Freddy Krueger actor Robert Englund recalls youth in Detroit before Comic Con appearance
Millions around the world know actor Robert Englund as iconic villain Freddy Krueger in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" film series. But for a while, back in the late 1960s and early '70s, he was just another aspiring actor in metro Detroit.
"I have such great, fond memories of working there," Englund told the Free Press. "I spent 41⁄2 or five years at Oakland University. It had a great theater adjacent to it called the Meadow Brook Theatre, and it's still there. At that time, it was all of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts faculty and actors from Stratford, Ontario, New York and London, and it was just a wonderful, magical time for me as a young actor – to hang with all these old, English actors who told stories about Peter O'Toole and Laurence Olivier and everything.
"We'd go down and work at the Detroit Institute of Arts once every six weeks or so, and we'd cruise down Woodward and through downtown Detroit. I taught at Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills one summer when I didn't audition in time for summer stock. I was young and I was dedicated to, you know, the craft of stage acting, and that was going to be my life. Back in the late '60s and early '70s, a buck was still a buck, and my wife and I, we had enough money for hamburgers and beers at night. Some great, great times there. Except for the winters, all of my memories there are really fond."
Englund, who's originally from Glendale, California, is delighted to return to metro Detroit this weekend for Motor City Comic Con. On Saturday at 8 p.m., he'll host a 40th anniversary screening of the original 1984 "A Nightmare on Elm Street" at Emagine Novi (44425 W. Twelve Mile Road). Englund will take part in a pre-show Q&A discussion; attendees will also receive a commemorative badge and exclusive art print.
("Nightmare" co-stars Ronee Blakely and Amanda Wyss are also on the MC3 schedule this year.)
Englund recalled his first encounter with the Freddy character, decades ago, when he was fresh off the 1983 hit sci-fi miniseries "V."
"I had a hiatus," he said, "and the only thing that fit in my schedule was this little film called 'A Nightmare on Elm Street.' I remember being intrigued by the challenges of it, of the makeup, and I remember being interested in it because of (writer and director) Wes Craven. I thought, 'This guy's really tapped into some subliminal, dark s—t.' I was a tanned surfer, so I greased my hair back with some motor oil from under the hood and I put a little bit of cigarette ash under my eyes, to sink them. It's an old theater trick. And I went in for the audition and played that old staring game that you play as kids, where you try not to blink."
Englund landed the role, and the modestly produced "Nightmare" went on to become one of 1984's top-grossing films and a defining film in the horror genre. Its financial success propelled the fledgling New Line Cinema to prominence, earning New Line the nickname "The House That Freddy Built." In 2021, "Nightmare" was selected by the Library of Congress to enter the United States National Film Registry for its historical significance.
Seemingly overnight, Englund was propelled to international fame.
"After part two came out," he said, "I was in Milan, Italy for an awards show. I was up for best supporting actor or something for 'V' and I was up against Richard Chamberlain for 'The Thorn Birds' or something like that. I remember getting dragged out of the car that brought me to the venue and the crowd chanting, 'Freddy! Freddy!' I remember thinking, 'Wait a minute, we're international. This ... this is bigger than I thought.
"Wes taught me to respect the genre. I had been a bit of a snob. I'd been an A-list actor in the '70s and worked with some greats – Henry Fonda, Jeff Bridges, Susan Sarandon and others. I thought, 'I've stepped into something here, and I have to decide whether I want to maybe stick with it because they want me to do more horror movies.' And I thought, 'Maybe this would be fun.'
"I remembered when I was a child how much I loved (horror films), and how they'd captured my imagination. That helped me make the decision to stick with it. And the one-two punch of 'V,' which was a big science fiction hit, and then the first couple of 'Nightmare on Elm Street' franchise films, I realized they'd made me an international actor. Not only did people know my name for the first time, they could put my name to my face, and I was being offered roles."
After eight outings as the razor-gloved Freddy (he names 1994's "New Nightmare" as his favorite – "That one was the most fun for me") and scores of other films and projects (including directing 1988 cult classic "976-EVIL"), at age 77, Englund remains in demand for screen projects and festival appearances. In 2022, to great fan enthusiasm, he made a guest appearance on the fourth season of Netflix's throwback horror megahit "Stranger Things."
"I had auditioned for season three, for the mayor," Englund revealed. "A friend of mine, the wonderful actor Cary Elwes, got the role. They remembered my audition, and they called me up for season four, which was great. I was a huge fan of Millie Bobby Brown, and the extraordinary Maya Hawke, who's Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman's daughter – she's breaking huge right now, and I'm so, so happy for her and all her success. And I got directed by Shawn Levy, who I think is the hottest young director today. That was really a treat."
The actor is excited to see Detroit again and to attend the Q&A.
"I'm just going to be brimming with nostalgia for my time there," he said. "I keep forgetting how long it's been since I made my way down I-75 in a snowstorm, but I love to talk about my experiences there. I want to share a little bit of my time that I had in Michigan with people, and I just like to answer questions where they get to see the real Robert. I'm an old fart now, but I've done nearly 100 movies and I've got a lot of great stories.
"I'm looking forward to it, and I'm looking forward to maybe having my driver show me a couple of my old houses and things like that."
MC3's 40th anniversary screening of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" will be held at Emagine Novi, 44425 W. 12 Mile Rd., at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9. Tickets are $40, but attendees must also attend the Motor City Comic Con. For information and tickets, visit motorcitycomiccon.com .
Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at
