While Garn Stephens racked up over twenty screen credits over the course of her acting career, only one of those credits was on a horror movie… but what a horror movie it was. Stephens, who happened to be married to genre icon Tom Atkins at the time, played the ill-fated Marge Guttman in director Tommy Lee Wallace‘s oddball 1982 Halloween sequel Halloween III: Season of the Witch (watch it HERE). Marge was the woman who was relaxing in her motel room when she made the mistake of messing with the trademark badge that fell off a Silver Shamrock mask. Sadly, Atkins has shared the news that Stephens passed away over the weekend. She was 87.
Stephens started out acting on stage, then made her screen debut playing a waitress in a 1975 episode of the TV anthology series The Wide World of Mystery. Over the decades, she landed roles in The Sunshine Boys, All in the Family, Charlie’s Angels, Barney Miller, Family Ties, Family of Spies, Falcon Crest, Quantum Leap, and more. Outside of her role in Halloween III: Season of the Witch, she may be best known for playing the character Harriet Hastings on 24 episodes of the TV show Phyllis. Her Wikipedia page explains how she ended up in Halloween III: Stephens had been friends with John Carpenter’s then-wife Adrienne Barbeau, whom she had worked with on Grease (on stage). Stephens met Carpenter when she and Atkins were invited to see a premiere of Halloween in 1978 with Carpenter and Barbeau. Carpenter later offered her a role in Halloween III.
The news of Stephens’ passing was made public by Convention All Stars owner Sean Clark, who said, “Got the word over the weekend from Tom Atkins that his ex-wife Garn Stephens had passed away. Many of you may remember her as Marge Guttman in Halloween III: Season of the Witch. I was lucky enough to meet her back in 2004 when I interviewed her for the Halloween: 25 Years of Terror documentary. Here are a few photos I took of her from that day. Since the 30th Anniversary convention in 2008 I would reach out to her every 5 years and try to convince her to do the Halloween Convention when it came around but she had no interest. Rest in peace Garn.“
Outside of acting, Stephens wrote crime/mystery stories and earned writing credits on episodes of St. Elsewhere, Trapped John M.D., Hotel, and Trial by Jury. She had one child, Spencer Baird Niemi, with Stuart Niemi.
Our sincere condolences go out to Garn Stephens’ family, friends, and fans.
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