On May 24, 2021, the world lost their great Auntie. After quietly battling Parkinsons Disease for a couple of years, the disease accelerated rapidly on her in May and took a radiant angel to heaven. Des and I have so many great memories together; I don't even know where to begin. We worked on a lot of SLEEPAWAY CAMP stuff together over the past 2 decades and she will ALWAYS be remembered for her truly iconic performance as AUNT MARTHA. I still remember when I invited her to the SLEEPAWAY CAMP REUNION for FANGORIA at THE NEW YORKER HOTEL in 2001.
Each actor was called onto the stage individually and everyone was met with great cheer. But the crowd went absolutely wild when Desiree stepped onto the stage! The star had arrived and bedazzled fans were seeing her live in the flesh for the first time! I remember her thanking me for making her a guest at the event and she said "you have given me one of the greatest days in my life!" It was a sentiment that she had shared with me numerous times over the years. She was so grateful and although it hurts my heart that she is no longer with us, it makes me feel pretty darn cool that she always thought of me as the person who brought her one of the greatest days in her life.
Since then we did some SLEEPAWAY interviews together and even an independent film. I made her a guest at a couple of horror conventions to meet her many fans and I also brought her aboard the Scream Factory Documentary on the 2015 Blu Ray release of SLEEPAWAY CAMP. I not only arranged for her to be on it but also travelled to New York to shoot her interview for it. You can get a peek at that wonderful day right here:
Des wouldn't do video interviews for just anybody. If you take a look around, you'll see there are very few in existence in comparison with other actors from the franchise. But she did them for me whenever I asked her to do one for whatever SLEEPAWAY media I was producing while she refused to do them for others who she felt were only looking to build their banks.
She always said I had "integrity" and I was glad that she knew that about me. I have witnessed some of the folks in this franchise go from grateful and excited at the SLEEPAWAY rebirth that began on the website and The 2001 REUNION and I have seen others despicably use people and turn into opportunistic chameleons looking to monetize their participation in the franchise for all it's worth, sadly fooling some unsuspecting people that they actually care about anything more than their self serving agenda, egomania, and their bank accounts. I can tell you with pure happiness and certainty that Desiree was one of the good ones. God bless you Desiree, everyone's great Auntie and a wonderfully fun and radiant person. Your performance and spirit live forever.
