One-Question Interview with Beverly Randolph

The 1985 dark comedy-horror film, The Return of the Living Dead is a classic of its genre and the cast often reunites for appearances at horror convention and fan events. Some had already made names for themselves in B-moviedom (such as Clu Gallagher, Linnea Quigley, and Jewel Shepard) when the film was cast, but most were unknown at the time, such as Beverly Randolph.

Beverly's character, Tina, was the seemingly "good girl" who, for whatever reason, hung out with the ill-fated bunch of punkers, misfits, and outlaws who were in search of a place to party and decided upon the cemetery that became overrun with newly "awakened" zombies. Since it's undoubtedly the role she's best-known for, it's a safe bet that she's constantly asked about the film whenever she gives an interview. Realizing that, I asked Beverly if she'd be amenable to a one-question interview, to which she warmly replied that she was. Of course, it was going to be a question about ROTLD, but it was just going to be one question, and one I hoped one that she hadn't been asked too many times before. So, I asked her about a line she spoke in the film. (No, not "I'm not into dead guys." That was spoken by Suzanne Snyder in 1988's Return of the Living Dead 2)

Beverly at Monsterpalooza 2012. I'm sure there were

some there who called the number on the tank.

CHRIS CHARLES: When the group was in the graveyard, waiting for Freddy to get off work, Tina asked Spider what time it was. When he replied; "Goin' on ten," Tina said; "Oh, fudge! I better get over and find Freddy. He's going to be getting off any time now." Was the "Oh, fudge" in the script or did you come up with that because you felt Tina was too much of a "good girl" to swear?

BEVERLY RANDOLPH: "Oh fudge!" was not an ad-lib. We stuck very closely to the script. The one scene I do know that was different was the attic scene when Ernie, played by Don Calfa, put a gun to my head. He liked the scene in the movie The Stage Coach where the gentleman was going to kill the woman before the Indians got her. Don suggested that scene to Dan and we did it. We had two weeks of rehearsal before shooting so everything was really cleaned up and tightened long before we shot.