10 Commercials Starring Your Favorite Horror Icons
As a working actor, you have to be open to accepting any job offer that comes your way – whether it’s a big time role in a movie or a small appearance in a 30-second commercial. You’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do to pay the bills, and that’s why many beloved actors have appeared in commercials over the years – either before, during or after their greatest successes.
Our favorite horror icons are no exception.
Check out 10 vintage commercials starring some of horror’s true greats!
VINCENT PRICE – TILEX
Throughout his career, the legendary Vincent Price became a spokesman for all sorts of different companies, including Citibank, Gaviscon, Century 21 and even Sun Country Wine Coolers. The cool thing about the commercials Price appeared in is that they almost always played up his status as a horror icon, one of my personal favorites being the Tilex ad seen above.
GUILLERMO DEL TORO – ALKA SELTZER
Aside from a handful of voice-only roles and small appearances in his own movies, you won’t find too many acting credits on Guillermo del Toro’s IMDb resume. But he did once play a man whose heartburn is so bad that he quite literally transforms into a werewolf, which has to be considered his best role to date. The transformation came courtesy of this Mexican Alka-Seltzer commercial from 1991, which the visionary filmmaker also directed.
Speaking of werewolves…
DAVID NAUGHTON – DR. PEPPER
Before he found himself writhing on the floor and transforming into a werewolf, David Naughton was tasked with making Dr. Pepper look good in this commercial from the ’70s. Only director John Landis can confirm if this is true or not, but rumor has it that it was actually this commercial that led to Landis casting Naughton as the lead in An American Werewolf In London. Proof that sometimes you’ve gotta embarrass yourself as an actor before breaking on through to the other side!
ADRIENNE KING – DOWNY
Two years after she cut off Mrs. Voorhees’ head in Friday the 13th and solidified herself as one of the most iconic final girls of all time, Adrienne King became a mommy herself in this unintentionally creepy commercial for Downy, where she appears to be getting advice from a ghostly version of, well, herself. If only baby Jason were wrapped in blankets washed in Downy’s fabric softener, maybe things would’ve turned out differently…
BETSY PALMER – LUX DISHWASHING SOAP
Who better to give dishwashing tips than one of horror cinema’s greatest mothers: Mrs. Voorhees herself, Betsy Palmer. Nearly a decade before taking the acting job for Friday the 13th that would forever cement her status as a true horror icon, Palmer appeared in this commercial for Lux brand dish soap. My my, what smooth hands you have, Mrs. Voorhees!
