Friday the 13th: Part II - Behind the Scenes

Photo from Cliff Cudney's Facebook

A lot of these photos from this sequence have been popping up here and there, but here is one that we haven't seen before. It's of stunt coordinator extraordinaire Cliff Cudney and his talent Steve Dash – better known as Jason Voorhees. 

What's good for the goose...

I am not trying to beat a dead horse here, because quite frankly the whole Gillette vs. Dash confrontation of a decade ago is a tired, stupid situation. At one time I sided with Steve Dash – and still feel his complaints back then had merit – but at the same time, I also see a lot of other genre actors signing photos that may not depict them. Like, I have seen C.J. Graham sign photos of Dan Bradley, Tony Moran sign photos of other people who played Michael Myers in Halloween, and so on.

Steve Dash's 1968 Police ID Photo

From Steve's Facebook page.

Fangoria: Jason II, Behind the Scenes

Fangoria #68

Here are some great shots of Jason from Friday the 13th: Part II that I found in some old Fangoria scans. Some of the shots are well known, in fact they all are being in Fangoria. However, you have got to love these old behind the scenes shots of Steve Dash and Warrington Gillette.

The one I love especially is the one of Jason (Warrington Gillette) crashing through the window at Ginny (Amy Steel). It is a great angle of it and it also proves that Gillette used a pendulum (something he denied) to do this scene. He is clearly on an upward trajectory (hence why his hands are getting farther away from Ginny. Maybe it is not a big deal, but if you were on the old Guts and Gory boards in 2004-6, you'd know why I posted this.

Jason Voorhees Goes to the E.R.

Steve Dash's legendary hospital visit whilst shooting
Friday the 13th: Part II
From the collection of Jonathan Yuhas

So, now Steve Dash's story of his hospital visit is now Friday the 13th folklore, but for those who have never heard it, it's simple. Steve's finger was struck by Amy Steel's machete while filming the final scene and nearly severed. Dash went to the local hospital's ER for stitches, but felt like playing a prank on the doctors

Steve Dash in Alone in the Dark (1981)

Did Carl Fullerton Play Jason?

Carl Fullerton doing some SFX sexing

We are all well versed in the whole Gillette vs. Dash "who played Jason" debacle. And we all know that Jerry Wallace and Ellen Lutter were also people who did scenes as Jason. However, much like Tom Savini playing the killer during his special effects gags, Warrington Gillette did state that he believed that special make-up effects Carl Fullerton may have played Jason after he left the production. Many people laughed at that, but I always thought it sounded plausible. 

Friday the 13th: Part Boo

Photo by: Jaime Kujala
From: PB Pulse

A pretty fun article about our very own-- and Palm Beach, Florida resident-- Steve Dash and his acting career, from the Palm Beach Pulse.

For years, 68-year-old Dash, then known as Steve Daskawisz, enjoyed the jobs and connections he got from having played the famous fiend, but not the credit. That’s because Warrington Gillette, the actor he replaced in the role and who appeared in only one scene, was officially credited as Jason, while Dash was listed as his stunt double. [...]

Who is Warrington Gillette?

Warrington Gillete
from: Pound4Pound.com

Of course most of us Friday The 13th fans know him as an actor who played Jason in the infamous window crash scene in Friday The 13th Part II. Unfortunately for people none the wiser may call him Jason II, and rightfully so- he was indeed credited as Jason Voorhees, right? It's a very common misconception since day one and for the people who frequented the Guts & Gory forum a handful of years back sort of know where I am going with this. Around 2003, at the height of the Friday The 13th website craze a lot of actors from the franchise came out to do interviews, attend conventions and meet fans. Around 2003/2004 Warrington Gillette was asked to do some conventions and he kindly obliged. He attended a lot of conventions and even had his own forum at Guts & Gory as well as his own website www.jason2kills.com.

Nice Steve Dash video interview.

Old school Dread Central interview with Dash.

Steve Dash as Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th: Part II

Done by the infamous Sean Clark, one of the first interviews with Dash tackling the whole "Necrocomicon/Warrington" incident. Read the rest at Dread Central, if you wish. Dash is incorrect in saying that he did everything else in reference to Warrington only doing the window scene. Jerry Wallace actually did a good part of inserts with hands, feel, stalking, running and even killed Vicki and Alice. Of course, the now infamous Ellen Lutter supplied her legs to Jason in the pre-credit scene.

SC: Now I actually did an interview with Warrington about a year ago and I asked him the same question. He claimed at the time in the interview that the only things you did in the film were a couple of insert shots of your hands performing some kill scenes.
SD: That’s what I’ve heard he has said also. For the last twenty-five years I haven’t even gotten involved with it until recently, when Peter Bracke called me about writing his book. As far as the validity of what he says and the validity of what I did can be substantiated and corroborated by Steve Miner and Cliff Cudney, the stunt coordinator.

Gillette Vs Dash

Carl Fullerton and his creation Jason Voorhees (Warrington Gillette) 

The controversy between Warrington "One Scene" Gillette and Steve "Get My Pictures Off Of Your Fuckin' Table" Dash" by this time is very well known. It has been widely covered in Crystal Lake Memories, His Name Was Jason and online mediums like DeadPit.Com. At this point it is fairly known who is telling the truth and who isn't-- one of the two has more than proven themselves to be a liar and a con artist taking money from fans with a phony movie raffle. I even briefly touched up on it myself by putting up Warington's confession (Guts & Gory) as well as people such as Cliff Cudney calling out his blatant lies.

Dread Central: Who is Jason 2?

In case some people reading thinks I was full of shit with the "Who Is Warrington Gillette?" post, in a very ironic way, Dread Central posted something eerie similar- an interview with Steve Dash discussing the very thing that I posted about.

SC: Does it bother you that in the film’s credits they gave Warrington credit as Jason and not yourself and how did that end up happening?
SD: Well, what happened with that is when they hired me for the movie Steve Miner told me they had hired Warrington as Jason and Paramount wanted him to have that screen credit. The only credit they could give me was "Jason Stunt Double", however Miner did tell me that my name would be directly under his name in the screen credits, but as it turned out my credit is in the back of the film. So Steve Miner and Paramount were not totally honest with me. I agreed that it was okay as long as my name was next to his as "Jason Stunt Double" and that’s fine, but the fact of the matter is I’m an actor that has done over 35 movies over the years, soap operas, advertisements, commercials, plays; I’m a professional. I don’t sign things that are not mine. And I certainly don’t want people signing their name to my pictures.