Will the Real Jean Arless Please Step Forward?

Posted by morlockjeff on September 22, 2007

Which is the real Jean Arliss? Warren & Emily

For those of you who have seen William Castle’s 1961 film HOMICIDAL, the most unforgettable aspect of it wasn’t the carnival hustle promotion – refunds were given to moviegoers who spent the film’s climax in “The Coward’s Corner,” too scared to watch the ending – or the fact that the film appropriated the surprise denouement of Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO – a cross-dressing psychopathic killer. It was the peculiar looking actor/actress named Jean Arless who stood out in a dual role, playing a male and female character.

Warren

Easily Castle’s most peculiar “stunt” or promotional gimmick, Arless apparently had no past – try to find other film credits under that name – and quickly disappeared after the release of HOMICIDAL. But the truth about Jean Arless was always hiding in plain sight, even if some people were convinced the actor/actress was a genuine “sexual resassignment” case.

Joan Marshall

Castle even identified the actress he cast as Emily/Warren in his amusing autobiography, STEP RIGHT UP! I’M GONNA SCARE THE PANTS OFF AMERICA! as Joan Marshall. He was also the one who gave her her new identity as Jean Arless: “It was a neutral name; it could have been either male or female.”

Warren or Emily?

Kudos are in order for Ben Lane, the makeup man on HOMICIDAL, however, because Jean Arless is never completely convincing as a man or a woman (http://www.themakeupgallery.info/disguise/male/m1/homicidal.htm) and that’s what gives the film its perverse fascination that lingers long after the film’s clumsily staged shocks. Everything about Emily AND Warren is a lie but what is the truth? Is it the wigs? Is it the weird overbite? Is it a struggling unknown trying to be the next T.C. Jones? (http://www.queermusicheritage.us/drag-jones.html).

Anyone who watched a good deal of television during the late fifties and early sixties would have recognized Joan Marshall. She made guest appearances in countless TV series such as”Highway Patrol,” “Have Gun – Will Travel,” “Tales of Wells Fargo,” “Maverick”..the list goes on and on.

Phoebe Munster

She also starred in the pilot for the series “The Munsters” as the family matriarch Phoebe whose name became Lily in the regular series as played by Yvonne de Carlo. (Apparently Marshall wasn’t hired because her performance was too imitative of Carolyn Jones as Morticia.)

You also may remember Marshall as Areel Shaw in “Star Trek: The Original Series” (1967).

Areel Shaw

Another surprising fact is that Marshall became the wife of director Hal Ashby. They met and married during the making of THE LANDLORD (now enjoying a revival in a new print in New York City). Despite the fact that author Peter Biskind, in his book “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls,” reported that their marriage fell apart during the filming of HAROLD AND MAUDE in 1971, the couple remained married (at least legally) until Ashby died from cancer in 1988. Her last film credit was a bit part in Ashby’s film SHAMPOO (1975) which Ashby allegedly based on some aspects of Marshall’s life which Robert Towne and Warren Beatty worked into the screenplay. Who’s to say if any of this is true? The biographical info on Marshall at IMDB and other sources is as suspect as Emily and Warren in HOMICIDAL. But what did you expect for someone who was “discovered” by William Castle?

Warren

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13 Responses Will the Real Jean Arless Please Step Forward?

Posted By Medusa : September 22, 2007 3:54 pm

Wow! Captain Kirk kissed her, too! What a totally fascinating story! There's also a nice overview of her life at the great Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen website:http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/180/Joan+Marshall/index.htmlAmazing post, Jeff!

Posted By Rusty : September 25, 2007 4:21 pm

Yes. That Glen/Glenda thing had me fooled…for about ten seconds after I first looked at toothy Warren. "Fooled for ten seconds"…too long?

Posted By Joe D : September 25, 2007 9:51 pm

I heard about this film from my cousin, she saw it in a theater when it was first released. She said a wheelchair came out next to the screen and the head of the old woman in the chair fell off, a typical William Castle gimmick.

Posted By RHS : September 27, 2007 1:54 am

I had no idea about Phoebe from THE MUNSTERS. Boy oh boy, the world just gets more interestin' every day.

Posted By Mr. Peel : September 27, 2007 10:29 pm

One thing you didn't mention is that William Castle is in SHAMPOO! I don't know what that means, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Posted By Beyonce Welch : October 2, 2007 9:49 pm

I have always thought that both roles were played by a man. Joan Marshall is very much a woman.

Posted By Virginia Reed : October 12, 2007 10:32 pm

Hello! The movie "Homicidal" with Jean Arliss, is the film, that I have been waiting to see again. I do remember Jean Arliss in that film, but coudn't remember the film's title. She was terrific in that film. Sometimes the cast, under the main stars, put on a better performance, than the main actors, and actresses, they make the story in the movie stand out. Thank you for bringing this classic back! Virginia Reed5282 Southern Manor DrOmaha, Ne 68117 reedvj@cox.net

Posted By Diane Bonacci : October 13, 2007 2:25 pm

I thought this film was excellent. It kept me in suspense and I just could not stop watching it. Most films leave me restless and it takes some time for me to watch it in its entirety. Not this one. Jean Arless' performancewas outstanding.

Posted By bob : October 24, 2007 6:40 pm

B-duh duh duh. Ain't 'cha reading? There IS no Jean Arless- her name was JOAN MARSHALL (deceased).

Posted By stationranger : December 10, 2008 7:20 pm

Check out Joan Marshall’s findagrave.com page.

Posted By Big Jim : September 30, 2009 1:16 pm

I watched Homicidal with my big sister as small child and we were completely terrorized. I didn’t remember the title until I saw a description of it almost 30 years later. I was amazed at how much different the movie was watching it as an adult. The most memorable scene was the head rolling down the stairs. As a child I saw it as a bloody gory severed head spattering blood everywhere. So when I saw it as an adult I was amazedha it was all in shadow. I do think it was a wonderful film and William Castle movies are always entertaining. Jean Arless was superb.

Posted By Michi Boyd : October 10, 2009 4:13 pm

Joan Marshall was a kind woman and fine actress, much underrated and very much a woman even in Homicidal. We always joke Warren looks like a young Tyne Daly!

Posted By Gregory Schwartz : November 29, 2011 9:38 pm

In 1960 my babysitter and I went to downtown Detroit to see “Ben Hur”. The theater was closed for the day and we ended up watching the recently released movie “Psycho”. It was a movie that I would never forget and it scared me severely.

A few years later my uncle took me and my brother and sisters to the neighborhood theater to see “Homicidal”. Even at the tender age of 12, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between Psycho and Homicidal. I thought Homicidal was less intense than Psycho, but the film still left an impression on me.

Almost thirty years later, I was able to videotape Homicidal when the cable network, Showtime, broadcast it on a Wednesday afternoon. I had to take the day off from work, and I “rented” a friends’ cable box for $10 for the day, so I could receive Showtime on my television.

I’ve had several “Homicidal” parties, where I show the movie to friends. Just before the climax of the movie, during the “fright break” I would ask my friends if they “figured it out yet”? I was pleasantly surprised to find that as old as the movie is, William Castle was still successful at fooling and scaring his audience. Despite all the advances in movie-making, this dated, black and white film still manages to deliver the shudders. I just hope Hollywood never decides to “remake” this old chestnut. – gregg in Sarasota, FL November-2011

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