Ted White’s son shares a fun story from the set of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
One of my favorite entries in my favorite franchise, the Friday the 13th sequel Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter features stuntman Ted White as the hockey-masked horror icon Jason Voorhees, and he is widely considered to be one of the best Jason performers in the entire series. Sadly, White passed away in 2022 at the age of 96 – but well before he passed away, he provided the foreword for his son Michael Bayouth’s memoir In the Shadows of Giants: True Stories From The Son of a Hollywood Stuntman, which is available for purchase at THIS LINK. To promote the book, Bayouth recently shared an excerpt that tells a fun story from the set of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. You can check it out below.
Directed by Joseph Zito from a screenplay by Barney Cohen (with Bruce Hidemi Sakow receiving story credit), Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter has the following synopsis: The body count continues in this vivid thriller, the fourth — and final? — story in the widely successful Friday the 13th series. Jason, Crystal Lake’s least popular citizen, returns to wreak further havoc in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. After his revival in a hospital morgue, the hockey-masked murderer fixes his vengeful attention on the Jarvis family and a group of hitherto carefree teenagers. Young Tommy Jarvis is an aficionado of horror films with a special talent for masks and make-up. Has the diabolical Jason finally met his match?
The film stars Corey Feldman, Kimberly Beck, E. Erich Anderson, Crispin Glover, Alan Hayes, Barbara Howard, Joan Freeman, Peter Barton, Judie Aronson, Camila More, Carey More, Lawrence Monoson, Bruce Mahler, Lisa Freeman, and Bonnie Hellman, along with Ted White as Jason Voorhees.
Here’s the excerpt from Michael Bayouth’s memoir In the Shadows of Giants: My dad portrayed Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter—part 4 of the feature film installments. Many die-hard fans say my dad was the scariest and most menacing of all the Jasons.
When my dad invited me to the set, I knew this was going to be an experience to remember. It wasn’t surprising that my dad had no idea who this Jason Voorhees character was. Nor was he familiar with the popularity of the Friday the 13th franchise. A cowboy stuntman knows about horses, chewing tobacco, how to make a punch look like a hit and not a miss, and, most importantly, how to stay alive. But playing a killer was now the order of the day, and he was to play the most famous killer of all: Jason.
The fact was that he was embarrassed to even take on the role, but the money was good, and he needed the work. He agreed to take the part with the understanding he was going to be uncredited.
My dad likes to scare people, though. He had that going for him. In this way, the casting was dead on.
On the set, my dad didn’t take the mask off during breaks or even meals. He ate off by himself and didn’t talk to the cast or crew. I asked him, “Why, Pop?”
He said, “I don’t want them to know me. Let them think whatever they want. It bothers people not to know who you are sometimes, when everybody else is so nice and friendly. That’s who my character is, someone who makes you feel uneasy.”
Sacrificing the camaraderie of making friends on the set didn’t seem to bother him at all. It all factored into the actors having a real-life fear of him that he knew would inevitably rub off on the big screen, and it did! In fact, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter has been touted as the most terrifying installment of the series—maybe my dad’s method was why.
He had to arrive at the set in the wee hours of the morning to start the make-up process. It took hours just to do his fingernails. Legendary make-up artist, Tom Savini, did my dad’s make-up. In 1984, I was 29 years old. I got to be the fly on the wall during the filming of several scenes, including a major kill scene.
The script called for Jason to kill this character, Doug, while he was taking a shower. It went down as the goriest scene in the movie when Doug gets his face crushed in the shower. Jason’s hand smashes the guy’s head against the tile wall and kills him.
So, to achieve this, a fake shower was pulled together with a running-water fixture. The camera was positioned in the shower and focused on Tom Savini’s amazing life-cast of the actor’s head. This fake head was a work of art with an amazing life-like resemblance to the actor. Tom had fashioned a huge syringe full of fake blood under the prosthetic head that would shoot blood into the head as my dad did his dirty work.
Tom came up to my dad before the shot and said, “Now Ted, this is a very expensive prosthetic and we have to get several takes out of it—so take it easy on it, okay?”
My Dad answered, “No problem.” Then the director, Joe Zito, came up to him and said, “Now Ted, this has got to be very visceral and violent so really give it your all. Don’t hold back.”
Again, my Dad responded, “No problem,” and they rolled film. “ACTION!” yelled Joe. My dad’s hand grabbed the head and began slamming it against the wall as Tom shot blood into the head. My dad’s palm was lodged in the head’s mouth, and blood began to flow out of the mouth and mix with the water, making for a very gory effect.
“CUT!” yelled Joe and then took my dad aside. “Ted, I need much more violence. Really hit it hard. I want this to be very horrific.” My dad assured the director he would, then Tom took my dad aside and said, “Ted, you have to be more careful with this prosthetic – it has to last for a few more takes.”
“No worries,” my dad said, “I’ll be careful with it, Tom.” I was cracking up listening to these two, very separate, yet parallel, private conversations—each of them being placated by my dad. A second take was shot. Both Joe and Tom again took my dad aside privately and each asked for much more and much less violence. Again, my dad assured them he would give them what they were asking for.
But this time, I saw that look in my dad’s eye when he assured the director, and I knew this prosthetic was going to be history. Joe yelled Action! And my dad’s hand began to violently smash Tom’s work of art against the tile wall. Tom started yelling at my dad during the take to take it easy. But, in the true character of Jason, he was determined to kill this prosthetic head once and for all.
It was visceral. After the first two blows, the head began to cave in from the pressure my dad was exerting. Hair was beginning to come out. Blood splattered everywhere. An eyeball popped out and dangled from the socket. Tom screamed, “TAKE IT EASY, TED!” My dad ignored Tom and continued his assault. I was amazed the set didn’t give way. The head was flattened to a pulp. The jaw dislodged and hinged away from the skull.
The director cheered and jumped up and down. “CUT!” Joe yelled. “Print it, check the gate! Fantastic, Ted! We got it!”
Needless to say, Tom Savini’s head didn’t make it. There was nothing left but a pile of latex, plastic, and hair soaked in fake blood.
I laughed all the way home that night, remembering the experience. Another great moment in horror history.
That death scene is indeed a great moment in horror history. Are you a fan of Ted White’s performance as Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, and will you be buying a copy of In the Shadows of Giants: True Stories From The Son of a Hollywood Stuntman? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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