Nancy Thompson may spend the majority of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies running away from Freddy Krueger, but Heather Langenkamp, who portrays her, isn’t straying away from Robert Englund. In fact, she managed to praise one of Englund’s best performances in the slasher films with the best speech she could have given him at his Walk of Fame ceremony.
While Robert Englund started in theatre productions and then in supporting film roles, taking a chance to play an antagonist in A Nightmare on Elm Street ended up making him one of the best ‘80s movie villains out there. As Heather Langenkamp’s own career launched alongside his by playing classic “final girl” Nancy Thompson, it’s only natural that she’d be the one to send her praises to the veteran actor at his Walk of Fame ceremony. Here’s the beginning of her heartwarming speech, where she gives her own unique interpretation of the Walk of Fame golden star, thanks to Englund:
I have had the privilege of acting with Robert Englund in three films, and I feel I am uniquely qualified to speak about him because I was there the day Freddy Krueger was born. When I look at this five-pointed star in front of me with Robert's name on it, I think of the five fingers of that oily, dirty glove that he wore on his right hand. That glove, dreamed up by Wes Craven.
Ah, the legendary glove! After this speech, my image of the golden star will forever be tarnished by Freddy Krueger’s metallic fingers. But you can’t deny that Freddy’s glove is a prop as legendary as the actor. I wouldn’t want to be slashed by those claws of his! We have to credit the horror movie icon for telling the creative team that Freddy should wear a fedora rather than a paperboy hat.
Robert Englund was clearly dedicated to his then-new role of Freddy Krueger, as Heather Langenkamp spoke of how he would rehearse his terrifying character until the cameras were on. Even though Freddy Krueger was a villain you loved to hate, The Midnight Club actress treated Englund like a hero at the ceremony for shaping the horror genre and his flawless portrayal of an evil being:
It set your teeth on edge the minute Robert took on Freddy’s voice. He married that demented sneer with this wonderful portrayal of the most evil character you could think of. He came to set every day with something to give Wes Craven to create this magical character that we all know and love so much. This man has put his mark on Hollywood. Wes Craven put his mark on the genre, with the help of Bob Shaye who believed in his crazy idea. One hundred years from now, no one will walk across this star and say, ‘Who was Robert Englund?’ His mark on our business, and this genre, and our popular culture – and I say, even the world – has been indelible. And will live in infamy forever.
What an incredibly beautiful speech! It’s incredibly ironic that an actor who portrayed evil so perfectly would get a hero’s welcome in real life that day. But yes, Langenkamp was right in Freddy Krueger being “the most evil character you could think of.”
Not only did Freddy Krueger know how to deliver gruesome kills in the horror franchise, he also targeted his victims in their most vulnerable headspace—their dreams. As a person can’t stop themselves from dreaming, Robert Englund’s performance of Freddy Krueger’s playfulness and psychological torment are what make the Elm Street movies some of the best horror flicks of all time.
Leave it to Scream Queen Heather Langenkamp to melt our hearts as she praised Robert Englund with an honor that's rightfully his. After she gave her Walk of Fame speech, you can tell the American actor was touched as he hilariously referred to the two of them as “beauty and the beast.” While the Englund and Langenkamp have moved on from the Wes Craven franchise, it’s still nice to know the two are still “attached at the hip since 1984,” as Englund said.
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