Widely considered to be one of the greatest horror masterpieces of all time, 1978’s Halloween is revered for its heart pounding suspense, pulsating score, and of course, the seminal cinema slasher himself, Michael Myers. And ask any aficionados of the genre to list its most important characters beyond the devoid-of-emotion antagonist at the center of the John Carpenter-helmed thriller and the common answers would likely be ultimate final girl Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and obsessive psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis (Donald Pleasence).

But often overlooked is an individual who is arguably just as integral to the nucleus of the film, because without her, the masked entity who’s become a certifiable pop culture icon may never have commenced his trademark carnage.

As fans of the picture are well aware, its phenomenal opening sequence, filmed beautifully in a seemingly simple, single, fluid tracking shot, depicts six-year-old Michael carefully and quietly lurking throughout his home, grabbing a chef’s knife from the kitchen, walking up the stairs, and butchering his half-nude older sister seated in front of her dresser mirror, mere moments after her brief rendezvous with a boyfriend. And with that shocking murder of Judith Myers, the legacy of The Shape as the original screen serial killer was born.

“I loved making Halloween. I got to work with some great people, and it was a lot of fun,” said Sandy Johnson, who portrayed the pivotal role, during a recent conversation with Generation X Wire. “But I can’t say I knew at the time that I was taking part in something that was going to be such a famous movie one day,” she admitted, with a laugh.

The San Antonio, Texas-born actress landed the part with the help of the Playboy Agency on the heels of being both a centerfold and Playmate of the Month in the June 1974 issue of the prestigious men’s magazine. With the specifications for the role requiring nudity, Johnson’s prior experience as a model eased any possible hesitation on accepting it. “I auditioned with John and Debra Hill (co-producer/writer) and a few others who weren’t in the movie because the cast was actually in another part of the house, filming their scenes,” she recalled. “Within a couple of days, I received a call from the agency informing me that I got it.”

Although Johnson’s establishing scene in the fright flick occurred early on for the viewing audience in the final product, it was, in fact, one of the last ones shot. “The house was dilapidated for the scenes that take place towards the end of the movie so when they went to fix it up with my scene, it was the end of the shooting schedule,” Johnson shared. As for her impressions of the future legendary director, whose post-Halloween accomplishments included Escape from New York, The Thing, Christine, and Big Trouble in Little China, the amiable artist is complimentary. “John was very focused,” she remembered. “He was pretty specific in his vision and in what he was looking for.”

Johnson’s pre-Hollywood modeling career began in a quite innocuous manner. An uncle, who was on the City Council in Los Angeles, urged the ingenue to enter herself in local beauty contests, representing his company. “I won things like ‘most photogenic’ and landed jobs modeling swimsuits and other clothes. But then my father got very sick and wanted to go to Mexico for a very expensive treatment,” she revealed. “I reached out to Playboy because I knew they paid well. And luckily, they made me a centerfold. The real reason was I needed the money,” she smiled.

Tragically losing both of her parents to cancer caused Johnson to take a completely understandable step back from show business, opting to leave California and return to her home state of Texas. “I was very close to both my mother and father, and it took a toll on me, for sure. I went back to be with my sisters and to heal,” she acknowledged. “If I would have stayed in LA, who knows what would have happened? Instead, I became a teacher.”

A vast departure from appearing on screen in fare such as Surfer Girls, H.O.T.S., and Jokes My Folks Never Told Me, Johnson taught both kindergarten (“I did not like it because I felt like a babysitter”) and science to sixth through eighth graders. “That was my love. It was very craft oriented and interactive,” she explained. “I did that for about 12 years.” Surely a result of occurring in the pre-Internet age, none of Johnson’s students were aware that their instructor was the very first on-screen kill of Michael Myers. “I really never talked about it in Texas,” she clarified. “I loved my job and didn’t want to jeopardize it. I focused on teaching, getting my PhD, and I also taught college for a while. It was a different world.”

Johnson was pulled back into her initial passion in 2018 when her current agent, Rick Henriques, reached out to her on the possibility of taking part in a horror convention. “I was completely unaware of the concept before then,” she insisted. “But I’m glad he contacted me because he’s a great guy with hundreds of clients and it was a good decision. That year, he brought me into the Halloween 40^th anniversary convention in Pasadena. He also put me in contact with Blumhouse since they were interested in using my footage in the remake,” she continued. “Since then, I’ve done tons of conventions and several movies, so I’ve been very busy. I’ve really grown to love the conventions. They’re a ton of fun and I just got booked at Chill Out in Whippany, New Jersey on October 24^th and 25^th so I’m looking forward to meeting the fans there.”

An avowed horror fan herself (“I started watching them at a pretty young age with my dad and the first one I remember seeing was The Blob at a drive-in theater but I was paying more attention to the crack of the car window, waiting for the Blob to come in”), Johnson has a number of  projects on the horizon. “I’m working on several movies right now. The Hive, Doll of Deceipt, VULPES, which is a Hungarian film, a Canadian film called The Massage Parlour Massacre, and I just finished Black Sheep, which I had a nice part in. I also shot Executioner! in Florida, where I play a psychiatrist, and that one should be out this year,” she divulged. “I’m really happy to be working again.”