20 Things You Somehow Missed In Friday The 13th (1980)
11. The Mrs Voorhees Who Might Have Been
Betsy Palmer was not the first choice for the role of Mrs Voorhees and, indeed, both Shelley Winters and Estelle Parsons had been on the shortlist to play the role.
Winters, who was perhaps best known for her performances in The Night of the Hunter (1955), Alfie (1966), and The Poseidon Adventure (1972), turned the role down because it was not the sort of film that she wanted to appear in and, moreover, her fee would have been far too expensive for the filmmakers.
Estelle Parsons, who had won an Academy Award winning role as Gene Hackman's wife, Blanche Barrow in Bonnie & Clyde (1967) was purportedly actually signed up for the role, but withdrew from it because it did not fit her image either.
Ironically, both Winters and Parsons went on to feature as overbearing matriarchs in the television series, Roseanne (1988-2018).