THE BEVERLY BONNER INTERVIEW
RETROCRUSH INTERVIEWS "CASEY"
FROM THE BASKET CASE MOVIES
In 1982 director Frank Henenlotter
created the cult classic Basket Case which isa movie
about a young man named Duane and his deformed, homicidal Siamese
twin brother Belial. In that movie and its two sequels Beverly Bonner
played a friendly prostitute named Casey. So without further
adieu we bring you an interview with the beautiful Beverly Bonner.
How did you get the role of Casey in
Basket Case?
Frank
Henenlotter and I believe Edgar Ievins, the producer had seen me in
Women Behind Bars many years ago at the Truck and Warehouse
theater in the East Village. He said he was going to be doing some
films and if he did he would love me to be in them. Of course you
hear those things all the time, but that’s exactly what happened.
When he did Basket Case he called me.
Where you surprised the movie was being made on such
a low budget?
No, I was very happy to
have a little dressing room area. I felt like a movie star. They
treated me really well. Certainly they said it was going to be low
budget and I know they ran out of money on the first one. They had to
get more money to finish it up. I started out having a small role.
They ended up giving me the third lead and I got some points for the
movie too. I also got my SAG card. That was a lot of positive things
for me.
What was the lead Kevin Van Hentenryck like?
Particularly at that
time he was a shy young man.
What are your thoughts on the actress who played his
girlfriend Terri Susan Smith?
Right now she’s doing
music that is just kind of out there.
It’s a complete contrast from her Punk Rock roots.
I know she cut her hair
off before they did the film and they were very upset about that.
When they hired her she had long hair and that’s one of the things
they liked. She ended up wearing a wig and everybody was always
asking why she had a wig on. It’s because she had cut her hair off
and they wanted her with long hair. We got along great. I heard not
everyone was in love with each other on the set. I maintained a very
good relationship with Edgar and with Frank. Consequently, they put
me in everything they did.
I saw the production stills and it looks like you
smacked Kevin’s butt.
No, I didn’t smack his
butt. Well, who knows? Maybe I did. He had something going on with
somebody and I had something going on with somebody else.
Was somebody a guy in the movie?
It was somebody
involved with the movie.
You were also in Basket Case 2 & 3.
I was Casey in both of
those. Basket Case 2 was really weird because I think it was
about 10 years after they made the first film or more. It was
supposed to be right after he fell out the window. I felt a little
strange doing that role because I had put on weight since that film
and was older.
I
noticed in the 3rd one you’re listed as a Fast Food
manager.
Yeah, but my name was
still Casey. I guess Casey got a legit job. I wasn’t exactly the same
character. That was just Frank. He has a great since of humor. Casey
got a job at a hamburger place. That was shot in Atlanta by the way.
On the third one they had moved. They lived in the house with a Jazz
Singer Annie Ross. She was great and a lot of fun to hang out with.
Were you surprised Basket Case developed such
a big cult following?
It still surprises me.
Especially when the DVD came out, I mean I get a lot of calls from
fans and people who are really into it. I think it’s a good movie. We
didn’t have the money or anything, but it certainly is a lot more
interesting than some of the stuff I’ve seen where people have 20
million dollars and there’s no plot and nothing is happening. People
seem to identify with the characters.
By the time you got to Basket Case 2 and 3 where they
providing food on the set?
They provide food
anyway. There was never a time they didn’t provide food. It was never
that low budget.
Did you ever find your red panties and the high heels
you lost during Basket Case?
That Edgar Ievins, the
producer has got those. I never got them back. It’s Edgar because he
was always grabbing my red panties. It was actually Frank who was
clumping around in my high heels for the scene where you hear me
walking around the room.
You have a Happy
Smile Face theme in your apartment in the movie.
He filled that room
with Happy Smile faces. It’s just a joke. That’s his sense of humor.
If you look at the film you’ll realize there are a lot of funny
things happening in it too.
I was surprised by the different locations they
filmed in such as the gay sex club.
The Dungeon? We were
shooting down there. It was funny because we started shooting so
early in the morning. It was weird going in at 6 o’clock in the
morning to a place like that. That was the scene where Kevin and I
were getting drunk in the bar area. That was done very early in the
morning. I think people don’t realize how long it takes to shoot one
scene. I know in the scene I was lying down asleep and Belial puts
his hand on my breasts. I literally screamed for 8 hours that day.
Just for that little scene. I lost my voice.
You got along well with the director Frank
Henenlotter.
He reminds me of Opie
from Mayberry.
It’s hard to believe considering all the strange
things that come out of his mind.
If
you go down to his apartment he’d have hands and all kinds of strange
and scary things going across his lamp. He’s a little rosie cheeked
guy. He’s very quiet. He doesn’t like to hang out a lot. He’s even
very selective as to who he’ll even pick up the phone for. I consider
myself one of the lucky people. He’s not a bullshitter and he doesn’t
like a lot of fuss made over him.
People remember these great movies and want to know
when Frank’s going to make a new film?
There are always things
as far as money, distributors, and problems that arose. I know he got
into directing videos. I’m sure he’s going to do something again. I
hope he does. I think he got really turned off with some of the stuff
he had to go through with the films.
Basket Case played as a midnight movie at the
Waverly in New York for a year and a half.
It did really well.
It’s definitely a cult film I don’t know if you’ve heard of Joe Bob
Briggs. He used to write about us a lot. We were voted one of the top
10 movies of all times for a drive in theater.
Did you start getting recognized more during that
time?
When I had my TV show
on in New York people would come up and hug me. When the Basket Case
DVD came out I had my contact information listed. I got a great
reaction from the people who were into cult movies considering how
long ago it was. It certainly makes you feel good. It can be a little
scary too. There’s a downside to that sort of thing. I’ve had some
stalkers too.
What’s the scariest thing a stalker has done?
When I was doing
Women behind Bars with Divine this guy got this fixation with me.
He used to come up to the theater every night. He’d try to get in.
The producers had to keep him away. I’d go to a store and he would
suddenly appear. People get a fixation on you and they don’t seem to
be able to separate you from the character. They sit in there having
all these thoughts about you. It can be very creepy and nerve
racking. You never know what people are going to do. That’s the only
downside. Certainly, you always enjoy people appreciating your work.
What about Women behind Bars with Divine?
Divine was a very
sophisticated, quiet, and gentle person. I used to go to his house on
Christmas Eve and stuff like that. He had a penthouse on east 58th
street. His Christmas tree was to die for. It looked like one of the
windows on 5th avenue. He had $3,000 dollars worth of
ornaments on it. It was beautiful colors. Divine loved my BBQ
chicken. We went to Washington with the show. We’d walk around as
tourists. Divine and I would tell people we were married and they’d
look at us. He was just starting to play a lot of male parts. He was
going to be on Married with Children. He had stopped drinking,
he had stopped smoking grass, and he cleaned up his act. He was
getting ready for the big time.
I remember reading that he & John Waters would get in
trouble shoplifting things from stores.
You grow up in
Baltimore and you’re pretty much locked in from anything out of the
ordinary. Divine was a lovely guy. I remember coming out of my
apartment one morning on my way to work and seeing him on the front
page of the Daily News. I was totally shocked. I went to his funeral
in Baltimore. I went to a couple of memorials. John had this classy
high tea. Divine has spent some time in London doing some shows too.
John had this beautiful table set.
I met his parents at a
disco. There were a lot of celebrations of his life here in New York.
At his funeral there were people from all over the world. Women
behind Bars was a big hit and it ran a long time. It ran for over
a year. There were people in the audience like Warren Beatty, Elton
John, and Julie Harris. In fact Elton John did a concert at Madison
Square Garden. He had Divine come out of the ceiling. He certainly
had some good times. He seemed to be on a real health kick and it’s
so ironic to me. Once he goes and does everything healthy he drops
dead.
It’s been mentioned you’re good at cooking. What’s
your best recipe?
BBQ chicken, I’m a
great Soul Food cook. My grandmother raised me so I’ve been cooking
for years. I had a catering business and I still do cater every once
in awhile. I love to cook. There’s nothing I love better than having
friends over and to show them my love through the pots in my kitchen.
Would
you date someone who was a Siamese twin?
If they were attached?
No, I’m not into anybody watching me. That would definitely be a
problem.
Do you think they should be separated at birth?
If there’s a
possibility of them both living. If being separated meaning they’re
both going to die absolutely not. A lot of children in the early
stages of life are being separated and that’s a beautiful thing. I
can’t imagine being attached to someone all my life. I wouldn’t want
to be bothered.
Some of them feel like they should have stayed
together.
I have twin brothers
and nieces. I actually wondered how it was going to be for my brother
Thomas when his twin brother Tim passed away. It’s very, very
difficult because they do have that connection. When you have a
duplicate being with you all your life it’s very difficult. I know
they used to talk about what it would be like if one of them died and
the other is looking in the casket. They were connected in a lot of
different ways. I know as much as I miss Tim I know it was
devastating for my brother Thomas.
Is there a movie that frightens you?
The
Exorcist frightened me and one of the reasons it frightened me so
badly was because it wasn’t a movie about the castle, the rain, and
the dumb blonde girl with the see through negligee yelling, "Help!
Help! Help!" as she runs into danger. This was a situation where life
was going well, the sun was shining, and people where going about
their business. She’s dealing with this horrible, horrible situation.
That’s a reality. That is frightening. That’s what happens when you
have tragedy. That’s what happened when my mom died at Christmas. You
wonder, "Why do they have these lights? Why isn’t the world stopping
because I’m dealing with this?" I think that is very frightening.
When everything else is going on in the world and this horrific thing
is happening to you personally. It just seems to scrape, agitate, and
frighten you even more.
Are there other
things that frighten you?
I used to have dreams
about this as a kid is seeing a bunch of eyes in the dark. I guess I
dreamed it or it bothered me because I’ve always thought, read or
it’s been said that the living part of you is your eyes. It’s so
disconcerting when you see a blind person when you don’t see that
activity in the eyes. Where you can look into their eyes or their
soul and read something that’s not coming from their lips. I remember
reading a Stephen King book that had eyes on the cover. I lost it and
I never got to read it. I thought this is my nightmare come to life.
What do you want to be remembered for?
That I was an
accomplished hard worker and a good friend. Just remember that I want
that on my headstone. Don’t forget! I want a little Belial on the
corner though.
Frank
Henenlotter and I believe Edgar Ievins, the producer had seen me in
Women Behind Bars many years ago at the Truck and Warehouse
theater in the East Village. He said he was going to be doing some
films and if he did he would love me to be in them. Of course you
hear those things all the time, but that’s exactly what happened.
When he did Basket Case he called me. 
I
noticed in the 3rd one you’re listed as a Fast Food
manager. 
The
Exorcist frightened me and one of the reasons it frightened me so
badly was because it wasn’t a movie about the castle, the rain, and
the dumb blonde girl with the see through negligee yelling, "Help!
Help! Help!" as she runs into danger. This was a situation where life
was going well, the sun was shining, and people where going about
their business. She’s dealing with this horrible, horrible situation.
That’s a reality. That is frightening. That’s what happens when you
have tragedy. That’s what happened when my mom died at Christmas. You
wonder, "Why do they have these lights? Why isn’t the world stopping
because I’m dealing with this?" I think that is very frightening.
When everything else is going on in the world and this horrific thing
is happening to you personally. It just seems to scrape, agitate, and
frighten you even more.
