)
Night of the Comet (1984) .... Audrey
Get Crazy (1983) .... Violetta
... aka Flip Out (1983)
Angel of H.E.A.T. (1982) .... Samantha Vitesse
... aka Angel from H.E.A.T. (1982)
... aka Protectors, Book 1, The (1982)
Eating Raoul (1982) .... Mary Bland
National Lampoon Goes to the Movies (1981) .... Secretary
... aka National Lampoon's Movie Madness (1981)
Heartbeeps (1981) .... Party House Owner
Lady in Red, The (1979) .... Woman Bankrobber
... aka Guns, Sin and Bathtub Gin (1979) (USA: reissue title)
Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979) .... Miss Evelyn Togar
... aka Girls' Gym (1979) (USA)
One and Only, The (1978) .... Arlene
Bad Georgia Road (1977) .... Hackett
Mr. Billion (1977) .... Actress
... aka Windfall, The (1977)
In the Glitter Palace (1977) (TV) .... Bartender
... aka Woman Accused, A (1977) (TV)
Hollywood Man (1976) .... Julie
Jackson County Jail (1976) .... Pearl
... aka Innocent Victim, The (1983) (USA: video title)
Cannonball (1976) .... Sandy Harris
... aka Carquake (1976) (UK)
Hollywood Boulevard (1976) .... Mary McQueen
Cover Girl Models (1975) .... Diane
Death Race 2000 (1975) .... Calamity Jane
Seizure (1974) .... Mikki
... aka Queen of Evil (1974)
"Somerset" (1970) TV Series .... Stephanie Dillard (1974-1975)
... aka "Another World: Somerset" (1970) (original title)
... aka "Somerset: Bay City" (1970) (original title)
Silent Night, Bloody Night (1973) .... Diane Adams
... aka Death House (1973)
... aka Night of the Dark Full Moon (1973) (UK)
Sugar Cookies (1973) .... Camila
Kemek (1970) .... Mary Wonderly
... aka For Love or Murder (1988) (video title)
Beard, The (1967)
Chelsea Girls (1967) .... Hanoi Hannah/Girl Friend
Four Stars (1967)
Hedy (1966)
... aka 14-Year-Old-Girl, The (1966) (USA)
... aka Hedy, the Shoplifter (1966) (USA)
Kiss the Boot (1966)
Milk (1966)
Shower (1966)
Superboy (1966)
