By my unofficial count, by far, the blog post that receives the most traffic on Johnny LaRue's Crane Shot is the memorial I penned last year about the late drive-in actress Candice Rialson, who passed away in March 2006 at the terribly young age of 54. She was not just a good actress in exploitation movies; she was a good actress, period, who sadly received too few opportunities to prove it. Joe Dante (GREMLINS), who directed her in the wonderful HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD, told Tim Lucas she was "the exploitation movie equivalent of getting Julie Christie"--a helluva compliment.
I bring her up today, because I was heartened to receive a belated comment to my earlier post from none other than Candice's brother, who answers definitively my query as to whether she was aware of her devoted fan base:
...no, I don't think she ever knew of such following as she never became acclimated to computers and as such never had any access to find out. I know this because I am her brother.
Thank you for what I found here as a truley (sic) honorable memory of my sister Candice.
Peace, Scott Rialson
I wish Mr. Rialson had left an email address so that I, and perhaps others who loved her work, could tell him how much we appreciated his sister's talent and beauty. I'm certain that he knows, but it would be nice to tell him anyway.
4 comments:
A close friend, Mike Katz, who was the gaffer on Hollywood Boulevard, sent me your post from last year about Candice. I had heard she passed away, but wasn't aware of your site. Very nice piece. Candice was a complete sweetheart and great fun to work with, boundless energy and spirits. Thanks for your blog, it's a good one.
Jamie Anderson, asc (hightor@earthlink.net) Director of Photography on Hollywood Boulevard, along with Eric Saarinen, who did 2nd Unit. It was a great time.
I, too, get an inordinate number of hits from my post, which doesn't have much aside from links to other people's tributes, which all seemed to say so much more than I could think to say... or better than I could think of a way to.
I can't imagine there are very many actresses, drive-in or not, who would get the kind of heartfelt tributes that she got. There was just something very special about her and what she brought to the screen.
Apparently Scott's email is srialson@yahoo.com. He posted it at the post at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule.
I am currently running a week long tribute to Candice at my seventies blog Harry Moseby Confidential if you would like to check it out. I'm offering up some writings on her films, screenshots, wallpapers, lobby cards and more...thanks for your terrific articles on here which I provided links on.
I agree, Candace was a great actress. I feel, like Claudia Jennings, she never got the notice she greatly deserved
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