ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - June 13th
JASON VOORHEES (fictional character) born in 1947
Lets get the obvious out the way first - just how do you determine Jason's date of birth? Well, the events of the first film take place in 1980, 21 years after camp cook-turned-murderer, Mrs. Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer), first murdered a pair of camp counsellors in 1958, as revenge for her son who drowned in the lake the year before when he was 10-years old. Mrs Vorhees also told Alice (played by Adrienne King) that "today is his birthday". And the only Friday the 13th in the summer months in the calculated year of his birth was June, making it - Friday, June 13th, 1947. And there we have it!
Created by Victor Miller, with contributions by Ron Kurz, Sean S. Cunningham, and Tom Savini, Jason was not originally intended to carry the series as the main antagonist, appearing only in a nightmare sequence at the end of Friday the 13th (1980). But after his debut in Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), Jason would again appear in the all the subsequent sequels as well as represented in various other media, including novels, video games, comic books, and a cross-over film with another iconic horror film character, Freddy Krueger.
Over the nearly 30 years of the Friday the 13th series, Jason's physical appearance has gone through many transformations, with various special makeup effects artists making their mark on the character's design, including makeup artist Stan Winston (although Tom Savini's initial design has been the basis for many of the later incarnations). He has also been seen as a sympathetic character, whose motivation for killing has been cited as being driven by the immoral actions of his victims and his own rage over having drowned as a child. His legendary trademark hockey goalie mask did not appear until Friday the 13th Part 3 (1983), and, since Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), has been given superhuman strength and near invulnerability as a result of his 5 resurrections from the dead - 2 of which are unexplained, but the 3 we do know where caused by; a piece of cemetery fence that acts as a lightning rod, electricity from an underwater electrical cable, and summoned from the bottom of the lake by telekinetic Tina Shepard (Lar Park Lincoln). Or maybe, as actor James Roday (TV series Psyche) explains in the documentary, His Name Was Jason (2009), "Jason is an unstoppable killing machine... that's too stupid to realize he's dead!"
Jason has been portrayed by a number of different actors, beginning with Ari Lehman who played the young boy who jumps out of the lake to drag Alice into the water. His heavy make-up by Tom Savini was applied to make it look like Jason suffered from hydrocephalus which resulted in his deformity - or as Savini proudly proclaimed to Betsy Palmer when she asked why her son looked like that, because "he's a mongoloid!". The adult role of Jason Voorhees has been played by various actors, some not credited, others taking great pride in their parts. Due to the physical demands the adult character requires, and the lack of emotional depth depicted, many of the actors since have been stuntmen.
Beginning with Warrington Gillette (who had originally auditioned for the role of the male lead) for Part 2, it became apparent Gillette could not perform the necessary stunts, so the stunt coordinator Cliff Cudney brought in Steve Daskawisz - Gillette received credit for playing Jason, while Daskawisz was given credit as the stunt double. For Part 3, the producer's now wanting a "bigger and stronger-looking" Jason, one that was also "more athletic and powerful", Steve Miner hired former British trapeze artist Richard Brooker, who became the first actor to wear Jason's now-signature hockey mask. According to Brooker, "It felt great with the mask on. It just felt like I really was Jason because I didn't have anything to wear before that."
For The Final Chapter, director Joseph Zito wanted a "real hardcore stuntman" and hired Ted White who was displeased with his experience from filming, and ultimately had his name removed from the credits. With White gone, Dick Wieand was cast as Jason (and also as the real murderer Roy Burns) in A New Beginning. However, like Part 2, there is some confusion as to who played Jason as stuntman Tom Morga who performed in the few flashes of Jason, as well as portraying Roy in almost all of the masked scenes. Wieand has been outspoken about his lack of enthusiasm over his role in the film. A nightclub manager in Glendale, C. J. Graham, was interviewed for the role of Jason in Jason Lives (replacing stuntman Dan Bradly) and opted to perform most of his own stunts, including the scene where Jason catches on fire while battling Tommy Jarvis (Thom Mathews) in the lake. The rest of the cast spoke highly of Graham, remarking that he never complained during all the uncomfortable situations he was placed in.
And finally we come to ultimate Jason actor - Kane Hodder - who took over the role for The New Blood. It is director John Carl Buechler's contention that Hodder gave Jason his first true personality, based on the emotions, specifically the rage, that Hodder would emit while acting the part. Or as Hodder explains, he wanted to "get in touch with Jason's thirst for revenge" and try to better understand his motivation to kill. Buechler felt that Kane had "natural affinity for the role"—so much that Kane's appearance, when wearing the mask, would often terrify the cast, the crew, and in one incident a lone stranger that he came across on his walk back to his trailer. Kane Hodder would again portray Jason in Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Goes to Hell, and Jason X, and to many Friday the 13th aficionados he remains the best actor to have ever portrayed Jason Voorhees! Alas, Hodder was replaced by Canadian stuntman Ken Kirzinger for the horror mashup Freddy vs Jason (2003) and Derek Mears for the remake of Friday the 13th (2009).
IHdb wishes Jason a very happy (and bloody) birthday!
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