I wanted to do a profile of Mark Patton, the Scream Queen who hooked up with Ricky Schroder in 1988, at least according to my friend in West Hollywood, Zach the Photographer.
He's called the Scream Queen because of Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985), where he plays a gay-vague teenager beset-upon by the nightmare psycho-killer Freddy Krueger.
Plus continuing the tradition of Nightmare hunks like Johnny Depp (left), he shows some butt and bulges.
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Mark thought that Nightmare would be his "big break" into mainstream movies. He was mistaken.
Previously he (right) had played a gay boy in the 1950s (actually a transgender woman before transitioning), Chuck Connor's son, and the brother of a cloned girl, all roles with gay potential.
When he was cast in Nightmare, he assumed that his character was gay, but his costar Robert Rusler (above) said "Hell, no! And if you know what's good for you, you won't mentions gays to David [writer David Chaskin], ever! He'll have you fired and on the first bus back to Missouri!"
I found the movie homophobic, even for the homophobic 1980s. There are lots of "fag" slurs. The evil gym coach (Marshall Bell) dies when nightmare killer Freddy Krueger assaults him from behind in the shower, the homophobe's fear of what a gay predator might do. The boy's "deviant impulses" are cured through the love of a woman.
In a recent interview, David Chaskin admitted that he put gay codes into the script deliberately, but his goal was homophobic, to point out that gay people are monsters. Still, the movie has been reclaimed as a queer classic, a gay teenager struggling to come out in a homophobic society that thinks gay people are monsters.
After Nightmare, Mark found himself at the mercy of agents who tried to de-gay him. They went through his closet to eliminate "gay" outfits, told him to avoid West Hollywood, and forbade him from being interviewed in The Advocate.
Mark managed a role as straight teenager in a CBS Schoolbreak Special (1986), and the buddy of the guy (George Clooney, left) who is having an affair with his mother on an episode of Hotel (1986).
He lost his first partner, Timothy Murphy, to AIDS in 1988. According to the story told by Zach the Photographer, he hooked up with Ricky Schroder later that year.
In 2000, while hospitalized for bronchitis, he was diagnosed as HIV positive himself.
More after the break
He moved to Mexico, where he met his second partner, Hector Mondragon. Today they own an art supply store, Mexico Mágico
Robert Rusler (seen here getting the ice water challenge) has remained a close friend.
Mark returned to acting in 2020, showing his stuff in horror movies, frequently in sequels or recasts of classics, such as Amityville Clownhouse and Reunion from Hell 2 (with Danny Hassel, left).
Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street (2019) is a documentary about Mark's experiences as a gay actor in homophobic Hollywood. There are interviews with fellow Nightmare cast members Robert Rusler, Marshall Bell, and Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger), as well as writer David Chaskin and director Jack Sholder.
Mark makes many appearances at fan events such as the London Film and Comic Con, Mad Monster Party Colorado, Frightmare in the Falls, and Crypticon Seattle. Sometimes his relationship with Freddy Krueger moves away from subtext into texts.
Plus he got to buddy-bond with George Clooney.
See also: The Scream Queen hooks up with Ricky Schroder
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