Recently I was able to sit down with the actress: Helen Campitelli. Helen has been working in commercial real estate for some time now, but the fascinating part about Helen’s life is that she was one of the stars of the film “Squeeze Play” 31 years ago.
“Squeeze Play” was one of the first films directed by Lloyd Kaufman. Lloyd Kaufman has written, directed, and produced nearly 100 films and television shows, such as: “The Toxic Avenger Series”, “Silent Night, Bloody Night”, and the animated series “The Toxic Crusaders”. He has acted in 168 projects, such as: “Rocky”, “Orgazmo”, “Crank: High Voltage”, and “Gamer”.
Helen and Lloyd worked together very early in his career, before things skyrocketed.
“They were lucky enough to sell the film and have it distributed by FOX, which was the biggest of their day. And my mom literally called me on the phone and said my name was in the paper for the movie, the posting for the movie. And that’s how I found out that it actually got release,” said Helen Campitelli.
The film industry has changed a lot over the years. Helen became a part of “Squeeze Play” from a flyer on a telephone pole. Now actors go on websites like Film.org and Craigslist in order to find acting jobs. She said even the films themselves have changed. “Squeeze Play” was a raunchy comedy filled with crude humor and nudity, even Helen herself was topless, but it was in a more respectable way. There was not as much vulgar language and “F-bombs” as the risqué comedies have today. Back then, Lloyd used to hold the rehearsals at his apartment on his sofa.
“He was very very funny,” said Helen. “He would literally act out what he wanted you to do, and if it was something like a little bit sexy or risqué, it was absolutely hilarious to watch him doing it. Because he had a full beard at the time, and he was just like older than his years in the way of his mannerisms. It was always so funny.”
Helen has been a realtor for the past 25 years. She did what she could to take care of her mother, who passed away in 2006. Helen’s life in film was something in the past, until her nephew, Gary Makarevitz, decided to pursue his dream of becoming a make-up effects artist. At first Gary did not know that his aunt had starred in a Troma film. He was actually wearing a “The Toxic Avenger” shirt when Gary and Helen were discussing the film industry for the first time.
“You know, I was younger. It was all young people. It was young energy. I’m excited about seeing some of that with, like ‘Party Smashers’, and some of these films where they’re young ambitious people and it’s exciting to see my nephew getting excited about it. The youth. The youth is what changes everything,” Helen said, comparing then and now.
Helen also did quite a bit of modeling in her early years. She was actually one of the Black Velvet girls. Helen worked with a lot of famous hairdressers such as: Sir Robert Clegg, Paul Mitchell, Donald Scott, and Robert Pearson. She actually learned make-up from Way Bandy.
Since Helen has gotten back into film she has worked on a few projects, and a few more are in the oven. Helen was just in a film titled: “Zombies and Pizza”. A feature called “Ultra Violence” is in pre-production. Helen will be playing a very comedic character named: Mary the Cougar. Helen and Lloyd will actually be reuniting on the set of this film for the first time in over 30 years. She is playing the district attorney in the film “The Bookie”. She was also an actress in one of the reenactments of "Forensic Files". Helen also played Rev. Bob Levy’s wife in the short film “Party Smashers” produced by 1 More Time Productions.
Keep an eye out for Helen in future projects.
(From Left to Right, Gary Makarevitz and Helen Campitelli on set of "Zombies and Pizza")
(Movie Poster for "Squeeze Play")
