June 2016

This is a little different for BoBo Babushka. After doing a few interviews, I thought, hey, let’s shake things up a little. Why don’t I be the interviewer for a change? It may be a one-time thing, it may be a series of interviews…who knows? I’m fortunate enough to secure my first interview with actor George Stover, who hails from Baltimore, home of the John Waters movies.

George began his acting career in college plays and was involved in the Baltimore theater groups and eventually moved to film work. His movie debut was Female Trouble, playing a priest who escorts Divine’s Dawn Davenport to the electric chair at the end of the movie.

“Female Trouble was not only my first movie,” George said, “but it was also a John Waters movie. I had some dialogue at the end of the movie in a scene with Divine, and I was billed last in the credits. Little did I know at the time that this film would become a bona fide cult movie!”

George’s next movie with John Waters was Desperate Living. “I played Mink Stole’s husband Bosley Gravel at the beginning of the movie. Our family maid kills me so my wife and the maid run away and end up in Mortville.”

George Stover as Bosley Gravel

When asked about his thoughts on John Waters and his films, George described the director as being very talented, disciplined and prepared. “He always knew exactly what he wanted to capture on film,” George said. “I did feel that the subject matter in his movies might hold him back career-wise. How wrong I was! Of course, Hollywood has now caught up with him as far as ‘shock value’ is concerned…except, perhaps, for the poop-eating scene in Pink Flamingos! It would be difficult for John to out-shock Hollywood in this day and age.” His professionalism aside, George also described Waters to be a really nice person and would often be invited to his legendary Christmas parties back in the day.

Edie Massey and George

George told me that he is frequently cast in science fiction and horror movies. “I play scientists, priests and sheriffs more often than not,” George intoned. “So it’s always fun when I can play a villain. It’s also nice to be in a movie that is NOT science fiction or horror.” This brought up the subject of whether or not his movies had been spoofed by the gang of Mystery Science Fiction Theater 3000.

“Well, sort of,” he said. “MST3K once showed a movie called ‘Pod People’ and for some reason, they included footage of me from ‘The Galaxy Invader’ behind the opening credits. I don’t know why they even bothered to do this, but I was flattered that they did.”

He mentioned also that Cinematic Titanic, a project featuring most of the original MST3K cast, had riffed the movie The Alien Factor. “They did this during some live shows as well as on a DVD they produced. The Galaxy Invader was riffed on its own from Rifftrax with a commentary by Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett of MST3K. I was flattered that MST3K and its spinoffs chose those movies.” When asked whether or not he was offended by the snarky comments made by Mike and the bots, George good naturally pointed out that he wasn’t. “If anything,” he said, “I think they might have neglected to criticize a few things that I might have criticized myself!”

In the last few months, George has completed his roles in Revenge of the Devil Bat, Beyond the Wall of Fear, and Frames of Fear. He will also soon be featured in Killer Campout. And for the fans of the original Manos: Hands of Fate, its sequel Manos Returns is definitely maybe still in the works in which George could be a part of!

Due to a fear of flying and a bevy of pets in need of constant attention, George sticks pretty close to the Baltimore area. He is indeed able to participate in out-of-town shoots by filming footage in his home. In Beyond the Wall of Fear, George films his scene as a scientist in his backyard! “I sent the footage to the movie’s director, Joe Sherlock, in Portland, Oregon, and via split screen, he made it look like a newscaster was actually interviewing me! That’s the magic of the movies for you!” he said happily.