Crampton first broke out on screen in her TV debut with the long-running soap opera Days of Our Lives before gradually transitioning to the world of horror with Re-Animator, the 1985 adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s “Herbert West — Reanimator.” The time since has not only seen her continue to be involved in multiple Lovecraft adaptations, but also find success with everything from a soap opera return in The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful to Adam Wingard’s You’re Next and Ted Geoghegan’s We Are Still Here.
Now, in an interview with ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan in our media suite for her buzzy new anthology Grind, Crampton shared her thoughts on the future of her career. When asked about how the new film fits into her career goals, the star explained that “I want to be the Betty White of horror,” aiming to “last in this business” and being open to “play all the hard roles” and “just get old on screen.”
However, she also acknowledged that “I can allow myself to be funny” and branch out into more comedic roles now than she did earlier in her career, where she admits one can “get so precious about your work.” Given how much of her previous work has been “very serious” and involved her having to “scream, cry, run away and be afraid for my life,” Crampton is now ready to change her thought process that, “f–k it, if I die [in a role], whatever.”
In expounding on what people often approach her about, the Channel Zero alum shared that “people always ask me to scream,” but quickly denoted her disinterest in the title “Scream Queen,” even recalling having written an article specifically requesting the public not refer to her as such:
Barbara Crampton: Being a horror actress is not just about screaming, and running for your life. We have to do a lot of the heavy lifting, and ground it in some reality. I don’t know who coined that phrase, but I think it was a journalist. And I think that term is a little reductive, and doesn’t really explain the depth of what our characters and actors go through when they’re in a horror movie. I mean, it’s a life or death situation. It’s real. Final Girl is pretty good. I like that one. Sure, that’ll work.
Much to her point, Crampton has primarily been situated in more dramatic fare that she’s never really had the opportunity to break out and explore her comedic chops. Apart from making a cameo as herself in the six-season classic sitcom The Nanny, she was better known for her frequent collaborations with director Stuart Gordon, including the aforementioned first Re-Animator movie and subsequent Lovecraft adaptation, From Beyond.
The past decade, though, has really seen the horror icon branch out in a variety of ways. We Are Still Here saw Crampton garner widespread acclaim for going deeper with her character work than her previous genre work, while Travis Stevens’ Jakob’s Wife saw her earn multiple award nominations as she melded a midlife ennui tale with the darkly humorous trappings of its vampire aesthetic.
Interestingly, the past few years have also seen Crampton starting to build a name for herself on the producing side of things. In addition to the 2021 vampire film, she also produced the Ryan Kwanten-led horror-comedy Glorious and Heather Graham-starring Suitable Flesh, an adaptation of Lovecraft’s “The Thing on the Doorstep,” both of which earned widespread acclaim from critics.
As for her goal to be a beloved familiar face in the horror genre the way Betty White was prior to her passing, Barbara Crampton is certainly on her way to doing so. Whether it’s making smaller appearances in indie fare designed to become a cult favorite, like with Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, or lending her talent to such mainstream fare as Creepshow and Gun Interactive’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre game, genre fans always leap in excitement at her appearance, and she still has plenty on the horizon to draw viewers in.