Since the early 1970s, Dee Wallace has been an in-demand actress who has appeared in nearly 300 movies and television shows. She is beloved for her role as Mary, the mother in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and is well known for her work in horror movies like Cujo and The Howling, and recent scary flicks directed by Rob Zombie. Wallace recently spoke to Scoop about filming some of her best known roles, her work in horror, how she chooses projects, and interacting with fans.

Scoop: What was your reaction the first time you read the script for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial?
Dee Wallace (DW): I thought it was amazing. I had to go over to the studio behind locked doors and read the script because there was so much secrecy going on back then. People were, kind of, borrowing everybody else’s ideas. I remember I called my agent, and I said, “I don’t know how much this is going to do for me, but I think it’s going to do a lot for the world, and I want to be a part of it.” So that kind of tells you everything about my reaction to the script.

Scoop: It’s such a beautiful movie and the mom is so sweet and nurturing. You did a terrific job bringing her to life in a way that made kids want to be part of that family.
DW: Yeah. Also, I didn’t have a clue what was going on in my own house! [laughs] So, you know, the dream mom for every kid, right?

Scoop: E.T. is a timeless classic that has endured for over 40 years now. Multiple generations are fans of this film. What does it mean to you to be a part of that legacy?
DW: I’m proud, I’m humbled, and I am ecstatic that I am a part of the film that changes people’s lives for the good every day. I have so many people come up to my table [at conventions] to share how this film has affected them in their lives. One mother of an autistic child of 10 had never heard him speak and she took him to see the rerelease and he spoke after the film. Can you imagine not hearing your child speak for 10 years? That’s the kind of movie it is. It surpasses blocks, it opens hearts. It wakes us up to what’s important.

Scoop: I believe you were part of a reunion on The Drew Barrymore Show not too long ago. What was it like to get together with the whole family cast?
DW: Well, I see the boys [Henry Thomas and Robert MacNaughton] quite a bit. The boys and I do a lot of conventions together, but it was awesome to have us all back together and sharing a lot of great memories. I’ll tell you Robert MacNaughton remembers a lot of things that I don’t remember because I wasn’t on the set with the kids all the time, you know? So every time we do a convention together, he says something that I’m like, “Oh my God, I didn’t know that.” [laughs] So anytime we all get together the old stories come up… “And didn’t you know? And do you remember?” I had forgotten that I gave Drew The Velveteen Rabbit at the end of E.T. and she said it’s one of her children’s favorite books also.

Scoop: Switching from the kid friendly movie to a horror movie let’s talk about Cujo. You spend much of the movie trapped inside a sweltering car. How much did that environment impact your performance?
DW: Well first of all, it looked like we were dying in the heat, but we were actually cold. It was Northern California in November and December. So, at one point I looked over at Danny [Pintauro] who had his shirt off, we were that far in the movie. And poor thing, his little teeth were chattering, so I called Lewis [Teague], our director over and said, isn’t there some way we can get a heater in here this kid is freezing. They had to spray us down and make us look like we were sweating, so that added to the coldness. They drilled a hole in the front of the Pinto and put in a little heater so that we should stay warm in the car.

Scoop: Wow.
DW: The magic of movies, huh?

Scoop: Yeah, that’s crazy because anybody who’s been in the car in the summer knows how stifling it can get, and it looks like you two are just boiling in there.
DW: Yeah, we did our job, didn’t we? [laughs] And if I never see another Pinto in my life, it will be just fine with me.

Scoop: The movie is based on Stephen King’s book of the same name, but it does make one major change regarding the fate of Tad, your character’s son. What went into making that change?
DW: The producers and the director and I sat down, and we all felt that it was wrong to kill the child. I said, “Look, half the people that will come to see the movie probably have not read the book and you can’t put them through two hours of what we’re going to put them through with no pay off at the end.” When the movie came out, Stephen King called our producer and said, “Thank God you did not kill the kid at the end of Cujo. I never got more hate mail about anything than I did about that.” The other big change, of course, was in the book the dog is taken over by an evil demon energy. In the film it’s caused by rabies from a bat bite.

Scoop: There’s an old Hollywood adage “Don’t work with children or animals,” and you have done both in several projects. What were your experiences like working with young children and dogs?
DW: There were actually 13 dogs that played Cujo, incredibly trained by Carl Miller. Those dogs were so well trained, and they were all trained to go after toys. So they were wagging their tails all the time because it was a big game for them.

Well, my first response is I wouldn’t have had a career if I didn’t work with kids and dogs. And you know, I did The New Lassie, I played mothers in probably 3/4 of the projects that I’ve done. So, nurturing comes easy to me, and anytime I have to nurture an animal or a child, it’s just natural for me.

Scoop: What appealed to you about the script for The Howling and how did you want to set it apart from other werewolf movies?
DW: You know, I left that to [director] Joe Dante. How to set it apart from other werewolf movies never occurred to me, not my job. What appealed to me was the huge arc that he wanted me to play, and gave me an opportunity to delve into a lot of different emotions and an opportunity to really show emotionally what I could do. I went in, I auditioned, I loved Joe Dante and his humor.

My fiancé at the time, Christopher Stone, played my husband in the film and that happened because Dan Blatt, our producer, called to congratulate me on getting the role and he said, “We’ve got a great cast to surround you with, we just can’t find somebody to be your husband.” I said, “Well, what exactly are you looking for?” He said, “Well, we want somebody virile, but that has a tender, vulnerable side to him.” And I thought, oh my God, I’m living with him! But I also thought right after that if I bring him up, they’re never going to hire him. So I said, “You know, I did CHiPs with this guy, Christopher Smith or Stone…” So they went out and found him and brought him in on their own. And he got it! And then we told him we were together. [laughs] I think ultimately the producers were exceptionally happy that we ended up together because Chris had a way of taking care of me that nobody else did.

Scoop: What I really like about The Howling is that it’s a horror movie, but also deals with the trauma your character went through. It’s also different because most werewolf movies are about a single werewolf, whereas this one has a whole pack. I think those aspects are really cool.
DW: I do too, and I always looked at The Howling as a script between the light and the dark. Is it light that wins or is it the darkness that’s going to win? I have a whole other business where I am a channel and a life coach for want of a better word. So that subject matter has always fascinated me – the good in people, the light in people, and how we get challenged. By staying in the light and not going to the dark side.

Scoop: In The Lords of Salem, you got to play one of the movie’s villains. What was it like to play a darker character like that?
DW: I loved it. [laughs] I love playing, you know, like the frighteners. I love exploring that dark side in a very humane way. I’m actually very open like… Three From Hell I did for [director Rob Zombie] also, and she is a horrible, horrible mean evil character. I got so excited when he sent me the script. I mean, I love playing vulnerable mothers, you know? But, when you’re an actor, you want to explore everything. So, I like playing those parts.

Scoop: You’ve done a fair amount of horror movies throughout your career. Some we haven’t mentioned yet include The Hills Have Eyes, Critters, and 31. Are you a fan of the genre?
DW: I am a fan of the genre to film those parts. I am very wussy when it comes to watching real horror films. And I always have been, even when I was little. My parents went away for the evening and left me with my big brother, who had strict instructions not to play anything scary while he was with me that night. So of course, we watched Frankenstein Wife’s Birthday or some weird thing like that. Well, I was having nightmares for weeks and my mother made him let me sleep with him to teach him a lesson. So I think that was three weeks to a month before I could go back into my own bed! I’m fine with things like Jurassic Park and stuff, but The Exorcist? Oh my God, I didn’t sleep for weeks after The Exorcist and I was an adult!

Scoop: You mentioned the being in the show, The New Lassie, in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s. How did you feel about carrying on the legacy of Lassie?
DW: Oh, I was really excited about it. I had just had my daughter and was looking for a project in town. The producer of The New Lassie, I had done series for, called Together We Stand, so he called me about doing this. I said, “Oh my gosh, I’m very interested. And as you know, I just had a baby, so is there any way I could come in around 9 every morning and leave by 6 so I can put her to bed?” And they worked it out for me. So I had my time with my daughter, she and the nanny would come down every lunchtime and we’d get in a golf cart and we’d ride around Universal. Her first sentence was “Mommy, see big fish.” She loved going to Jaws. Now you’d think that would scare a little kid? But not my kid. She loved it when it would come up and scare us on the tram, you know? We’d go to the playground and play up there so I was able to – because of this wonderful producer – to raise my baby, spend a lot of time with her, and do a really great series at the same time. It’s wonderful when all that comes together in a career, you know?

Scoop: It’s a heartwarming series with a likeable family and a really adorable dog, so you can’t miss.
DW: Yeah, they discovered that dog was part of the original line of the original Lassie. Not trained quite as well. [laughs] I think they had only six months to really train the dog, but it was a great series. I love that little series. I’m proud of it.

Scoop: According to your IMDb page, you are closing in on 300 credits. What qualities do you look for in the roles that you take?
DW: I look at the script, is it well written? Do I like the part? Can I get into the part? Do I get who she is, you know? Does this subject matter interest me? And if it’s “Yes” to all those questions, I usually say, yes.

Scoop: Outside of the movies, you’re best known for, what are some of the films you’ve done that you’re most proud of doing?
DW: Mostly because I feel like it asked me to go further than I’d never gone before, emotionally, energetically – and of course I adore ET for what it is, for what it does for the world for its healing faculties – I love The Howling and The Frighteners. There are a few stinkers in there that it would be okay with me if people never watch, but most of myself credits, I’m going, “Yeah, I went in. I did a good job, and it’s a good project.”

Scoop: In addition to all your movies, you’ve also appeared in quite a few TV shows. What have been some of your most fun guest appearances?
DW: Oh, my gosh, I don’t even know. Starsky & Hutch, San Francisco, I did a great movie of the week, Texas Cadet Murders, was the name of it. There are only two scenes, and my agent said to me, “I don’t know if you’ll even be interested. It’s only two scenes.” I read the first scene where it’s like a five-minute scene where I receive the information that my daughters been found murdered. I called my agent, and I said, “How much do I have to pay them to do this?” Once I put it down. I said, “I can’t even look at this again until I have to learn the lines.” That’s the weird thing about actors, you know? We can look at something, and go, “Oh my God. Please God, don’t ever let this happen in my life.” It’s a weird thing, but I think part of our job as actors is to deal with subjects and scripts and things that can happen. Show that we help people be able to deal with and work through them. You know?

When I taught acting, I used to tell my student, “You can heal more people in one night than doctor can in a lifetime.” And it’s true, just like the story of the lady with the autistic child.

It’s really interesting if you Google the positive effects of horror films, it is good for your brain. They’re good for your nervous system. They’re good to teach you coping mechanisms. It’s really interesting to Google the positives of horror films. That’s why every Disney film has a bad, evil character in it, so kids can practice, in a safe environment, coping with their fears.

Scoop: You mentioned this earlier that you regularly attend horror and pop culture conventions around the country. What are those experiences like for you?
DW: I love them. I love the stories. I love exchanging the love. You know so many times it’s very emotional. Especially films like ET, I can’t tell you how many times people come up to the table and they went, “I was so close to my grandma and she took me to see this film and every time I see this film, I think of my grandma.” I love exchanging those stories. I know a lot of actors just go to make the money. But I really do enjoy the exchange of energy.

Scoop: What are you working on now?
DW: Oh my goodness, I have five films coming out. Two of them are kind of lighter relationship family stories and three horror films. And I’m going into two more horror films that I’ve already booked for later this year.

Scoop: That’s exciting.
DW: Yeah, busy year. I love it.

Scoop: Well, I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with me today.
DW: Yeah, I wish you well and hope everybody likes our article.