Brad Dourif talks ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ and growing up in WV during special appearance at the Foundry Theater

By Matthew Young, RealWV

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – “I took my daughter, Fiona, to visit the Metropolitan Museum in New York. She was being horrible – she was 14. We were walking, and she was crying her eyes out, and then she just stopped. She started looking at this painting. She stared at it without moving for five minutes, then she said, ‘How did he do that?’”

This was the story that Hollywood legend Brad Dourif told an enthusiastic crowd at Huntington’s Foundry Theater on Saturday. The painting that the now 43-year-old Fiona was transfixed by was the work of one Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, more commonly known to history as simply “Rembrandt.”

“I saw my kid change in that second, and become somebody else,” Dourif explained. “From that I learned that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Any artist can do something, and make something. We all like to make things.”

“Maybe somebody will come along, and they’ll look at it, and they’ll see something,” Dourif continued. “Well what they see is not what the person did. What they see is theirs – it belongs to them. Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.”

“So, I just want you all to know that any compliment you give to me about anything that you saw, is yours,” Dourif added. “I get that, and thank you.”

Dourif, Huntington-native and star of some 90 feature films and television programs, was in attendance for a special screening of the 1975 classic “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” after which he took questions from both the evening’s moderator, Clint McElroy, and members of the audience. McElroy, who had last spoken with Dourif in 2003 while working on an article for Huntington Quarterly Magazine, seemed particularly excited to resume their conversation.

“I’ve always wondered about this,” McElroy began. “When we talked a couple years ago, you talked about your mom quite a bit. She was a big influence on you, wasn’t she?”

“I’ve told this story before, but it’s worth telling again,” Dourif replied. “My mom was an actress. […] She was in rehearsal – doing something from “Anastasia,” I think. It was about a butterfly.”

“Just in this rehearsal, I was astounded,” Dourif noted. “I thought, ‘How did she do that?’ From that moment on I wanted to be an actor.”

Dourif was just 25-years-old when Cuckoo’s Nest was released into theaters. For his performance in the film, Dourif received a Golden Globe, and was nominated for an Academy Award. However, it was not Dourif’s role as the stuttering patient “Billy Bibbit” which one audience member wanted to know more about.

“How did you get involved in the Rob Zombie “Halloween” films,” the gentleman, who was introduced as “Kenny,” asked.

“I can’t remember,” Dourif replied, through a laugh. In 2007, Dourif famously took on the role of “Sheriff Leigh Brackett” in director Rob Zombie’s two-movie reboot of the “Halloween” franchise. “But I have to say that Danielle Harris (who played Dourif’s daughter in the films), she really made me feel like she is my daughter.”

“I had a really good time shooting that,” Dourif said. 

After being warmly greeted by a former Marshall University classmate, and being asked by another audience member about some of his favorite memories of the Huntington-area, Dourif said, “I grew up here.”

“(One of my favorite memories) is the Ohio River,” Dourif replied. “Which looked – as a child, I remember it being much bigger.” 

Dourif was born in Huntington, in 1950. After the 1953 passing of his biological father, Dourif’s mother married golfing champion William Campbell. The couple would then raise Dourif and his four siblings, two of whom were in attendance at the Foundry for Saturday’s screening. 

During his visit to Huntington, Dourif explained, “I saw the building where my step-father worked.”

“We went by Camden Park,” Dourif added. “I saw Blenko, and I had this feeling of what it was like when I was a kid, and looking at these people blowing glass. It’s a remarkable thing to watch, somebody making something out of glass.”

“If you haven’t been to Blenko lately you should go, because it hasn’t changed at all,” Dourif noted, laughing once again. “You go back in time when you’re there. They make glass pretty much the same way they’ve always done it.”

Located on the second floor of Huntington’s historic City Hall building, the non-profit Foundry Theater was established four years ago by Rachel Allinder and Nate Cesco, and serves as a platform and performance space for numerous and varied presentations of the creative arts. The screening of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” as well as Dourif’s appearance, were part of the Foundry’s ongoing film series, which continues with “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” on Oct. 10. 

While Dourif has fond memories of his life growing up in the Mountain State, his return visits have become increasingly infrequent in more recent years.

“I’m just so pleased and flattered that he’s agreed to come for the screening,” Allinder told RealWV just a few days before Dourif’s arrival. “I’m very honored that he gave me a yes.”

Prior to the screening, Dourif participated in a “meet and greet” with around 100 fans. And after taking questions for nearly an hour during the “Q&A” session, McElroy closed the evening by offering Dourif a heartfelt “thank you.”

“Thank you for what you have given to all of us,” McElroy said. “And thank you for the moments of inspiration.”

Although Dourif will not be in attendance, his 1988 horror classic “Child’s Play” will screen at the Foundry Theater, on Oct. 18. For more information about the Foundry Theater, including a complete schedule of film screenings and all other upcoming events, visit foundrytheater.org.