Ken Foree: The Mr. Skin Interview

Were you familiar with Rob Zombie before you were hired on to The Devil's Rejects?
No, I wasn't. I didn't know his music and had no idea he was a rock star and musician.

Were you apprehensive to work for a man named Zombie?
I thought about that when I got the script and the name was Zombie [laughs]. But I don't think I knew until about a week and a half, two weeks on the set that he was a rock star.

You've been in Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III and, of course, Dawn of the Dead, so how does the Firefly family stack up against such classic boogiemen?
This is like Easy Rider. I think it's going to be a classic. The soundtrack, the editing, the style, the performances, the script ... very funny lines [laughs], very crazy lines too--I thought this was one of the best films that's come out in a long time. It's a little different, but the difference is what's going to make it special.

Yes, and a real step forward from House of 1000 Corpses.
I didn't get to see the last one. I met with Rob for about twenty minutes, a half hour, and the last thing I said to him as I left the office was, "I'm going to pick up House of 1000 Corpses right away." And he said, "No, don't you dare!" Why not? He said, "I don't want you influenced by that. This is nothing like that. It has crossover characters, but it's not a remake." I haven't seen it yet. I guess I can see it now.

Well, you have no excuses now. You play a pimp in The Devil's Rejects; is this a first for you?
Yes, it is. It was interesting. If you study pimps, it's very strange. It is an industry. There is a method of operation and communication that you won't find anywhere else. They call it the "Pimp Game". There's something very similar with all pimps, it's like a hawk after a chicken [laughs]. You get that intensity of the search from these guys. I've known a few, not closely, but I've been around a few during my lifetime, and I've seen some documentaries like The Pimp's Ball. It was a wonderful adventure. I had a great time doing it [laughs].

Charlie is the kind of pimp that some of these guys are. There's violence in some of it. Basically, if you're looking at pimps, if the woman doesn't bring back the cash they're expecting you're going to get a little ... I think Morgan Freeman played a typical pimp in--oh, God, what was that? Street Smart! He roughed them up if he had to. There was violence involved. Charlie is pretty much a pimp that cares. And there are pimps that are like that. In my research I found pimps that established bank accounts for [their stable], they gave them health plans, took care of their families. Even though it's a soiled business, there are people in the business who do some honorable things, I would imagine--if you can attach honorable to selling a woman.

Many of your movies are on our site--the remake of Dawn of the Dead, The Dentist, Army of One, Night of the Warrior, Diplomatic Immunity, Taking Care of Business, Down the Drain, Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge, Death Spa, From Beyond, Knightriders, to the best of my search--but when did you first see nudity onscreen as a kid growing up?
You're going to have an interview that tops them all with this one! This is an interesting story. Let's say I was a young boy, very young. We used to go to a little theater in the neighborhood. It was called the Walker Theater, as a matter of fact, established by Madame CJ Walker, who was a great black pioneer in business, an entrepreneur.

We would go every Saturday and watch cowboys--whatever was playing, basically kids things. My father dropped my brothers and me off one day and didn't look at the marquee. "Here's your money, go." Ran out, went in, and went to the balcony. And I, a Woman with Essy Persson was playing (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3). You could have heard a pin drop between my three brothers. That was my first experience of seeing a woman partially nude. I don't think I saw anything other than that until Deep Throat, Behind the Green Door, that whole sexual revolution that was going on in the '70s.

That was a good introduction.
Oh, my God. I'm still in love with the woman.

You emceed Sandra Bernhard in Without You I'm Nothing. Did you enjoy her patriotic striptease? (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3)
Oh ... [laughs], I don't want to comment on that.

Besides Sandra Bernhard, you've worked with a lot of beautiful actresses. Do you have a favorite sex symbol?
Sophia Loren, Sharon Stone when she was younger. And, she was married to James Cameron, I don't know why, but Linda Hamilton. I find her very interesting. I don't know why. She's certainly not the most beautiful woman, but there's something very lurid, kind of catlike about her.

For a guy who's done so much horror, do you have a sexiest Scream Queen?
Whoa, I'm going to get in trouble, because I know all of them. Tiffany Shepis. I think probably Debbie Rochon, and if I don't mention Brinke Stevens she'll kill me. Heidi Martinuzzi, of course; if I don't mention her she'll kill me too.

They'll all kill you.
I guess that's about it. Pat Quinn from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Patricia Quinn, that'll take you back.

You're on the popular and controversial Grand Theft Auto game. Did you have anything to do with the hidden sexually explicit content they recently discovered?
I don't know anything about that. I got a friend who works for them that I want to contact over in England and find out exactly what's going on. I heard that about two or three weeks ago, and I have no idea if there is. I certainly haven't noticed. For a game, that's already taken a lot of heat.

You played the Wicked Witch in your high-school production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which begs the question do femme fatales, or bad girls, turn you on?
I have no idea. The only role that was left that had any meat to it was the witch. I wanted to be Snow White. I wanted to be Prince Charming. Some guys already got that. "OK, I'll be the witch." But it brought the house down.

I went to a Catholic high school. My God, the nuns were almost falling off their chairs, nuns that had never cracked a smile in twenty-five to thirty years were falling off their chairs, and for at least I'd say three to five minutes, the laughter, the entire auditorium. I was the high-school basketball star. I was known for being a smart ass and getting in trouble, you know, not big trouble, but just being a pest.

When I had to stand out and say my first lines, I didn't get the line out. I just came out in my mother's dress, a half wig, and tennis shoes and my socks, and walked out with an apple. That was it. I couldn't get a line out. It was quite funny. Maybe that is the reason why I like women who have a little bite in their blood.

Was that the first and last time you appeared in drag?
Yes, it is. I'd like to do Tootsie, but nobody's asked me.