Courtney Lercara: From Bloody Wounds to Pink Wings with Slaughterhouse’s Michele. By Brian Kirst
“I look at some of my films and have to tell people that I wasn’t a B-movie actress. I was a C – D, even closer to a Z actress!” laughs Courtney Lercara. Lercara, remembered fondly as the doomed Michele (“I went to the premiere and went, oh God, they kill me before the opening credits!”) in the 1987 cult classic Slaughterhouse and as Leeza Russo in the truly pandemic Killing Spree by Floridian auteur Tim Ritter, happily concedes “ I wouldn’t change anything, though.”
In fact, her good natured portrayal of Michele endears Lercara to the audience and her attack in the opening moments is often cited by fans as they reason they are drawn into Slaughterhouse in the first place. Besides, Michele hangs around (literally) as a corpse throughout most of the movie, serving as a jury member in the crazed Lester Bacon’s blood thirsty trials. “They had us standing on apple boxes between takes and every once in awhile they’d forget to return them after filming was done. I’d be calling – Apple boxes, over here!” she recalls fondly.
Lercara has fond memories of the production as a whole, as well. “Everything was great. And even though I was in a tank top, it wasn’t freezing out. The people were just awesome – they made it fun.” Most importantly, Lercara has remained good friends with the film’s lead, Sherry Bendorf, throughout the years. They got to know each other better after the ‘slaughtering’ was done by attending various trade conventions together as models and they were even at each other’s weddings. “You do what you can with what you’ve got,” Lercara notes of her films and Bendorf’s friendship is definitely a positive result of that optimistic commitment.
As for Killing Spree, “It was fun to be flown out to Florida,” Lercara notes, “and I had a lot of fun with the people. But it was a shoe string budget where we often worked all night long. It was a much sillier script – so even though it was fun it was not an ‘experience’ like Slaughterhouse.” Lucky viewers will find that Killing Spree has an infectious energy and that the sight of Lercara good naturedly wrapping a huge pair of lips over a senior cast member’s head, in a demented fantasy sequence, is worth the entrance price alone.
After a couple more appearances in low budget horror films, Lercara found she was not only pregnant but, with a swiftly exiting husband, facing life as a single parent. Deciding that she couldn’t raise a child within the vagaries of show business, Lercara settled into a fruitful life as a mother and special education teacher.
In 1996, though, Lecara encountered the beast that would transform her life and send her back into a performing career of sorts. On October 2, 1996, Lercara was diagnosed with cancer. “Going bald was really fun,” Lercara notes with a deadpan humor that crackles with life even over the phone. “I was in denial. A lot of my friends didn’t even know.” It was after she was ‘cured’ and almost immediately re-diagnosed with a second bout of cancer that she said, “Okay, I get it now. It was a wake-up call and I became more involved. Luckily, GI Jane was huge then so I walked around looking like a shaven headed Demi Moore.” After a second lumpectomy and chemo (Lercara’s first treatment involved a lumpectomy, chemo and radiation treatment), Lercara was pronounced cancer free, once again, in May 1998. “It took a year out of my life each time,” Lercara announces, “but I have been cancer free for 10 years.”
Lercara is still in the battle, though, fighting the disease and supporting those whom have made its unfortunate acquaintance with her organization and website, www.pinkwings.com. “I am also promoting www.facingourrisk.org,” she proclaims. “Just one look at their site and you will know why it is so important.”
“There are also two important facts I want to stress. Mammograms don’t always work. It’s like looking for a polar bear in a snow storm – especially for young women. So, if you feel a lump – do what you gotta do. Insist that it is analyzed. Tumors can double in size in a month. What does that mean if a doctor asks you to wait 6 months before checking again?”
“And I also want to get out the fact that post-cancer you can adopt. I have 4 kids – my fifteen year old biological daughter and 3 adopted children. They are all healthy Caucasian children. Post-cancer you can adopt in America. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t.”
This passion has, once again, led Lercara in front of the cameras and onto the stage as a spokesperson. “I’ve just done a national commercial as a survivor portrait and as an Outreach Coordinator I often have speaking engagements. My performance background has truly been a help. I am also writing a book about my experiences.”
“I wanted to be Hayley Mills,” she ultimately states, “oh, well.” What she has become, though, is so much more important. As for her films – “I love those films! Horror films make me crack up! Oh, look – he’s coming back again! I mean, I love John Carpenter’s Halloween! I had fun. I have no regrets about it whatsoever.”
