Texas Chainsaw Massacre Star Dies at 65

Marilyn Burns' character was first to escape 'Leatherface'
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 6, 2014 10:21 AM CDT
Texas Chainsaw Massacre Star Dies at 65
Actress Marilyn Burns, who played Sally in the 1974 classic "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," has died at the age of 65.   (BoogeyMan Ben)

Marilyn Burns, who portrayed horror-film hero Sally Hardesty in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, has died at the age of 65. "It is with sad news that I can officially confirm that actress Marilyn Burns passed away earlier today," her rep said in a statement, as per the Hollywood Reporter. "She was found unresponsive by a family member this morning" in her home in Houston.

Burns starred in the 1974 original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a horror classic about a family of cannibals that terrorizes a group of teenagers. She also appeared as "Patient on a Gurney" in 1994’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation—which also featured a young Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey—and, in an ironic turn, as Leatherface’s Grandma Verna in 2013's Texas Chainsaw 3D. In a 2004 interview with the Terror Trap, Burns said that when shooting wrapped on the original, she was " just so grateful it was over. I probably was the happiest girl alive." (More Marilyn Burns stories.)

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