Linda Manz
Manz in Orphan Train (1979)
Born
Linda Ann Manz

(1961-08-20)August 20, 1961
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedAugust 14, 2020(2020-08-14) (aged 58)
Palmdale, California, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1978–1997
Spouse
Bobby Guthrie
​
(m. 1985)​
Children3

Linda Manz (August 20, 1961 – August 14, 2020) was an American actress. She made her feature film debut at age 15 in Terrence Malick's period drama Days of Heaven (1978), playing an adolescent girl growing up in rural Texas in 1916. She followed this with a supporting role in The Wanderers (1979). Manz earned critical acclaim for her portrayal of a troubled teenage girl from a dysfunctional family in Dennis Hopper's drama film Out of the Blue (1980).

Manz stepped away from her acting profession in the mid-1980s and relocated to Southern California, where she lived outside the public eye and focused on raising her three children. She returned to acting in 1997 with small roles in Harmony Korine's film Gummo and David Fincher's thriller The Game. She developed a strong cult following that began in the 1990s.[1]

Early life

Linda Ann Manz was born in New York City to Sophie E. Manz, and never knew her father.[2] Growing up in Upper Manhattan, Manz had a troubled childhood and a difficult relationship with her mother. She frequently ran away from home and attended several schools.[3] Manz told People magazine in 1979: "For a long time, I was always asking people to adopt me".[2] She was initially indifferent to acting but, as she later explained in 2011, it was her mother, a cleaner at the World Trade Center, who encouraged her to seek a career as an actress.[4] Her mother insisted that Manz attend a performing arts academy that taught acting and dancing.

Career

While she was at an academy for show business, a teacher told her that casting director Barbara L. Claman was looking for streetwise kids to appear in a new Hollywood film. Manz turned up unannounced at Claman’s office, "smoking and looking all of 10 years old" but, according to Claman, "she had that special quality we wanted."[3][5] This introduction eventually led in 1976 to Manz being selected at age 15 by Terrence Malick to act in his second film, Days of Heaven. She plays a streetwise orphan who joins her older brother and his lover when they flee Chicago in 1916, and find work, then refuge, with a wealthy Texas farmer. The film was not released until 1978 due to Malick's lengthy editing.[2]

Manz's part was initially smaller, but Malick was so impressed by her that he made a last-minute decision to have her improvise an unscripted narration.[6] Manz told interviewers, years later, that, "I just watched the movie and rambled on," and "They took whatever dialogue they liked."[2] She received excellent reviews, with critic Roger Ebert saying, "Her voice sounds utterly authentic; it seems beyond performance."[7]

Manz appeared alongside Ken Wahl in the 1979 teenage-gang drama The Wanderers, directed by Philip Kaufman,[8] Her next role was in the short-lived CBS series, Dorothy.[2] Manz next had a spot in the 1979 television movie Orphan Train as Sarah,[9] one of many orphans relocated from eastern orphanages to farms in the West and Midwest in the late 1800s/early 1900s.

She received notice as the lead in Dennis Hopper's influential cult film Out of the Blue (1980).[2][6][10] In Hopper’s drama she played Cebe, a troubled Elvis-obsessed teenager who masks her vulnerability with a punk attitude.[3] Over a CB radio she broadcasts statements such as "Kill all hippies!" and "Subvert normality!"[11] Her voice was subsequently sampled by Primal Scream in their song "Kill All Hippies", which was released in 2000.[12]

In 1981, she starred opposite Leif Garrett and Ralph Seymour in the television film 'Longshot, which focused on a group of teenaged foosball enthusiasts. In 1985, Manz appeared in a small role as a robber in "The Snow Queen", an episode of Faerie Tale Theatre.[13]

By the mid-1980s, she had disappeared from the industry. Manz insisted this was not due to any dramatic walking-out-on-Hollywood story, telling Time Out in 1997: "There was a whole bunch of new young actors out there, and I was kind of getting lost in the shuffle, so I laid back and had three kids. Now I enjoy just staying home and cooking soup."[3][2]

The director Harmony Korine, who admired her work, sought out Manz after a 16-year absence from the screen for the role of a fast-talking, tap-dancing mother of one of the main characters in Gummo (1997), his nihilistic portrayal of marginalized small-town life.[2][9]

Manz followed this with a small role as the roommate of Deborah Kara Unger's character Christine in David Fincher's thriller film The Game (1997).[14]

Personal life

In 1985 Manz married Bobbie L. Guthrie, a camera operator in the film industry.[6] Together they had three children: Michael, Christopher and William.[2] She lived later in Antelope Valley, California.[6] Her son Christopher died before her, in 2018.

Manz died in Palmdale, California on August 14, 2020, aged 58, of complications from pneumonia and lung cancer.[3][15][16]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1978 Days of Heaven Linda [17]
1978 King of the Gypsies Uncredited [17]
1979 The Wanderers Peewee [17]
1979 Boardwalk Girl Satan [18]
1980 Out of the Blue Cebe [17]
1981 Longshot Maxine Gripp [19]
1983 'Mir reicht's … ich steig aus! Linda [20]
1997 Gummo Solomon's Mother [21]
1997 The Game Amy [21]
1999 Buddy Boy Uncredited [21]
2016 Along for the Ride Herself Documentary

Television

  • 1979 Dorothy as Frankie (4 episodes; "The Bookworm Turns", "Hard Hearted Hamlet", "Lies and Whisper", "Give My Regrets to Broadway")[22]
  • 1979 Orphan Train as Sarah
  • 1985 Faerie Tale Theatre as Robber Girl ("The Snow Queen")[13]
  • 2009 This Beat Goes On: Canadian Pop Music in the 1970s as Herself, documentary

References

  1. ↑ "'Days of Heaven,' 'Out of the Blue' actress Linda Manz dead at 58".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Gates, Anita (August 28, 2020). "Linda Manz, Young Star of 'Days of Heaven,' Dies at 58". The New York Times. Retrieved August 30, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 O’Hagan, Sean (August 17, 2020). "'I'm a tough little rebel': Linda Manz, Hollywood's anti-star remembered". The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 14, 2022.
  4. ↑ Hoffman, Jordan (August 15, 2020). "Linda Manz, Star of Days of Heaven and Out of the Blue, Dies at Age 58". Vanity Fair. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  5. ↑ Moreau, Jordan (January 25, 2019). "Casting Director Barbara Claman Dies at 89". Variety. Retrieved August 30, 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Pinkerton, Nick (June 1, 2011). "Calling Linda Manz". Village Voice. Archived from the original on December 18, 2020.
  7. ↑ Ebert, Roger (December 7, 1997). "The Great Movies: Days of Heaven". Chicago Sun-Times – via RogerEbert.com.
  8. ↑ Hoover, Eleanor (August 13, 1979). "The Brutal Years Over, Linda Manz Fonzes Her Way from N.Y. to L.A.—and Her Own First Days of Heaven". People.
  9. 1 2 "Linda Manz: Complete Filmography". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  10. ↑ Healy, Claire Marie (September 24, 2019). "Why Chloë Sevigny Is on a Mission to Save the Work of Linda Manz". AnOtherMag.com. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
  11. ↑ Bengal, Rebecca (May 5, 2014). "Catching Up With the Original Punk Rock Girl of Film". T. Retrieved August 30, 2020.
  12. ↑ Lavin, Will (August 15, 2020). "'Days Of Heaven' and 'Out Of The Blue' actor Linda Manz has died". NME. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  13. 1 2 Marill, Alvin H. (2008). More Theatre III: Stage to Screen to Television, Since 2001. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 462. ISBN 978-0-810-86003-2.
  14. ↑ Beresford, Trilby; Rooney, David (August 25, 2020). "Linda Manz, Actress in 'Days of Heaven,' and 'Out of the Blue,' Dies at 58". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  15. ↑ "'Days of Heaven,' 'Out of the Blue' Star Linda Manz Dead at 58". Extra. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  16. ↑ Moreau, Jordan (August 15, 2020). "Linda Manz, 'Days of Heaven and 'Out of the Blue' Actor, Dies at 58". Variety. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "Linda Manz List of Movies and TV Shows". TV Guide. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  18. ↑ Canby, Vincent (November 14, 1979). "Screen: 'Boardwalk,' a Couple's Problems:Crises in Series". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 11, 2022.
  19. ↑ "Longshot". Flixster. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  20. ↑ "Mir reicht's… ich steig aus! (1983)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on August 16, 2023. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  21. 1 2 3 "Linda Manz". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  22. ↑ "Linda Manz". TV Guide. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
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