We’re closing in on the deathiversary of actor Alice Nunn who died 38 years ago this July 1st. Born in Jacksonville, she moved to California where she had a long running career of over 31 years and starred in such films as Mommy Dearest and Mame, and tv shows that bring back alllll the nostalgia for me – Knight Rider, Murder She Wrote and Wild Wild West. But the role that made her an iconic figure in pop culture and earned her a cult following? Large Marge – the ghost of the truck driver who died in a fiery crash and who terrified the hitchhiking Pee-Wee in Tim Burton’s 1985 film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure!
This is considered one of the top 25 scariest moments in non-horror and I remember it scaring the bejeezus out of me the first time I saw it as a kid but now it’s so fun and silly. Her cackle at the end before her face drops back slack? THE BEST.
After this Nunn went on to star in other cult hit films – Thrashin’, Trick or Treat and Who’s That Girl (hot damn, I loved this movie and had/have the biggest crush on Griffin Dunne) – before she died of a heart attack at 61 years old.
She’s buried at the family plot at the Old City Cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida, and still receives flowers and grave goods by multi-generational fans.
