Sandra Dorsey
Encyclopedia
Sandra Dorsey is an American
film and television actress, she is also a theatre actress, director, writer and choreographer. She is best known for her role in the 1989 horror sequel Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland
.
. She has also taught at the Alliance Theatre in Alanta and in Emory University
. she is a member of the Screen Actors Guild
, Actors' Equity Association
, The American Federation of Television and Radio Arts, the Dekalb Counsil for the Arts, The College Music Society, the Episcopal Drama Foundation, and The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She has also served as SAG president for the state of Georgia. In addition to her work at Dorsey studios, Dorsey has worked at the Bachelor of Arts
, Oglethorpe University
, Master of Fine Arts
in Vocal Performance and the University of Georgia
. She has also attended the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, and has studied extensively with the David LeGrant Actors Studio in New York. She has performed in five plays on Broadway in NYC, Illya Darling
with Melina Mercouri
, Gantry
with Robert Shaw
and Rita Moreno
, Drat! The Cat!
with Elliot Gould, On the Town with Bernadette Peters
and Phyllis Newman
, and Mata Hari
with Pernell Roberts
and directed by Vincent Minnelli. She played Franlein Kost in the National Tour of Cabaret
directed by Harold Prince. Dorsey wrote and directed Biba Revue at Maxim’s in Chicago
, she directed and choreographed Amahl and the Night Visitors
in Atlanta, and was musical director for An Evening with Rodgers and Hammerstein at Emory University. She also directed the critically acclaimed Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
.
Dorsey began her acting career in 1976 when she appeared in the horror film Grizzly
. She then appeared in her second film They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way
in 1978 and the following year she starred alongside Sally Field
and Beau Bridges
in the classic film Norma Rae
. Dorsey's husband Joe Dorsey
also made appearances in each of these films. Dorsey is best known for her role in the cult classic horror sequel Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland, alongside Pamela Springsteen
and Michael J. Pollard
. In the film she played the role of camp owner Lily Miranda, she and her on-screen husband (Michael J. Pollard) Herman's character names where named after The Munsters
characters Herman
and Lily Munster
, the other character in the film where named after The Brady Bunch
. Her death scene, her head being decapiated by the lawnmower, is perhaps the best death scene in the film. This was Dorsey's second time working with director Michael A. Simpson, as the first was in 1986 with Impure Thoughts. In 1995, Dorsey played the role of Maxine in the Disney movie Gordy
, which was her final feature film.
Her television credits include The Dukes of Hazzard
. She has also appeared in several television films including Passing Glory
, with Rip Torn
, Frankenstein
, with Parker Posey
, and Angel City
, which again featured her husband, Joe working alongside her.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film and television actress, she is also a theatre actress, director, writer and choreographer. She is best known for her role in the 1989 horror sequel Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland
Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland
Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland is a 1989 comedy-slasher film and the second sequel to Sleepaway Camp written by Fritz Gordon and directed by Michael A. Simpson. It stars Pamela Springsteen, Tracy Griffith, Michael J. Pollard, Mark Oliver, and Haynes Brooke.-Plot:The film opens with Maria...
.
Career
Dorsey founded Dorsey Studios in 1977. Before her acting career, Dorsey was a teacher of acting and singing exclusively in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. She has also taught at the Alliance Theatre in Alanta and in Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
. she is a member of the Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
, Actors' Equity Association
Actors' Equity Association
The Actors' Equity Association , commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing the world of live theatrical performance, as opposed to film and television performance. However, performers appearing on live stage productions without a book or...
, The American Federation of Television and Radio Arts, the Dekalb Counsil for the Arts, The College Music Society, the Episcopal Drama Foundation, and The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She has also served as SAG president for the state of Georgia. In addition to her work at Dorsey studios, Dorsey has worked at the Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
, Oglethorpe University
Oglethorpe University
Oglethorpe University is a private liberal arts college in Brookhaven, Georgia, an inner suburb of Atlanta. It was chartered in 1835 and named after James Edward Oglethorpe, the state's founder.-History:...
, Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
in Vocal Performance and the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
. She has also attended the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, and has studied extensively with the David LeGrant Actors Studio in New York. She has performed in five plays on Broadway in NYC, Illya Darling
Illya Darling
Illya Darling is a musical with a book by Jules Dassin, music by Manos Hadjidakis, and lyrics by Joe Darion, based on Dassin's 1960 film Never on Sunday.-Production:The show previewed in a tour of Philadelphia, Toronto and Detroit for nine weeks...
with Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri , born as Maria Amalia Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer and politician.As an actress she made her film debut in Stella and met international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, Phaedra, Topkapi and Promise at Dawn...
, Gantry
Gantry (musical)
Gantry is a musical with a book by Peter Bellwood, lyrics by Fred Tobias, and music by Stanley Lebowsky.Based on the 1927 novel Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis, it tells the story of a womanizing, self-righteous, self-proclaimed preacher who joins forces with a female evangelist to sell religion to...
with Robert Shaw
Robert Shaw (actor)
Robert Archibald Shaw was an English actor and novelist, remembered for his performances in The Sting , From Russia with Love , A Man for All Seasons , the original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three , Black Sunday , The Deep and Jaws , where he played the shark hunter Quint.-Early life...
and Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the only Hispanic and one of the few performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, and was the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award....
, Drat! The Cat!
Drat! The Cat!
Drat! The Cat! is a musical with a book and lyrics by Ira Levin and music by Milton Schafer.Originally called Cat and Mouse, this spoof of late-Victorian melodrama has at its core Alice Van Guilder, who wants to be a career girl at a time when nice young ladies marry well instead of having careers...
with Elliot Gould, On the Town with Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...
and Phyllis Newman
Phyllis Newman
Phyllis Newman is an American actress and singer. She was nominated twice for the Drama Desk Award and won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.-Early life:...
, and Mata Hari
Mata Hari
Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida "M'greet" Zelle , a Dutch exotic dancer, courtesan, and accused spy who was executed by firing squad in France under charges of espionage for Germany during World War I.-Early life:Margaretha Geertruida Zelle was born in Leeuwarden, Friesland,...
with Pernell Roberts
Pernell Roberts
Pernell Elvin Roberts, Jr. was an American stage, movie and television actor, as well as a singer. In addition to guest starring in over 60 television series, he was widely known for his roles as Ben Cartwright's eldest son, Adam Cartwright, on the western series Bonanza, a role he played from...
and directed by Vincent Minnelli. She played Franlein Kost in the National Tour of Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
directed by Harold Prince. Dorsey wrote and directed Biba Revue at Maxim’s in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, she directed and choreographed Amahl and the Night Visitors
Amahl and the Night Visitors
Amahl and the Night Visitors is an opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti with an original English libretto by the composer. It was commissioned by NBC and first performed by the NBC Opera Theatre on December 24, 1951, in New York City at NBC studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, where it was broadcast...
in Atlanta, and was musical director for An Evening with Rodgers and Hammerstein at Emory University. She also directed the critically acclaimed Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris is an American musical revue of the songs of Jacques Brel.-Original Off-Broadway Production:...
.
Dorsey began her acting career in 1976 when she appeared in the horror film Grizzly
Grizzly (film)
Grizzly is a 1976 horror film directed by William Girdler. The film is about an 18-foot man-eating Grizzly bear that terrorizes a National Forest. The film stars Christopher George, Andrew Prine and Richard Jaeckel...
. She then appeared in her second film They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way
They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way
They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way is a 1978 slapstick comedy film written by and starring Tim Conway.-Plot summary:Dewey and Wallace are small-town lawmen who are ordered by the governor to go undercover as prison inmates to find out where a gang of thieves have hidden their loot...
in 1978 and the following year she starred alongside Sally Field
Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
and Beau Bridges
Beau Bridges
Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor and director.- Early life :Bridges was born in Los Angeles, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bridges . He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes's son in Gone with the Wind, the book...
in the classic film Norma Rae
Norma Rae
Norma Rae is a 1979 American drama film that tells the story of a factory worker from a small town in North Carolina, who becomes involved in the labor union activities at the textile factory where she works...
. Dorsey's husband Joe Dorsey
Joe Dorsey
Joe Dorsey is an American character actor. This familiar supporting player is probably best known for his portrayals of tough roles in films, even though most of his work in films and in television has been brief....
also made appearances in each of these films. Dorsey is best known for her role in the cult classic horror sequel Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland, alongside Pamela Springsteen
Pamela Springsteen
Pamela Colleen Springsteen is an American actress and photographer. She had a short acting career, and is best known for playing the role of serial killer Angela Baker in Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers and Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland. She is now a successful photographer...
and Michael J. Pollard
Michael J. Pollard
- Early life :Born Michael John Pollack, Jr. in Passaic, New Jersey, he is the son of Sonia and Michael John Pollack. He attended the Montclair Academy and the Actors Studio.- Career :...
. In the film she played the role of camp owner Lily Miranda, she and her on-screen husband (Michael J. Pollard) Herman's character names where named after The Munsters
The Munsters
The Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...
characters Herman
Herman Munster
Herman Munster, 5th Earl of Shroudshire, is a fictional character in the CBS sitcom The Munsters, originally played by Fred Gwynne. The patriarch of the Munster household, Herman is an entity much like Frankenstein's monster along with Lurch on the show's competitor The Addams Family.Due to the...
and Lily Munster
Lily Munster
Lily Munster, Countess of Shroudshire , is a fictional character in the CBS sitcom The Munsters, originally played by Yvonne De Carlo. The matriarch of the Munster household, Lily is an undead vampire. Her character resembles Vampira...
, the other character in the film where named after The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
. Her death scene, her head being decapiated by the lawnmower, is perhaps the best death scene in the film. This was Dorsey's second time working with director Michael A. Simpson, as the first was in 1986 with Impure Thoughts. In 1995, Dorsey played the role of Maxine in the Disney movie Gordy
Gordy
Gordy is a 1995 feature film about a piglet who searches for his missing family...
, which was her final feature film.
Her television credits include The Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard is an American television series that aired on the CBS television network from 1979 to 1985.The series was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was also created by Gy Waldron and had many identical or similar character names and concepts.- Overview :The Dukes of Hazzard...
. She has also appeared in several television films including Passing Glory
Passing Glory
Passing Glory is a 1999 basketball-drama film, written by Harold Sylvester, and directed by Steve James. This movie stars Andre Braugher, Rip Torn, and Sean Squire. The film also features a speaking role by Arthur Agee, the subject of the documentary "Hoop Dreams", also directed by Steve James...
, with Rip Torn
Rip Torn
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, Jr. , is an American actor of stage, screen and television.Torn received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1983 film Cross Creek. His work includes the role of Artie, the producer, on The Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated...
, Frankenstein
Frankenstein (2004 film)
Frankenstein is a 2004 made-for-television USA Network production starring Thomas Kretschmann as Victor Helios and Vincent Pérez as his creature. It was produced by Martin Scorsese and based on Dean Koontz's version of Frankenstein...
, with Parker Posey
Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....
, and Angel City
Angel City
Angel City may refer to:*Angel City, Florida, location in the United States*Angel City , electronic music group*Angel City, alternative name of Australian band The Angels...
, which again featured her husband, Joe working alongside her.
Filmography
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1976 | Grizzly Grizzly (film) Grizzly is a 1976 horror film directed by William Girdler. The film is about an 18-foot man-eating Grizzly bear that terrorizes a National Forest. The film stars Christopher George, Andrew Prine and Richard Jaeckel... |
Sally Walker | |
| 1978 | They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way is a 1978 slapstick comedy film written by and starring Tim Conway.-Plot summary:Dewey and Wallace are small-town lawmen who are ordered by the governor to go undercover as prison inmates to find out where a gang of thieves have hidden their loot... |
Lady with Kids | |
| 1979 | Norma Rae Norma Rae Norma Rae is a 1979 American drama film that tells the story of a factory worker from a small town in North Carolina, who becomes involved in the labor union activities at the textile factory where she works... |
Jail Matron | |
| 1986 | Impure Thoughts | Sister Othilda | |
| 1989 | Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland is a 1989 comedy-slasher film and the second sequel to Sleepaway Camp written by Fritz Gordon and directed by Michael A. Simpson. It stars Pamela Springsteen, Tracy Griffith, Michael J. Pollard, Mark Oliver, and Haynes Brooke.-Plot:The film opens with Maria... |
Lily Miranda | |
| 1995 | Gordy Gordy Gordy is a 1995 feature film about a piglet who searches for his missing family... |
Maxine | |
| 2007 | Tonky | Aunt Dotty | Short film |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1979 | The Dukes of Hazzard The Dukes of Hazzard The Dukes of Hazzard is an American television series that aired on the CBS television network from 1979 to 1985.The series was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was also created by Gy Waldron and had many identical or similar character names and concepts.- Overview :The Dukes of Hazzard... |
Deputy Hazel | Episode: "One Armed Bandits" |
| 1980 | The Georgia Peaches | Television film | |
| Angel City Angel City Angel City may refer to:*Angel City, Florida, location in the United States*Angel City , electronic music group*Angel City, alternative name of Australian band The Angels... |
1st Woman | Television film | |
| 1982 | Maid in America | Construction Worker #3 | Television film |
| 1999 | Passing Glory Passing Glory Passing Glory is a 1999 basketball-drama film, written by Harold Sylvester, and directed by Steve James. This movie stars Andre Braugher, Rip Torn, and Sean Squire. The film also features a speaking role by Arthur Agee, the subject of the documentary "Hoop Dreams", also directed by Steve James... |
Sister Gonzaga | Television film |
| 2004 | Frankenstein Frankenstein (2004 film) Frankenstein is a 2004 made-for-television USA Network production starring Thomas Kretschmann as Victor Helios and Vincent Pérez as his creature. It was produced by Martin Scorsese and based on Dean Koontz's version of Frankenstein... |
Nancy Whistler | Television film |