Ten Years of Tootie-Fruity and Terror: An Interview with Horror Icon, Bill Moseley
Don't go anywhere, children, because the "Murder Ride" continues with someone I have known for many years, horror icon Bill Moseley!
Bill is a regular guy, a family man with a sharp intellect and children of his own, he even looks like a civilian sitting at the booths of many horror conventions where he loves meeting his fans. But deep in Bill, there is a dark side, and it stands out prominently on film, and burns itself in the cortex of horror fans like the X in his head in "House Of 1,000 Corpses". Bill has been in countless horror films, and truly loves and respects the genre, and is one of the kindest men you will ever meet. I first had Bill on my radio show a few years back, and the chat we had will forever be with me. I also spoke to his pals Sid Haig and the late and great Tom Towles. In short, I love the work of this man, and am proud to announce the Ten Year Anniversary of one of the strangest, funniest, original horror films ever made, "The Devil's Rejects".
Ladies and gentlemen, please turn off your "Banjo & Sullivan", and please welcome into the "House" our next guest Bill Moseley!
Rob: Bill, I cannot tell you what a pleasure it is speak to you again. Let's start. A few years ago, you were a guest on my radio show and we talked about how you started acting. Can you tell the readers how your journey began?
Bill: My acting journey began in 3rd grade at the countryside School in Barrington, Illinois, when I got cast as Diego, the son of the title role in "Young Christopher Columbus". My one line was "Bring me a heathen, father," and I was lead into the school gymnasium on a white Shetland pony. After that theatrical experience, it was only a matter of time before I landed parts like "Choptop" "Otis Driftwood" & "Luigi Largo"!
Rob: Before you were an actor, were you a fan of horror, or was the genre something that you discovered a love for after working in it for so many years?
Bill: Always a horror fan! I risked life and limb as a boy to sneak into the library of our Chicagoland home right before midnight on Saturday nights to turn on the black&white Zenith TV and watch "Shock Theater", the local horror movie show. I cut my teeth on movies like "Last Man in the World", "The Beginning of the End" which featured giant grasshoppers, "House on Haunted Hill", "Black Scorpion". the list goes on and on. Plus, my dad loved Halloween and always planned something to scare his three sons and their pals. So yes, always a horror fan!
Rob: You were a writer before you headed into acting, which I think is one of the most incredible things about you. Can you tell me a little about that, and do you miss any aspect of writing?
Bill: I was always a writer, still am. Won grade-school creative writing contests, graduated from college with a BA in English. My first job out of school was Head Copywriter for a Boston, Massachusetts ad agency called Schmalenberger & Nargassans. Say THAT fives times fast! When I moved to New York City in 1978, I got a job as Editor-in-Chief of "CB Bible Magazine", dedicated to the wide, weird world of CB Radio. When "CB Bible 10-7" (truckers' 10-code for off the air), I worked as a freelance writer for magazines like "Omni", "Psychology Today", "National Lampoon", and "Rolling Stone" contributing articles, interviews, and photo essays. Now, I mostly write song lyrics and screenplays.
Rob: That always impressed me the most about you. man. Of course we as horror fans know you as "Chop Top" from fan favorite "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2". What do you think resonates with fans when it comes to that character, and what did you reference to create the crazy Sawyer member we all know and love?
Adam: "Choptop" is ninety-nine percent inspired by Ed Neal's crazy turn in the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" as the "Hitchhiker". The movie itself scared the hell out of me when I caught it in Boston in a Combat Zone Theater back in 1976, but