It’s never too late for a comeback! Kyra Schon was born on October 4, 1957 in the town of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is most known for playing the supporting role of Karen Cooper in 1968’s Night of the Living Dead. In the George A. Romero flick, Kyra plays a young girl who initially survives a zombie attack with her family and hulls up with them in the basement. The family eventually takes in outsiders and try their best to fend off the flesh-eaters, but in the end Karen succumbs to her bite wound, reanimates and famously stabs her mother to death with a garden trowel. Based on a budget of only $114,000, Night of the Living Dead became a worldwide success, grossing over $12,000,000 at the American box office and over $30,000,000 internationally.
Despite the film’s massive success, Kyra Schon showed no signs of wanting to continue forward as an actress and playing Karen Cooper would be her only role for some time. In an entry on her official blog, The Ghoul Next Door, she writes, “When I was very young, any attention I received as a result of my participation in the film tended to be negative, or at least it felt that way to me. I loathed being the center of attention for any reason, so any attention I did get felt creepy even if it was intended as simple curiosity or flattery.” It wasn’t until the late 80’s or early 90’s that Kyra fully embraced her status as a cult star, though by then she already retired to a normal life of teaching art and making crafts and jewelry.
So, where is Kyra Schon now?
She’s back… In a good way! Though her Night of the Living Dead portrayal has been used as archive footage for years, Kyra started lending her commentary and original interviews to documentaries including The Legacy of Night of the Living Dead (2008), Autopsy of the Dead (2009) and Celluloid Bloodbath: More Previous from Hell (2012). She also appeared in person on TV docu-series “Fear Files” in 2006 and “Horror Kung-fu Theatre” in 2016. And in even more exciting news, she finally returned to the world of acting in the early 2010’s. Now as a 54 year old actress, Kyra played a judge in short thriller The Greenman in 2011, played Karen in horror-comedy spoof Living Dead in 2012 and played, what else, a zombie in Dayplanner of the Dead in 2013.
