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Lin Shaye: Legend

Sometimes I like to shine a spotlight on actors and actresses who have been around forever, have done consistently terrific work, and yet somehow don't get talked about nearly enough.


They're the people who show up in a movie and you immediately think, "Oh, great! She's in this!" They may not always get top billing, they may not always get awards, and they may not be the person whose face is plastered across the poster, but they make everything they're in better.


Lin Shaye is absolutely one of those people. In fact, I think Lin Shaye is a legend.


She's been acting professionally for more than 50 years, she's appeared in well over 100 movies and an astonishing number of television shows, and she has somehow managed to carve out two completely different identities for herself.


Horror fans know her as one of the great genre icons, especially because of the Insidious movies. Comedy fans know her as the completely fearless character actress who has given some of the funniest, strangest and most disgusting performances in movies by the Farrelly Brothers.


And if you've been watching movies for the last four or five decades, you've probably seen Lin Shaye dozens of times without realizing just how much stuff she's actually done.


Now, with Shaye returning as Elise Rainier in the sixth Insidious movie, Insidious: Out of the Further, it seems like the perfect time to celebrate her. I don't particularly care about the Insidious series at this point, but I always care about Lin Shaye. Whenever she shows up, those movies immediately get better.


Shaye was born in Detroit in 1943, studied art history at the University of Michigan, moved to New York and worked Off-Broadway before eventually heading to Los Angeles in 1977. Her first movie was Hester Street in 1975, and a few years later Jack Nicholson cast her in a small role in the Western Goin' South.


From there she became one of those great working character actors, appearing in everything from Walter Hill movies like The Long Riders, Brewster's Millions, Extreme Prejudice and Last Man Standing to television shows, independent movies, comedies and, eventually, a whole lot of horror films.


There is also, of course, an important family connection. Lin's older brother Robert Shaye founded New Line Cinema, the company that became so closely associated with horror that it was famously called "The House That Freddy Built."


A Nightmare on Elm Street essentially transformed New Line from a small independent distribution company into a legitimate movie studio, and Lin appeared in Wes Craven's original 1984 film as a teacher.


She has been very open and funny about the fact that her brother helped her out a little bit (basically telling people, "Put my sister in your movie!") but here's the thing: a family connection might get you through the door. It doesn't give you a 50-year career.


Talent does that.


And Shaye had already started developing her horror credentials before Freddy Krueger arrived. She appeared in Alone in the Dark in 1982, and after A Nightmare on Elm Street came Critters, Critters 2, Amityville: A New Generation, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Dead End, 2001 Maniacs, Snakes on a Plane, Ouija, the excellent Ouija: Origin of Evil, Tales of Halloween, Abattoir, The Final Wish, Room for Rent, The Grudge and many, many others.


Horror just kept finding Lin Shaye, and eventually Lin Shaye became one of the faces of modern horror.


What I love about her in these movies is that she gets it. She understands the genre. She knows when a performance needs to be grounded and completely sincere, and she also knows when it's time to go nuts.


She can be frightened, frightening, vulnerable, weird, sinister, funny, completely unhinged or incredibly warm. Horror requires actors to commit to some pretty ridiculous situations while treating them as if they're absolutely real, and Shaye has always been terrific at that.


Then came Insidious.


James Wan's 2010 movie introduced Shaye as Elise Rainier, the paranormal investigator and medium who eventually became the heart and soul of the franchise. The part continued to grow, and by Insidious: Chapter 3 and Insidious: The Last Key, Elise had essentially become the central character.


Here's this veteran character actress, already in her 70s, suddenly becoming the badass heroine of a major horror franchise. How great is that? Shaye gave Elise warmth, humor, authority and humanity, and audiences loved her. She didn't simply become a recognizable horror actress. She became a genuine horror icon.


But as much as I love her horror work, I think Lin Shaye is an absolutely brilliant comedic actress. And I mean brilliant.


She has appeared in everything from Frasier and My Name Is Earl to Kroll Show, Boat Trip, The Three Stooges, Living Out Loud and Detroit Rock City. I love Detroit Rock City, that wonderfully stupid and hilarious movie about four kids desperately trying to see KISS in concert, and Shaye is fantastic as the crazed, drunken, deeply uptight mother who becomes one of the major obstacles standing between these kids and Gene Simmons.


But nobody has understood Lin Shaye's particular brand of comic insanity better than Peter and Bobby Farrelly.


The Farrelly Brothers gave Shaye some of the funniest roles of her career, beginning with Dumb and Dumber. She later appeared in There's Something About Mary, Stuck on You and The Three Stooges, and the Farrellys understood something very important about her: Lin Shaye has absolutely no vanity as a performer.


None.


She will look horrible if it's funny. She will behave horribly if it's funny. She will put on grotesque makeup, contort her face, throw herself physically into a scene and become completely repulsive if that's what gets the laugh. That fearlessness is incredibly rare.


Just look at Magda in There's Something About Mary. Shaye is almost unrecognizable as Cameron Diaz's insanely over-tanned neighbor, with skin that looks like somebody left a leather handbag sitting underneath a heat lamp for three weeks.


Apparently the Farrellys told her they wanted Magda to look like an old leather bag, and Shaye spent hours in makeup getting there. And she is hilarious. Her timing is perfect, the physical comedy is fearless, and she turns what could have been a little throwaway supporting character into someone you never forget.


But for me, the masterpiece is Kingpin.


Oh my God.


Lin Shaye as Woody Harrelson's horrifying landlord in Kingpin remains one of my favorite supporting comedy performances ever. She is disgusting. She is drunk. She is insane. She is sexually aggressive.


She accepts an alternative form of payment when Roy can't make the rent, and I don't think anyone who has seen Kingpin will ever get the resulting images out of their head. I certainly haven't. That tongue alone has been permanently burned into my brain.


And Kingpin is already one of the funniest movies ever made! Yet somehow Lin Shaye walks into that movie, surrounded by Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid, Bill Murray and an entire universe of Farrelly Brothers insanity, and manages to become one of the funniest things in it. That's an accomplishment.


That's also what makes her career so fascinating. The same actress who can make you laugh until you're uncomfortable in Kingpin can walk into an Insidious movie and become the emotional center of the entire thing.


The same woman who can look absolutely grotesque for a Farrelly Brothers joke can give a completely sincere, grounded dramatic performance. She has done episodic television, independent movies, studio pictures, low-budget horror, huge comedies, cult movies and pretty much everything in between. She even won a Daytime Emmy for her work on the dark comedy series EastSiders.


And she's still working.


That's what I mean when I call Lin Shaye an unsung legend. A career isn't just about being the star of three giant movies and disappearing. There's something incredibly impressive about being a working actor for more than half a century, constantly reinventing yourself, becoming an essential part of completely different genres and continuing to find new audiences along the way.


Lin Shaye did that.


Horror fans adore her. Comedy fans have been laughing at her for decades. Filmmakers keep hiring her because she can do almost anything, and when her name pops up in the credits of some weird little horror movie, I'm immediately more interested in seeing it. She's one of those performers who brings legitimacy to genre material simply by walking into the room.


So, in honor of the latest Insidious movie, I thought it was time to give Lin Shaye some love.

I've picked five of my favorite Lin Shaye clips, covering both sides of this wonderfully bizarre career...the horror icon and the comedic genius.


Because whether she's communicating with spirits in Insidious, looking like a human piece of beef jerky in There's Something About Mary, or traumatizing Woody Harrelson and everyone in the audience in Kingpin, Lin Shaye commits completely.


She's funny. She's scary. She's fearless. She's awesome.


And after more than 50 years of doing this, Lin Shaye is absolutely a legend.


Here are five clips celebrating the great Lin Shaye.


5 GREAT LIN SHAYE CLIPS:









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