Even before he had doppelgängers of his most famous character from an iconic horror franchise roaming Hollywood Boulevard, Robert Englund spent a lot of time on that particular stretch of pavement. He attended premieres at the Chinese Theatre with his parents, the same spot where he would later go on dates before stopping by C.C. Brown’s for hot chocolate and ice cream sundaes. And he dreamed of a career as an actor, particularly after one showing of “West Side Story.” Says Englund, “I remember snapping my fingers up the aisle at the end, wanting to be a Jet or a Shark, and stepping out into the lobby and being blinded by daylight because it was a matinee.” His first agent even had an office there.
So it makes perfect sense that Englund will become a part of its history when he receives his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Oct. 31. “It’s very special to me, that great old broad of a street,” he jokes.
Englund started out young, landing theater roles by age 12. He later studied several places, including Oakland University’s Meadow Brook Theater, then a branch of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. It was there that a tutor gave him some career advice. “He said, ‘If you had no talent at all, you’re kind of a funny-looking kid — you’ll work.’ Gee, thanks,” Englund says with a laugh.
Of course, Englund’s most famous role would involve obscuring that face under layers of prosthetics and makeup to portray Freddy Krueger, the child killer burned to death who wears a glove of metal claws and hunts people in their dreams in “A Nightmare on Elm Street” films. When director Wes Craven first cast him in the 1984 film that started it all, Englund had no idea how it would affect his career. “I don’t even have much to say in the first movie,” he points out.
Englund thinks the character struck a chord because Freddy was the symbol for a loss of innocence. “There’s these kids, dreaming of the future, and Freddy is polluting those dreams,” he notes. “He has no future, and so he kills the future. There’s a dark, subconscious poetic feel to it.” Englund laughs and admits, “Now I’m not saying every teenager in the octoplex with a bucket of buttered popcorn is thinking about that intellectually, but they do sense it emotionally. And there is an unrepentant, politically incorrect villain with a dose of personality. Those things together are some of the reasons for the popularity of the character.”
But Englund proved to be more than a mascot, using his training and talent to parlay his role into a robust career as actor and director. He has also found steady employment in voice acting — he’s currently lending his vocal talents to the Cricket in the upcoming horror film “Pinocchio: Unstrung.” And over the years, he’s been at the forefront of watching the respect for the horror genre grow. “Something I love is that it’s really opened the door for the imagination,” he notes. “Anything you can conceive of, anything you can imagine, you can do.”
And now it’s led him to a star on the Walk of Fame, one he promises to visit when he can. “I’ll go by a couple times a year with a little bottle of Windex and clean it up,” he jokes. “I’ll take my claws to scrape the gum off.”
Tipsheet
WHAT Robert Englund receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
WHEN Oct. 31, 11:30 a.m.
WHERE 6644 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood
WEB walkoffame.com
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From Variety US