Brooke Bundy holds the distinction of making her television acting debut on “The Donna Reed Show,” appearing in her first movie with Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda (“Firecreek” in 1968), and having her character get decapitated by Freddy Krueger in an “A Nightmare on Elm Street’ movie.







She will be in town on March 4-6 as part of Horror Realm at the DoubleTree in Greentree.







“It never ceases to absolutely amaze me at the amount of fans that are (at the conventions),“ Bundy says. “They know these movies inside and out and ask questions that are so profound you get stuck looking for an answer. They're devoted and they're kind and they're just lovely people.”







Having appeared in Sitcoms, Westerns, Dramas, and Soap Operas since 1962, it took Bundy nearly a quarter-century in the acting business to add the horror genre to her resume.







“I had turned down horror movies for a very long time because I was afraid that there is always some lunatic out there that goes to horror movies and goes ‘Whoa, that looks like a good idea,’” Bundy, who played Elaine Parker in “A Nightmare On Elm Street” Parts 3 and 4, said.







“I thought, ‘I don't want to be part of that,’ but then (“A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors”) came up and I was aware of its popularity and profound respect within the business.”







Bundy credits Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund, with easing her transition into the horror movie genre.







“(Englund’s) a really wonderful and generous actor to work with,” Bundy, who has over 100 credits to her name, said. “He helped me through that whole decapitation scene (in “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3”), which was really complicated.







“People don't realize it,” Bunday continues, “but those were actual razors on his finger nails because he had to rip apart the pillows because they wanted to do it on one shot. I had to duck when he was swiping at me, so I wouldn't get decapitated (for real).







“He was just wonderful and helped me with the choreography and everything.”









The veteran actress who has been retired from the profession for nearly 25 years was somewhat surprised that she got called in to appear in “A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 4.”





“I got the call that I was going to be doing (Part 4),” Bundy recalls, “and I was like, ‘Okay, but I got killed in (Part 3), how does that work?







“I asked (Englund) when we were on the set about why I am back since my character was killed off and he just looked at me and said, ‘You know what Brooke, shut up.’ And I said, ‘Oh, okay, okay.’ That was the end of that.”







Working alongside Englund and Bundy, two established actors, on the set of the “Nightmare” movies was primarily a cast of young, inexperienced actors.







“It was great,” Bundy said about working with the younger cast. “It was great because they were so fresh and they were so excited about what they were doing. We rehearsed lines and stuff like that. They were young and there's a purity and a beauty and freshness.







“It was always joyful to be with the young people, because like I said, they were so excited. That's just contagious, it's just cool.”







Despite getting along with the cast of the movies, there was an instance on the set that set Bundy aback.



“I was on the set and sitting next to Bradley Gregg (who played Phillip in “A Nightmare On Elm Street 3”),” recalled Bundy. “He had all of his veins and arteries out and he was a puppet.







“I remember sitting next to him and seeing all that stuff, they had all the makeup and prosthetics and special effects dangling from his fingertips and feet, sitting and just being so repulsed by it that I moved my chair.







“It was awful, yuck.”







Another instance in the studio made Bundy realize just how popular the film series was, and still is.







“When I was doing “Nightmare 3,” someone broke into the studio and stole Freddy’s sweater, so there was like this whole brouhaha that morning,” Bundy remembers.“I was sitting in my chair and I thought that this is important. Every now and then you'll be involved in something, and I'm not talking about industry stuff; I'm just talking about life. Sometimes you are somewhere and you realize this is important, (you are) in something historic here. I really felt that at that point.







“I'm so glad that I made the decision to go in and audition (for the “Nightmare” movies) because it was life-changing.”





