LOUISE ROBEY TV’s “Friday the 13th”
THEN: It’s a safe bet that fans of FRIDAY THE 13th and all things Jason Voorhees love the gory kills, the camp counselors being picked off one by one by the hockey mask wearing maniac, and probably the T & A. Nearly thirty years ago, in an attempt to capitalize on the success of the series, franchise producer Frank Mancuso Jr. brought a little superstitious terror to the small screen. “Friday the 13th: The Series” premiered on October 3, 1987 and ran for three seasons in first-run syndication. According to Wikipedia it was originally titled “The 13th Hour,” and aside from it being a terrible name, Mancuso Jr. wanted fans of the franchise to tune in with a little help from name recognition.
With no unstoppable killer, the series focused its attention on an antique store called ‘Curious Goods.’ You see, the fellow who ran this establishment made a deal with the devil cursing all the items he sold. This was well before social media so clearly Satan was really trying to branch out as best he can. The great thing about the pilot episode – aside from it featuring a baby Sarah Polley – was the obvious chemistry between the series regulars. Chris Wiggins as Jack Marshak, John D. LeMay as Ryan Dallion and Robey (aka Louise Robey) as Micki Foster just worked well together – at least from this dude’s perspective. The weekly adventures consisted of these do-gooders attempting to retrieve all the cursed antiques sold. Before Scully and Mulder, there was Micki and Ryan.
When Micki first appeared – with her massive shock of red hair – she played the character as a rich princess that quickly realized she needed to put off her impending engagement. Almost immediately the lovely actress gained fan attention with her wide-eyed beauty. Yet the actress was no stranger to the limelight. First discovered sunbathing on the French Riviera, this stunning Canadian born hottie was a recording artist who had a hit song in 1985 with a cover of “One Night in Bangkok” which peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club chart. If you’d like to check out Robey strutting her stuff in this very 80’s music video, you can get your fill here.
Before her rise to genre popularity, the actress made a couple of brief appearances in the feature films THE MONEY PIT and RAW DEAL, both in 1986. It’s been a very long while since I’ve sat down with Mr. Schwarzenegger and his big, bad action flick. I do remember digging the hell out of it so maybe a re-watch is in order? As far as THE MONEY PIT, I only vaguely remember the Tom Hanks/Shelley Long flick so I’m not exactly sure how small her role was. Of course she is billed as “female vocalist” so it’s a safe bet that it was super tiny. She did perform a song for the soundtrack called “Web of Desire” according to her IMDB page, so it looks to be a case of, hire the hot pop star to play a hot rock star.
With only four acting credits and a small handful of music videos, the singer/actress/model married Charles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford in December of 1994. This column is not about the artists’ private life, but in this case that may be why we didn’t see much of her after her series ended. Having a wealthy husband and raising a child is a massive job that many are more than willing to give up a career for. After her marriage to Beauclerk ended in divorce, she married photographer Stan Shaffer as recently as 2008. He unfortunately passed away in 2010. So where does that leave one of my favorite genre television red heads now?
NOW: In 2009, fans had the opportunity to purchase “Friday the 13th: The Series” on DVD – how did I miss this? In between collecting cursed antique items and now, she only appeared in a low budget flick in 1992 called PLAY NICE. Quite the elusive gal you could say. In recent years she stepped out of the shadows for a horror convention video entitled “Saturday’s Nightmares: The Ultimate Horror Expo of All Time!” in 2010. Aside from seemingly few con appearances, her focus appears to be closer to music. In 2013 she was featured on a Lovari single “Talk it to the Top” which you you can check out here. Thankfully for her fans, her official Facebook page seems to suggest that she has projects in the works.
Looking back on Ms. Robey’s career, it occurred to me how much I dug her. When I first discovered her as Micki Foster I was more than a little smitten. In fact, the show holds up as a pretty damn entertaining little bit of supernatural creepiness. And with her lovely accent, the 80’s hair and her rockin’ bod, I think I fell in love all over again doing my research. If I could ask for anything, since her co-star John D. LeMay appeared in JASON GOES TO HELL, why can’t we have a little bit of Robey in the next FRIDAY THE 13th flick? Is that too much to ask?