Released in 1985, The Return of the Living Dead has sustained itself as one of the best Horror films of the ’80s era. Taking the ideas of zombies in a different direction, it is a combination of Comedy and Horror, but one of the boldest aspects of it all is the characters created.
Taking on a Punk Rock vibe, you had an eccentric group of individuals, including Suicide (Mark Venturini), Trash (Linnea Quigley), Casey (Jewel Sheppard), and Spider (Miguel A. Núñez Jr.). A wild bunch, along for the ride, in hopes of meeting up with her boyfriend Freddy (Thom Matthews), was the everyday girl Tina, portrayed by Beverly Randolph.
Randolph, growing up surrounded by film her entire life, was ideally suited for the role of Tina in The Return of the Living Dead, with her sweet tone and friendly smile. Famously recognized by Horror fans of all ages as a result of this part, Randolph continues to act in various new projects as the years go by. Dedicated to her family, she has even applied her experience in acting to a forthcoming new series called Godmother Goldie’s Golden Ranch. A diverse individual, Randolph recently took some time to chat about her experience making The Return of the Living Dead, special plans for the film’s 40th anniversary, attending conventions, plus much more.
Cryptic Rock – You have done quite a few films through the years, but it really all began in 1985 with The Return of the Living Dead. Before we dive into everything, what inspired you to want to act?
Beverly Randolph – I don’t know if I was really inspired. When we were babies, my mom put us into films, TV, and commercials. First, they saw that there were twins born close to the studios. They contacted my mom for the movie Shenandoah (1965) with Jimmy Stewart. We did that when we were just weeks old. In film, it’s important to have twins because you can use both of them. They can trade places because you can only work them for so much time. Anyway, we got called for it. Then my mom stopped. She says, “No more of this. We’re not doing this.”
We started school, and everything was normal. When I was in high school, I went and visited the city a lot where they had the General Hospital filming. Marvin Paige, who was the casting director at the time, was walking down the way, and he said, “Are you an actress?” I said, “No.” He said, “I think you should come over and read for me.” I said, “Oh, I don’t know about that. Thank you.” He said, “Come back. Come back.” I went and read for him, and he hired me right there for General Hospital. From there, it snowballed.
My entire family is in the film business, and I was raised here in California. It didn’t seem like a big, monumental thing to do. It just seemed normal. My husband’s a production designer. My mother was a production designer and is now retired. My father is in the camera department. It’s all happened that way.
Cryptic Rock – Interesting to hear. So, it was something that has surrounded your whole life. It does seem natural.
Beverly Randolph – Yeah. It was easy steps.
Cryptic Rock – Then The Return of the Living Dead came around. The film is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2025.
Beverly Randolph – That’s crazy! We have no idea how. We keep looking at each other, going, “How did we get to 40 years?” It feels like yesterday. It’s just crazy.
Cryptic Rock – It is unbelievable to think about. The Return of the Living Dead has had a lasting legacy and a huge following, and it is one of the best Horror films of the ’80s era. How did the leading role of Tina come about for you in the film?
Beverly Randolph – My agent at the time sent me out on a call and said, “You’re going to go audition for Sandy Stokes for this movie, The Return of the Living Dead.” I was excited about that. When I was working, it was either a Soap Opera or a Horror movie that was gold. You wanted one of those so badly. I went on the interview and kept getting callbacks, and then the screen test. Then the whole thing went away. We didn’t realize if we were cast or not. We just thought the film was gone.
We read later on about it. My mother picked up The Trades, and she said, “Beverly, you were cast in this movie, The Return of the Living Dead?” I went, “I was? Oh, my gosh!” I had no idea. None of us had any ideas. I called my agent right away, and I said, “My name is in The Trades, saying that I’m doing this movie.” They’re like, “What? Okay.” They looked into it, and sure enough, I had been cast in the movie. None of us knew that. There was no communication.
Cryptic Rock – Wow, it is pretty wild how that happened for you. Surprise, right?
Beverly Randolph – Yep! After all that we’ve been through, too. It was a tedious process. Not like most jobs. One time, I went on an interview for a TV show, and they said, “Bring a suitcase because whoever gets hired is going right to work that day.”I got hired for it. I had my suitcase and just went right to work. But this one was an interview after an interview, pairing different people with you and the screen tests. It was wild. It was quite a process to get this job.
Cryptic Rock – The rest is history because the film has a tremendous legacy that has been built over the years. For a long time, The Return of the Living Dead was the type of film that, after it was released, you were lucky enough to catch on HBO every once in a while. It was not massively available.
Of course, with the progression in technology, with DVDs, etc., more people started to discover it. It was almost forgotten for a little while. It became something that people just spoke about who were dedicated fans. Are you often fascinated by how the film has built this legacy?
Beverly Randolph – Yes, absolutely. There were so many lawsuits that caused a lot of trouble with distribution and bankruptcies. I’m always amazed at how many people and generations come up to us at the conventions. It blows all of our minds. We’re just amazed by it. We feel very fortunate that this has happened the way it has. It is a fun movie. It is catchy. I’m glad it didn’t get buried, was rediscovered, and people purchased it and redid it. It lives on!
Cryptic Rock – Exactly. You had Dan O’Bannon at the forefront of it, who had done amazing things with 1979’s Alien, 1990’s Total Recall, etc. What was it like working with Dan?
Beverly Randolph – Very interesting. I think he was the reason why we had so many interviews and screen tests. He knew what he wanted, and he was going to get it no matter what or however he wanted to get it. The whole thing with me falling through the stairs happened; they owe me a ton of money. You can’t do that kind of stuff. It was a little rough on me. Some people had a good experience. I did not have the greatest experience with him.
After I was hired, I signed the contracts, and I was called and said, “Beverly, you need to go run lines with Dan,” which was not something you normally did. You didn’t normally go to the producer’s or the director’s house and read lines. I said, “Okay.” I was naive. I went to his house. He was on the phone at the time. He goes, “Come on in. Come on in.” When I did, there was a gun on the table, and there was pornography on the television. This was something I had never seen before. I sat down, and I was so nervous.
I thought, “Oh, my gosh. What’s going on here? I don’t get this.” I jumped up and I hollered. He was walking in the kitchen, talking on the phone. I said, “I’m so sorry. I forgot. I’ve got another appointment.” I ran out of his house. Thank God I had already signed the contract. I’m sure he could have still fired me, but he didn’t, thank God. From then on, he made it really rough on me. It was a really rough shoot.
The scene of me falling down in the mud… he had me fall down in the mud, and then he pulled up his chair, and he goes, “Okay. Let’s never do that again.” I did it so many times. It was so unnecessary. Finally, in the last scene, Brian and Miguel are literally picking me up and carrying me because I was so exhausted. I couldn’t do it anymore. It was just awful. It was cold and raining. He was really trying to put me through the wringer. That’s experience. I’m glad we got what we got. I’m glad it turned out the way it did. I have these crazy stories to tell because it could have just gone, “Yeah, everything’s great.”
Cryptic Rock – That sounds very intense; it sounds like it was a little bit of a difficult situation. As you said, the end result is something that has lasted. Also, you had a really great cast to work with. You had James Karen, and you had all these interesting characters who brought interesting personalities to the story. You had a good balance of young and veteran actors/actresses involved in this. What was it like working with everyone there?
Beverly Randolph – It was incredible. The three older gentlemen were just so much fun to be with. They were so kind and so helpful always to all of us. There were no issues between any of the cast members ever. We all just adored each other. Before Don (Calfa) and James passed away, we were still going out and having family dinners with them. It lasted all this time. We’d see Clu occasionally, too. He was so much fun, and traveling to conventions with Clu and Don was just the greatest time.
On set, they were really good to us. I remember Clu had a lot of trouble with Dan as well. He didn’t feel like he had to hold back. There was one day when he got really mad at Dan, and he picked up something (everyone has a variation on what he picked up) and threw it down. I remember it being like a spray can, spray bottle of paint, or a vase, but he picked it up, and he threw it at Dan. From then on, Clu was my hero because it was something I couldn’t do. Don and James were wonderful to us. Up until they all passed away, they were just gold to us.
Cryptic Rock – That is great to hear. James Karen was such a sweet, down-to-earth man. He lived a very long, full life, and he and his wife were deeply in love.
Beverly Randolph – Yeah. We had dinner with them when he was not doing that well. When they looked at each other, their eyes twinkled, always. They were thick as thieves, and there was a beautiful marriage.
Cryptic Rock – Yes. His legacy lives on. So, with the 40th anniversary of The Return of the Living Dead here, you have various conventions coming up throughout the year with reunions with original cast members. To name one of many, you will be at Monster Mania in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, the weekend of March 14th-16th. There was also a 4K UHD release of The Return of the Living Dead from 2023. Do you know if there are any unique plans for this 40th anniversary?
Beverly Randolph – Yeah, I just got an email that they have a new Blu-ray box set coming out, but I’m not quite sure when. I did a mini interview for it, and I asked for a copy, and they said yes. Apparently, that’s coming, but I’m not sure what it’s about yet.
Cryptic Rock – That is something to keep an eye out for. It is surprising that it has not officially been announced yet. The 4K release that Scream Factory put out in 2023 was of superior quality. The imagery is crisp and clean. Did you happen to catch that?
Beverly Randolph – No. I didn’t see it. I might have a copy of it in one of my cabinets. I’ve seen the movie so many times. I think most people don’t really like to watch themselves; kind of creeps them out, I guess. I’m not a big fan of watching myself. My husband laughs at me because he’s like, “Hey, you want to watch this movie?” I go, “No, we saw it.” He’s like, “Yeah, but you can see it more than once.” I’m like, “No.” I don’t normally watch movies more than once. I don’t know why.
Cryptic Rock – That is all understandable. As you said, most people are uncomfortable seeing themselves on film or hearing their voices recorded.
Beverly Randolph – Don’t you say to yourself, “Is that what I really sound like?” I do it all the time to my husband. It’s weird.
Cryptic Rock – Exactly. After The Return of the Living Dead, you stepped away from working in film. Then you returned and started doing some Horror films again in the past decade or so. What prompted that?
Beverly Randolph—There have always been calls. My husband’s work often requires travel; as I said, he is in the film business. We also had a child. I was not comfortable leaving my child. It was just too hard for me to commit anywhere. I didn’t commit to anything until my son was much older and grown.
That’s why there was downtime for me. I just wasn’t going to do that. I was happy being a mom; I just loved it. I loved traveling with my husband; we had the best time. We traveled with our son, whom I homeschooled, so we could stay with him while he was working. There was just no time for acting.
Cryptic Rock – Understandable. It is very commendable that you did that for your family and son.
Beverly Randolph – Yeah. He’s the best kid. I didn’t want to be away from him. I didn’t want to be away from my husband. Homeschooling was an incredible experience. I don’t regret one minute of it. I even asked my son every year, “You could go to school if you’d like. Would you like to just try it? We could put you in and see how it goes.” He did try kindergarten. He was like, “Mom, they’re only letting me paint with two colors.” I’m like, “What?”
The teacher said, “Oh, yes. We’re doing pumpkins. We’re only doing orange, yellow, and green right now, all week.” I was like, “Oh, okay.” Then my son was like, “Mom, I hate this, please.” I just pulled him, homeschooled him, and gave him all the colors he wanted. From then on, it was a great experience.
Cryptic Rock – That is really special. We can work and work. Then what do you have when you are old and gray? The time you have with your children is very precious. You do not get that back. It is very important to spend that time with them.
Beverly Randolph – I agree. You’ve got to because you’ve got to influence them and not let outside parties influence them. I say influence them, but I’ve always let my son choose his own thinking. We have different political parties, which is fine by me. He can do what he wants, and he respects my opinion. We raised him that way. I don’t mean influence in the way of doing that.
Cryptic Rock – This is understood completely. Parents should be allowed to raise their children a certain way and teach them to think for themselves. You want to be able to ask them what is going on, give them an objective point of view on things, and let them devise their own opinions.
Beverly Randolph – I wish all parents did that. We would have a much calmer society if people could accept other people’s thoughts.
Cryptic Rock – Most certainly. Going back to film, you have some new projects coming up this year that are in post-production or in production. One of the things that is particularly fascinating is the movie Trash’s Revenge that is in the works. What can you tell me about that?
Beverly Randolph – Yeah. I’m really excited about that. It’s Linnea Quigley’s movie, but we all have cameos or small parts in it. It’s going to be really great. It’s like in 1950’s Sunset Boulevard, where the woman is older, and she goes back into Hollywood.
Linnea is going to be older and coming back into Hollywood, but she’s going to be a zombie, and she’s not going to like how they treat her, I believe. I am really excited about it. Some of us in the cast have already done our parts. I’m still looking forward to filming with Thom Matthews. We’re doing a musical scene, which I’m really excited about. Hopefully, they’ll do really well. There’s a lot of controversy right now going on about our movie versus another movie that supposedly might come out, but I’m betting on ours.
Cryptic Rock – It sounds exciting. The other movie that you are speaking of is going under the title The Return of the Living Dead and sort of popped up out of nowhere.
Beverly Randolph – Well, this guy, Steve Wolsh, who we have a lawsuit against now, is the one who’s been selling our images illegally for probably six years. He’s got a ton of merchandise, and he’s telling all the vendors that he’s been working with us and that we’ve been getting payment from him. We’ve gotten nothing from him. We knew nothing about this. It really came to light when Trash’s Revenge came around because he started sending cease and desist letters to the producer of Trash’s Revenge.
The producer, Richard Driscoll, went, “Hey, guys, do you know this fella who’s now sending me cease and desist has been selling your images for six years? He told us the whole rundown. ” It just blew our minds. We couldn’t believe it. Then we found the website he has, the official Return of the Living Dead website. It turns out he doesn’t own any of it. He’s been fraudulently telling people this for years and scamming people out of huge amounts of money to use The Return of the Living Dead in some way.
It’s like Tarman. He doesn’t own Tarman. Bill Stout, the Brook Production Center, owns that. He’s been selling that for years! Anyone who made something for Tarman, this guy would go and tell them, “Hey, you owe me royalties. You owe me money.” He’s been collecting a lot of money. It’s been a nightmare.
It’s not catching on that this guy is a bad guy. Hopefully, it will once we go to court. He tried to sue me personally for a million dollars and then sued us collectively, the cast, for a million dollars for our cease and desist letters to the companies that were selling our images. We called them and tried to say, “Hey, what’s happening here isn’t right. This guy doesn’t own our images.” We were told, “Well, he told me you guys approved him, and you’ve been getting paid.” I’m like, “Uh-uh.” A lot of the people didn’t believe it, so we had to send out cease and desist letters to get people to realize that we were serious. This guy’s a crook. It’s been quite an ordeal.
Cryptic Rock – That is truly awful. It seems like people are always opportunists nowadays. Let us hope that this issue gets resolved and you are no longer hurt by it. It also hurts the fans because no one wants to see something that will harm the original creators, cast, and the film’s legacy.
Beverly Randolph – Yeah. I really don’t think his movie’s going to make it out. What we now know of what he’s been pretending to own, I don’t think he’s going to be able to do that. Amazon owns the movie; he doesn’t own any part of it. Amazon bought out MGM’s library. I don’t know what he thinks he bought, but he doesn’t have anything.
Cryptic Rock – Hopefully, it will all be fixed, and your film with Linnea will be out soon. Are there any projects that you are working on that you can talk about?
Beverly Randolph – Well, The Slasher Nurse is out right now, and that should be really interesting. That’s an interesting group of people who have been making movies now for a few moments, and they were a lot of fun to work with. There is also Sacred Grounds: Forbidden. That was interesting. We haven’t started in on Barry the Hatchet, but I’m looking forward to that. The Witches of the Sands, I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m curious.
I’m doing a TV show right now, Godmother Goldie’s Golden Ranch. I’m Godmother Goldie. I’m excited to get that going. I’m hoping that we sell that soon. We’ve got three episodes filmed now. I produced and wrote it. My husband’s directing it. It’s a family show. My son is involved with his wife and some other great actors in it. It’s really fun.
It’s music and learning and all that good stuff for young kids. I’m so worried right now about children and this attention deficit. What they show them now on TV, everything cuts so quickly. And I’m thinking, “Oh, my gosh. That’s just not good for them, for the developing minds.” So we put together this TV show, and I’m just really excited about it getting sold and released.
Cryptic Rock – It sounds like something valuable. You raised a significant point about children and the modern programming available to them. You’re absolutely 100% right. It is all these quick cuts and stuff.
If you watch a cartoon from thirty years ago with something made today, putting them side by side, you see the difference. The scenes in an old cartoon are much longer, with fewer quick cuts and more dialogue. Now, everything is just flashing scene by scene. Another notable feature of newer cartoons is that many characters do not speak; they just grunt. What are they teaching children? They’re not even teaching them to speak. This is not good for the children.
Beverly Randolph – No, it’s frightening. It blows my mind. I go to see my niece and nephew, and they’re watching these shows, and I’m going, “What are they watching?” It’s moving so quickly, and they can’t keep up with it. No wonder they cannot take their eyes off the television. They literally cannot turn their head to say hello because they’re trying so hard to focus on whatever the heck they’re watching. I can’t stand it. It so upsets me. It’s so important to slow it down and teach properly.
Cryptic Rock – Agreed. It also goes back to all the technology. Everyone can raise their children the way they like, but it truly does break your heart when little children are on cell phones in restaurants.
In many public schools, Google has taken over with Chromebooks. It is similar to putting vending machines full of junk food in the cafeteria. In the last five to six years, it has been brainwashed that kids need Chromebooks to learn.
Beverly Randolph – Yeah. That’s wild. Good old pen and paper are the best. There’s much more of a connection when you write it for yourself. Little children should not be subjected to cell phones. If I had a child now, there’s no way.
Cryptic Rock – Like you said, pen and paper, they have to develop analog skills. They have their entire lives ahead of them to be exposed to these technologies.
Beverly Randolph – Yes, there is no need for all of that, especially at a restaurant. Everyone has to look at that glowing screen. It’s bright. Sometimes, they don’t turn the volume down or put headsets on the child, and that makes it worse, I think. I loved it when a restaurant would give you crayons and something to color. Children loved it. We loved it.
Cryptic Rock – Exactly. Dare it be said, why not speak to children rather than silence them with a device? It is a bizarre world. Back to movies, though. Are you a fan of Horror films, or is that something that you developed a taste for as you have gone through and worked in them?
Beverly Randolph – I should put my husband on the phone, but I am not. I don’t like the blood and gore. I have to look away. I don’t normally watch them. I like a good haunting. I love those. The Sixth Sense (1999) was so good. I loved The Omen (1976). Things like that.
Not the Slashers, the Friday the 13ths, though. I go to the conventions with all these people, and I know them, but I’m embarrassed to say, “I’ve not seen the movies because I just can’t do it.”
Cryptic Rock – Horror is not a genre for everyone.
Beverly Randolph – My son had all of his friends over once. I think it was probably Halloween or just a party. He was 14 or 15, and he came up to me and said, “Mom, do you think you know we could watch that movie that you did?” I never showed that movie to my son. I wasn’t going to expose him to something like that. I said, “Oh, honey, I don’t think that’s a very good idea.” He goes, “Mom, they’ve all seen it. Everybody’s seen it but me.” It’s like, “Oh, my gosh. Really?” They all looked at it, and they were like, “Yeah.” I’m like, “Oh, okay. You can watch it.”
My son got to watch it, and they all just kept looking at me. It was the funniest thing. My son never saw any Horror movies until he was much older. He likes them, though. He likes some of these very abstract Horror movies that have come out.
Cryptic Rock – That is a funny story. Looking back, for many children growing up in the ’80s, the VCR was their babysitter. Kids were exposed to many different types of films and television shows that they probably should not have been watching at that age, because their parents did not monitor them.
Beverly Randolph – We didn’t have that rating system with rating people breathing down their throats. They were just, “Yeah, here’s a movie. Here’s another movie.” Nobody thought that it was going to be crazy.
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