Oscar nominated for John Huston's "Fat City" Susan Tyrrell should have won...that being stated the cult actress who was never a household name, career was best described by her Mother to the LA Weekly where Susan recounted her statement:
“The last thing my mother said to me was, ‘SuSu, your life is a celebration of everything that is cheap and tawdry,’” the actress recalled to writer Paul Cullum, who penned a 2000 profile of Tyrrell for the LA Weekly. “I’ve always liked that, and I’ve always tried to live up to it.”
And live up to it she did! With roles in John Water's "Crybaby" as Johnny Depp's Mother and my personal favorite as "Queen Doris of the Sixth Dimension/Ruth Henderson" in Oingo Boingo's "Forbidden Zone".
SuSu was one of a kind. Oh, and "yes" I did have a personal encounter with this unique and passionate human being. SuSu was friends with Brian Grillo lead singer of the late great homo hardcore Los Angeles based punk/rock band, "Extra Fancy".
We were both bouncing around and loving on the music, when out of the blue, SuSu grabbed me by the collar and said, quite sincerely I might add: "I'm going to chain you down puppy" !
Susan was a lover of life and that will always be my memory of her, hey SuSu, I know you are somewhere amazing ..!
