Actors don't always get a lot of screentime in a FRIDAY THE 13TH film before their characters are bumped off in some crowd-pleasingly violent way, but some of them don't need a lot of screentime to leave an indelible impression on the viewer. Such was the case with Gloria Charles, who made her screen acting debut playing antagonistic biker chick Fox in 1982's FRIDAY THE 13TH PART III.
Fox wasn't part of the main group of victims in FRIDAY 3, she was part of a group who tried to cause trouble for them, first running into two of the unlucky vacationing youths – the nerdy prankster Shelly and his "date" Vera – in a store. Fox manages to get her hands on Shelly's wallet, and most F13 fans will frequently quote some of the things she says to Shelly and Vera while she taunts them with the wallet – lines like "Is this your rubber?" and "That's good, that's real nice." Lines that were made unforgettable by the way Charles delivered them.
It isn't long before Fox and her biker cohorts make their way to the secluded cabin that is slasher Jason Voorhees' new stalking grounds, where they are killed one-by-one while messing around in the barn.
Charles has more than a dozen other film and television roles to her name, including appearances in BREWSTER'S MILLIONS and NATIONAL LAMPOON'S EUROPEAN VACATION and on The Fall Guy, Falcon Crest, The Jeffersons, and The A-Team, but it's for FRIDAY THE 13TH PART III that I and many others know her.
Sadly, it has come to our attention that Charles passed away last December. Word of her death comes from her FRIDAY 3 co-star Larry Zerner, who played the aforementioned Shelly in that film.
This is very sad news to hear, not only because I grew up watching FRIDAY THE 13TH PART III and have enjoyed watching Charles's performance as Fox many times over, but also because fans were given a glimpse of what Charles was like herself in the documentaries HIS NAME WAS JASON and CRYSTAL LAKE MEMORIES. During her appearances in those, she was very likeable, entertaining, and endearing.
I never got the chance to meet Charles in person, but I wish I had. As long as I'm watching movies, FRIDAY THE 13TH PART III is going to be in my viewing rotation, and I will continue to enjoy watching Charles in action.
R.I.P., ma'am.