{"id":10940,"date":"2023-09-06T12:15:42","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T12:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=10940"},"modified":"2023-09-21T15:09:11","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T15:09:11","slug":"laughing-with-betsy-russell-about-screen-nudity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=10940","title":{"rendered":"Laughing with Betsy Russell about screen nudity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

LONDON \u2013 A card arrived in the mail with the inscription \u2018Thank you from the bottom of my heart.\u2019 Inside, in strong cursive were the words, \u2018Dear Ray, Thank you so much for that wonderful interview. I\u2019m so glad someone finally captured the humor of it all. Best wishes, love, Betsy Russell.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

‘Tomboy’<\/p><\/div>\n

My interview with the actress, who turns 60 today, ran in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner on March 8, 1985, with the headline \u2018Queen of Schlock wants to abdicate\u2019. She went on to have many credits including including five episodes of the \u2018Saw\u2019 film series playing Jill Tuck\u00a0<\/span>. In 1985, she was 21 and famous for a series of sexy teen movies \u2013 \u2018Private School\u2019 (top picture), \u2018Avenging Angel\u2019, \u2018Out of Control\u2019 and \u2018Tomboy\u2019.<\/p>\n

Over lunch at Yamato\u2019s in Century City, she sat with one leg tucked under the other and bit into teriyaki chicken looking every bit a California kid as she spoke airily about undressing for the camera. \u2018When I did \u201cTomboy\u201d, I didn\u2019t even know I\u2019d done an exploitation movie, you know?\u2019 she said. \u2018People started asking all these awful questions. I got bombarded: \u201cWhy did you do nudity? How could you do this to women?\u201d I didn\u2019t really know what I\u2019d done. I was so young and everything that I was just delighted to get a lead in a movie.\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

‘Private School’<\/p><\/div>\n

She got the part, she said, only because the producers were on their last legs: \u2018They said they just couldn\u2019t find a young, innocent and sexy girl. It seems to me that every girl I meet in this town is young, innocent and sexy. Still, they tested me and I got it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Russell asked her \u2018Private School\u2019 co-star Phoebe Cates if she was worried about the nudity. Cates said that in \u00a0\u2018Paradise\u2019, she had done twelve nude scenes. \u2018Twelve,\u2019 she said. \u2018Don\u2019t feel inferior. When they take their clothes off in Europe, it\u2019s art. When we do it here, it\u2019s exploitive.\u2019 Russell said she didn\u2019t know the difference between nudity in \u2018Private School\u2019 and, say, \u2018Silkwood\u2019: \u2018It was just something I had to do. I had no hangups and I happened to have a good body at the time.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

‘Avenging Angel’<\/p><\/div>\n

That remark provoked giggles, making her further removed from her screen characters. \u2018No,\u2019 she said. \u2018It\u2019s better. I\u2019ve taken up jogging. But, anyway, I didn\u2019t mind the nudity. It didn\u2019t bug me.’<\/p>\n

That was until she saw herself onscreen. \u00a0\u2018Everything is so much bigger onscreen,’ she said drily. \u00a0More giggles as she recalled a scene in \u2018Private School\u2019 that became the highlight of the picture. Russell is on horseback trying to lure Cates\u2019s boyfriend away from her: \u2018I ride up on this horse and take off my top so I\u2019ll supposedly make this boy crazy, you know? Then a girl slaps the horse and we take off. My shirt is off, I’m bouncing up and down, and of course they show it in slow motion!\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>She had appeared on TV shows such as ‘Family Ties’ and ‘T.J. Hooker’ and was 18 when she made her first picture. She had to wait a year for her next one. \u2018I thought that I wanted to do just good movies,\u2019 she said, \u2018but unfortunately that\u2019s a little easier said that done.\u2019 The next movie was \u2018Out of Control\u2019: \u2018More nudity! Hit me against the head. But, as I said, I wanted to work. God, you\u2019d think I\u2019d learn my lesson but you always think, oh, it\u2019s just a love scene and they won\u2019t exploit it that bad. You have it in your contract but they just screw you over. It was a pretty terrible movie.\u2019 Then came \u2018Tomboy\u2019: \u2018It\u2019s awful. Explotive and awful. I\u2019d like to do a romantic comedy or a period piece, if I had my way but you do what you have to do at the stage you\u2019re at. There\u2019s always pressure for nudity. Working in an exploitive fillm, they\u2019ll take as much as they can get.\u2019<\/p>\n

What was the silliest thing she had to do as the Queen of Schlock? \u2018Silly? Every word that I ever spoke in those films,\u2019 said Russell. \u2018No, probably riding half-naked on that horse in \u201cPrivate School\u201d. That was the most ridiculous thing I\u2019ve ever had to do. It was a reshoot. The director said, \u201cBetsy, you\u2019ll have to get on the horse again.\u201d I guess they liked my style. Originally, I was wearing a rider\u2019s helmet and it wasn\u2019t too attractive. I said I\u2019d get back on the horse but the helmet had to go.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

‘Private School’<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett LONDON \u2013 A card arrived in the mail with the inscription \u2018Thank you from the bottom of my heart.\u2019 Inside, in strong cursive were the words, \u2018Dear Ray, Thank you so much for that wonderful interview. I\u2019m … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,1263,2257],"tags":[5397,5396,5395,3271,5399,5398],"class_list":["post-10940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-interviews","category-memory-lane","category-recalling","tag-private-school-saw","tag-tomboy","tag-betsy-russell","tag-los-angeles-herald-examiner","tag-phoebe-cates","tag-tobin-bell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10940"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10994,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10940\/revisions\/10994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}