TERROR IN THE AISLES

NANCY ALLEN
DONALD PLEASENCE

"Terror in the Aisles" is a 1984 movie with Donald Pleasance and Nancy Allen taking the viewer through some of Hollywood's most terrifying moments in horror history, which features many of the finest science fiction, crime, drama and horror movies of the 1930s through 1980s. Included are Night of the Living Dead (1968), Psycho (1960), Rosemary's Baby (1968), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Jaws (1975), Jaws 2 (1978), The Fog (1980), Halloween (1978) and Halloween II (1981), as well as countless others.Legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock discusses his visionary ideas on creating suspense. Blood and gore abound making this movie not very much for the squeamish audiences. DONALD PLEASENCE From IMDB: Balding, quietly spoken, of slight build and possessed of piercing blue eyes - often peering out from behind round, steel-rimmed glasses - Donald Pleasence had the necessary physical attributes which make a great screen villain. In the course of his lengthy career, he relished playing the obsessed, the paranoid and the purely evil. Even the Van Helsing-like psychiatrist Sam Loomis in the "Halloween" (1978) franchise seems only marginally more balanced than his prey. An actor of great intensity, Pleasence excelled on stage as Shakespearean villains. He was an unrelenting prosecutor in Jean Anouilh's "Poor Bitos" and made his theatrical reputation in the title role of the seedy, scheming tramp in Harold Pinter's "The Caretaker" (1960). On screen, he gave a perfectly plausible interpretation of the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, in "The Eagle Has Landed" (1976). He was a convincingly devious Thomas Cromwell in "Henry VIII and His Six Wives" (1972), disturbing in his portrayal of the crazed, bloodthirsty preacher "Quint in Will Penny" (1967); and as sexually depraved, alcohol-sodden 'Doc' Tydon in the brilliant Australian outback drama "Wake in Fright" (1971). And, of course, he was Ernst Stavro Blofeld in "You Only Live Twice" (1967). These are some of the films, for which we may remember Pleasence, but there was a great deal more to this fabulous, multi-faceted actor. Donald Henry Pleasence was born on 5 October 1919 in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom; to Alice (Armitage) and Thomas Stanley Pleasence. His family worked on the railway; his grandfather had been a signal man and both his brother and father were station masters. When Donald failed to get a scholarship at RADA, he joined the family occupation working as a clerk at his father's station before becoming station master at Swinton, Yorkshire. While there he wrote letters to theatre companies eventually being accepted by one on the island of Jersey in Spring 1939 as an assistant stage manager. On the eve of World War II, he made his theatrical debut in "Wuthering Heights". In 1942, he played Curio in "Twelfth Night", but his career was then interrupted by military service in the RAF. He was shot down over France, incarcerated and tortured in a German POW camp. Once repatriated, Donald returned to the stage in Peter Brook's 1946 London production of "The Brothers Karamazov" with Alec Guinness although he missed the opening due to measles, followed by a stint on Broadway with Laurence Olivier's touring company in "Caesar and Cleopatra" and "Anthony and Cleopatra". Upon his return to England, he won critical plaudits for his performance in "Hobson's Choice". In 1952, Donald began his screen career, rather unobtrusively, in small parts. He was only really noticed once having found his métier as dastardly, sneaky Prince John in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1955). It took several more years, until international recognition came his way: first, through the filmed adaptation of "The Guest" (1963); and, secondly, with his blind forger in "The Great Escape" (1963), a role imbued with added conviction due to his own wartime experience. Some of his best acting Donald reserved for the small screen. In 1962, the producer of "The Twilight Zone" (1959), Buck Houghton, brought Donald to the United States ('damn the expense'!) to guest star in the third-season episode "The Changing of the Guard". He was given a mere five days to immerse himself in the part of a gentle school teacher, Professor Ellis Fowler, who, on the eve of Christmas is forcibly retired after fifty-one years of teaching. Devastated, and believing himself a failure who has made no mark on the world, he is about to commit suicide when the school's bell summons him to his classroom. There, he is confronted by the spirits of deceased students who exhort him to consider that his lessons have had fundamental effects on their lives, even leading to acts of great heroism. Upon hearing this, Fowler is now content to graciously accept his retirement. Managing to avoid maudlin sentimentality, Donald's performance was intuitive and, arguably, one of the most poignant ever accomplished in a thirty-minute television episode. Once again, against type, he was equally delightful as the mild-mannered Reverend Septimus Harding in Anthony Trollope's "The Barchester Chronicles" (1982). Whether eccentric, sinister or given to pathos, Donald Pleasence was always great value for money and his performances have rarely failed to engage. Pleasence passed away on 2 February 1995 in Saint-de-Cence, Alpes-Maritimes, France. NANCY ALLEN From IMDB: Nancy Anne Allen was born on 24 June 1950 in New York City, New York, USA, and raised in the Bronx borough of New York City, the youngest of three children. Her father, Eugene Allen, was a New York police lieutenant. At a young age, she trained for a dancing career at the High School of Performing Arts, and then attended Jose Quintano's School for Young Professionals. In dozens of television commercials from the age of 15, Nancy made her first film appearance in "The Last Detail" (1973) with Jack Nicholson. Three years later, she furnished the standard for all future bitch-goddess teenagers as Chris Hargensen in Stephen King's "Carrie" (1976), taken to the big screen by director Brian De Palma. Nancy then married De Palma in 1979. She next appeared in Steven Spielberg's "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (1978); for the next few years, she appeared only in De Palma's films: "Home Movies" (1979), "Dressed to Kill" (1980), and she starred with John Travolta in "Blow Out" (1981). After her divorce from De Palma in 1984, Nancy's movie opportunities were supposedly narrowed, but then she surprised the whole world when she performed as Officer Anne Lewis in the science fiction cult film "RoboCop" (1987), along with Peter Weller. Here, she furnished another standard as a tough but at the same time feminine policewoman, whose sex would not interfere with her actions. After the success of Robocop (1987), she performed as Patricia Gardner in the second sequel "Poltergeist III" (1988). She came back in "RoboCop 2" (1990) and in order to get more involved with her character, Nancy learned martial arts and police training for real. She returned again in "RoboCop 3" (1993), though her co-star Peter Weller did not this time. In 1993, Nancy joined several other veteran stars in "Acting on Impulse" (1993), and married co-star Craig Shoemaker, in the same year. A few years later, she divorced Craig and some time after she married again. She later appeared in some diverse movies: "Dusting Cliff 7" (1997), "Secret of the Andes" (1998), "Circuit" (2001), and she had a guest appearance in Steven Soderbergh's "Out of Sight" (1998). Her last performance was for the television series "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999), in the episode "Escape" aired on 2 December 2003. Allen has appeared in a number of documentaries about her most famous movies, including "Dressed to Kill" (1980), "Carrie" (1976), "Blow Out" (1981), "Poltergeist III" (1988), and the "RoboCop" trilogy. She also hosted Andrew J. Kuehn's horror film documentary "Terror in the Aisles" (1984), along with Donald Pleasence. Interested in projecting the image of a strong but at the same time feminine woman, she managed to get away from the victim roles she was always offered, she also was able to get away from the stereotype of the beautiful but dumb woman in most action films. She is an environmentalist that traded her Volvo car for an Hybrid car in order to furnish the example. She is also an activist against breast cancer along with her friend actress Wendie Jo Sperber, who created the foundation WeSpark. Her last appearance on television was on the Inside E! story of her co-star John Travolta and the A&E Biography of Travolta - both appearances in 2004. Nowadays, Allen lives a quiet life along with her family and friends somewhere in the United States. Below is the trailer for the movie: "Terror In The Aisles" - trailer from The Professor's Scary Clips on Vimeo.

LINKS

Internet Movie Data Base "Terror in the Aisles"	Wikipedia "Donald Pleasence"	Internet Movie Data Base "Donald Pleasence"
The Terror Trap "Donald Pleasence"	Pleasence.com "Donald Pleasence"	Internet Movie Data Base "Nancy Allen"

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