The cult of personality. Some folks naturally draw others to them. Hollywood was built on the cult of personality. Ever since the days of old, the storytellers have held a special place in society. In modern society, the stories are told on celluloid. A select few have held the attention of the masses. Some have been mega-stars ALA Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. Others have not had as widespread appeal, but instead have a smaller but very devoted and rabid fan base. Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith was one such person. There are others. Ask film fans from the 1970s who they had a cinematic crush on and you are likely to get the answer P.J. Soles. While Rosanna Arquette may have had a song named after her, P.J. Soles had an album named after her. The band "Local H" titled one of their albums "Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?" One answer to that question is "Nothing, she has been living a full, real life raising her children." Another answer is P.J. Soles is back!

Born Pamela Jayne Hardon, PJ Soles has led a charmed and adventurous life. She was born overseas and lived abroad until coming to the US to attend college. PJ Soles fell into acting and quickly became one of the most popular actresses during the late 1970s. The combination of impish personality and girl-next-door good looks helped PJ Soles land roles a numerous films including four that remain cult-classics to this day. As Norma, the evil second banana to Nancy Allen in "Carrie" to Riff Randell in Roger Corman’s subversive "Rock and Roll High School" to the ‘totally’ sexy cool Lynda in John Carpenter’s "Halloween" and to the M.P. I’d love to be strip searched by in "Stripes." PJ Soles proved again and again that she was every guy’s fantasy girl. The surprise is that Ms. Soles was not playing herself. While her effervescent personality is certainly on display in her characters, Ms. Soles is actually much deeper in real life.

PJ Soles has appeared in 40 films and numerous TV shows during her career. She has been married three times to musician Steven Soles, actor Dennis Quaid and pilot Skip Holm. She stepped down her career to raise her two children with Mr. Holm. Now that the kids are grown, Ms. Soles is putting her career back on the front burner. PJ Soles' other credits include "Breaking Away," "Private Benjamin," "Sweet Dreams" and "Jawbreaker."

I had the pleasure of interviewing Ms. Soles in conjunction with the release of the "Stripes: Extended Cut" DVD. Regular readers know that in some ways, I’m still a 14-year-old boy. In my review of the DVD I made mention of a deleted scene containing a very topless P.J Soles. Turns out that Ms Soles read my review before talking to me. Damn! She was very gracious when she brought up my review. My first thought was "I’m so busted!" As the interview progressed I realized that Ms Soles was just having fun. I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing quite a few people in the movie industry. PJ Soles is what I would call a ‘real person.’ She is both grounded and able to live life to the fullest. Here’s hoping that she returns to the big-screen in a big way!

EI: One of my hats at Einsiders is writing the Hollywood Obituaries column. The past couple of years I’ve had the unfortunate task of paying tribute to most of The Ramones. I believe that all but one of them have died. Can you share your memories of working with them on "Rock and Roll High School"?

PJ: It was really fun and they were very shy, which is very unusual for a punk band. At the time, of course, nobody realized what effect and influence they were going to have on the music business. Because at that point, that 1978…that was still pretty early on. I mean the people who had discovered them; obviously, they were hard core punk fans. But, when you look back on it in hindsight, things always look differently. They really were the ones who started the American punk rock scene. And probably, when we were filming the movie, we didn’t realize who they really were, what an incredible band they were. Except for the time we were filming at The Roxy, we hadn’t even seen them perform. At least I didn’t. I wasn’t even familiar with their music because I was a Jackson Brown fan and an Eagles fan. It was not my type of music.

They on the other hand were just as excited and nervous to be in a movie because they adored Roger Corman films, and liked me from "Halloween" and "Carrie." I didn’t realize that was going to make them kind of quiet on the set and feel they weren’t equal contributors to our film. They were always in the background, shuffling around, and when it was lunchtime they would get in the back of the line. We’d say "Come on, you’re in the next scene! Eat first." They would say, "That’s OK. You eat." And we’d say, "No, no, no, you come up here." It was sort of endearing in a way, when you look back on it, that they didn’t feel they were part of the whole group.

I was thankful… I recently did a movie with Rob Zombie called "The Devil’s Rejects" and he turned out to be a very close friend with Johnny Ramone. A couple of months before Johnny passed away, Rob had a party and he invited me. I went with my friends and family and Johnny was there. I didn’t realize that, that was Rob’s way of getting me together Johnny before he was going to pass on. I hadn’t been really aware of what was going on with him health wise. I was able to talk with him, give him a hug and say, "Hey, we’re going to live on forever in our movie." He was never a big fan of the movie. I think he thinks it made them not so hardcore punk or something. When you look at it now, everyone is grateful that there is "Rock and Roll High School" because it was like The Ramones' "A Hard Days Night."

There’s a new documentary on The Ramones and it shows a clip from the movie. And I think "Thank goodness for the movie because you got a chance to see The Ramones in a different light than just performing. Which is all the footage there really is except for their interviews.

EI: As far as acting styles, you had Brando the Method Actor and Gary Cooper who just played himself. When you look at your characters in "Carrie," "Stripes," "Rock and Roll High School" and "Halloween" they are the free-spirited girls. I was a longhaired stoner in high school. When I saw "Carrie" and "Rock and Roll High School" my though was, "I want her at my school!" What can I say, I was a fan. So, the question is, are you the Gary Cooper type of actor? Were you just playing yourself in those films?

PJ: (laughs) No. Not at all. It’s very ironic because I didn’t get to live in America until I was much older. I was born in Germany. My mother was from New Jersey and my father was from Holland. They met in Germany after the war. I lived in Germany for five years and then moved to Morocco: Casablanca, then Venezuela: Maracaibo. My dad, with all his abilities to speak different languages, he started all these branch offices for this insurance company called AIU, which started in Germany and has become AIG, but started as AIU. They were insurance companies mostly for American service men overseas and American oil companies. Anything having to do with Americans. I went to high school in Brussels, then came to New York to college and ended up in New York City acting. So, my experience with America started when I was 18. I always admired American teenagers. I did have a brief stay in Oakland, I think in 9^th grade. So I got to see what American teenagers were like, but it was only from the movies. So, my characterizations are from watching films and dreaming what it would be like to be an American. My dad was so pro-American. Wherever we went, my mom would get a job with an American Colonel in the Army or Air Force, so we could get commissary privileges at the PX. We wouldn’t feel so stranded in these countries.

EI: How did you get into acting? Did you study it in college?

PJ: In college I studied French. My roommate was from Manhattan, so on weekends we would go and stay at her place. One day I happened to walk by the Actor’s Studio and they needed someone to run the lights for their summer productions. I applied. Got the job. All along, starting in 6^th grade I was always interested in the plays and had been in different productions. I never thought of it as something you would do as a career. Languages always seemed to be where I was headed since I grew up in all these countries and I spoke French and Spanish. I had taken my senior trip in Brussels to Russia and I thought, "Oh, I’d love to learn Russian." Anyway, I got this job in the summer in exchange for auditing the classes. I though, "I could do this." Then I met a guy who introduced me to his sister’s agent. So by the end of that summer I had done three commercials and I got a modeling agency. So it was really hard to think about going back to college. My parents had moved to Turkey, to Istanbul. It’s not like communication is today; it was more like letter writing. You didn’t dare pick up the phone because it was a $400.00 call. So, they didn’t know what was going on with me until they came back in March of the next year! (laughs) I hadn’t gone back to school! I though "This is great. I can earn a living and do something I really like." So, I just sort of fell into it.

EI: When you were cast in "Carrie," did you go to the joint "Star Wars"/"Carrie" auditions?

PJ: Yes. Right.

EI: Did you read for both movies?

PJ: They weren’t really reading anybody. I had only been in town a short while. That’s when I moved to LA from New York when I realized I didn’t have the personality to be a Broadway performer. I didn’t drink or smoke and I didn’t stay up late. I always fell asleep like 10:30 or 11:00 o’clock. I’m not like you. The insomniac, so they say.

EI: Yeah. It’s a curse.

PJ: I had to fall asleep, and I like getting up early, So it wasn’t my thing, hanging out at "Joe Allen’s." So, I had been out in LA for two weeks when I heard they were seeing every teenager in LA. So I went down. You walk into a door and there is a huge hallway filled with kids. When you went into the office Brian DePalma and George Lucas were sitting behind the same desk. When I walked in Brian said "I want her on my list" and George just said, "OK." The next week we all went back and just met with Brian DePalma. That was just the initial thing where they just looked at you. You didn’t have to read or anything. I wore my red baseball hat to the initial audition and Brian said, "Keep the hat."

EI: The same hat you wore in the movie?

PJ: Yeah. So we had three more auditions and a screen test after that. I initially screen tested for Nancy Allen’s part. Then she got the part, and there was the smaller part of Norma. There was only one line in the beginning. After the first week on the set, Brian said, "We’re going to extend you. You can be in on the rest of the shoot. Just where that hat in every scene."

EI: Excellent. So he built you character up based on your one line? What was the line"

PJ: It was at the beginning when we had the volleyball game and Sissy doesn’t hit the ball back and we lose. The I say, "Thanks a lot Carrie!" Then I took my hat off and whacked her over the head. I had some pins in the hat, and they kind of grabbed her hair and got stuck, so I yanked it really hard and Brian thought that was great and said "You’re staying on." So all the other scenes we had, he just king of threw me in there.

EI: I’m glad they filmed you one scene early so he could make that decision.

PJ: (laughs) Me too!