Dee Wallace is sort-of an unlikely “scream queen.” Although the bulk of her on-screen career has leaned towards the horror genre, she has had roles in other projects that are as far from horror as one can get. After appearing in early shockers like the original The Hills Have Eyes, The Stepford Wives and The Howling, Dee is best remembered as the mother of three kids hiding a earthbound alien in the 1982 beloved blockbuster E.T. – The Extraterrestrial. On television, she, again, was the typical “mom” on The New Lassie for four seasons. Dee had guest roles in countless TV series as well as roles on the big screen. But, horror has been very, very good to Dee Wallace. The versatile blond actress seems right at home in films like The Frighteners, Critters, Cujo, Rob Zombie’s Halloween reboot, and other creepers.
On a family vacation, I was walking through Los Angeles’s famous Farmers Market with my son, when I spotted Dee Wallace sitting at a picnic table reading a book and eating a salad. I pointed her out to my son, who seemed less than impressed. A few years later, I saw Dee signing autographs at a local horror convention in New Jersey. When I approached her for a signed photo and a bit of “celebrity interaction,” I mentioned about seeing her eating lunch at the LA Farmers Market. She laughed and said that she rarely goes to the Farmers Market because she lives so far and it’s inconvenient. She added that she hadn’t been the in many many years. So, it turns out, that day in Los Angeles, I just pointed out some lady eating her lunch. No wonder my son was so indifferent.