Everyone is still talking about the new Ghostbusters movie and that it’s either enjoyable or a slap in the face to the original two films in the franchise. I saw a video on Facebook comparing the roles of women in the first movie to the roles of women in the third movie and I came across the clip of the librarian, the somewhat iconic opening of Ghostbusters in 1984. The poor lady is spooked and chased through the library in a way that set the tone for the entire movie. That was 32 years ago. I wondered what the librarian, Alice Drummond, is up to now.
Alice Drummond was born in Rhode Island in May 1928. At age 39 she made the jump from Broadway to film and television with one of her first gigs being the recurring role of Nurse Jackson in “Dark Shadows” in 1967. While she continued to act across the board, she didn’t dip her toes into our favorite genres until the 70’s with bit parts in psychological murder-thrillers Man on a Swing (1974) and Sanctuary of Fear (1979). The same thing happened again, only this time she returned with the opening scene in Ghostbusters, a film which took the #1 spot at the box office for nine nonconsecutive weeks. In 1990, she played the supporting role of Carolyn in the “Cat from Hell” segment of Tales from the Darkside: The Movie.
From there, Drummond continued the jump from Broadway to multimedia, but she took a very long hiatus from anything scary or otherworldly outside of a part in Officer Killer (1997). Instead, she focused her attention on big budget, award winning Hollywood films of various genres. She saw small to supporting parts in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) with Jim Carey, Nobody’s Fool (1994) with Paul Newman and Bruce Willis, To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar (1995) and In and Out (1997). She also held recurring roles on “Lenny” from 1990 to 1991 and on “Franny’s Turn” in 1992.
So, where is Alice Drummond now?
A Tony Award Winner, a credible career in the industry and many years behind her, Alice seems to have retired from Hollywood. And, Hell, she’s still alive and kicking at age 88, so she definitely deserves to bask in her accomplishments. However, her credits in the new millennium include roles in Oscar darlings Pieces of April (2003) and Doubt (2008) as well as guest roles on “Boston Legal” and “The Jury.” She returned to horror in 2009’s After Life and her final gig to date was a short drama titled Open House in 2011.
