DEY YOUNG RETURNS TO ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL

Dey Young Interview

DEY YOUNG played “Kate Rambeau” in the classic ROCK N’ ROLL HIGH SCHOOL, the quiet chemistry student opposite P.J. Sole’s confident rocker “Riff Randall,” and those distinguishing, signature glasses Kate wears was her own idea that she brought to the character...

Dey Young as Kate

How did you land the role of “Kate Rambeau”?

It was my very first movie... I had really thought I would have more of a stage career. I was back in town for about a week, and it just happened that I got this audition. I didn’t even have an agent… I was just at a party, happened to be at a party… I was living at my sister’s and I went to a party with a casting agent there, and she knew they were looking for this character…

They were starting on Monday and I went in on Thursday and I was like the last person they saw; it was the last person they cast. They couldn’t find a Kate Rambeau and I was really fortunate to go in and meet with Alan Arkish, and meet with the producer and then I started on Monday… It was really a stroke of luck, I just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

Dey with PJ Soles

This was your first film and P.J. Soles had been in many big movies like "Carrie" and "Halloween"… Did she help you along during filming?

She was very helpful, and she was very supportive… Everyone was very supportive… And she was just a very generous actress, but she didn’t make me feel necessarily like I was a newcomer or anything like that. But we just became really good friends on it, and we knew that was important, to make our friendship work, and it was a very easy thing to do with her. 

Dey Young

There was nothing intimidating about her, she was just a very generous actress and a generous person... She really works to make it the best movie possible, and she’s very professional.

The gym scene is mostly known for P.J.’s song and dance number, but it begins with a certain someone hanging onto a rope…

You know, they kept bringing me up and down, but I did get a couple of rope burns; that was a really wicked rope and getting me up there was always a challenge, because I had to shimmy up there. But yeah, I had to go back up there a couple of times but we definitely shot that out so I didn’t have to hang up there the entire time… 

Dey Young with a Van Patten

And that was such a fun number, and you probably heard the story of Alan Arkush having gotten sick and not being able to be there… He had exhaustion and Joe Dante came in and ended up directing that. It was like one of the last days of the shoot.

What do you remember about the “practice date” that Clint Howard sets up for you and Vince Van Patten?

We literally went up to Mulholland, and we pull over... And when I open my shirt, that was me… I just kind of flash him. That wasn’t in the script… 

Dey Young

It was a very, very cute scene; I really enjoyed that. The one thing though that you can kinda see… We were outside and my eyes get so sensitive to light, people with blue eyes get sensitive… So I’m trying my best to keep my eyes open as much as I can but you can kind of see me squinting a bit.

Being that there were so many high school comedies in the eighties following the same template with the shy girl and her popular friend, I’d say this film was very ahead of its time…

It so was ahead of its time, I absolutely agree, and you know I was so sad that it didn’t catch on in the very beginning, but it’s definitely had legs, and became a real cult classic… It didn’t open big… It wasn't like a big horror movie or anything like that, and I don’t think they put a lot of money into it: to promote it. But this is supposedly Roger Corman's favorite movie and it’s done so amazingly for him.