Betsy Palmer is probably best known for playing Jason Voorhees mother in "Friday the 13th", but her career as an actress began many years before. Palmer was encouraged to play a young female officer co-starring with Jack Lemmon in Mister Roberts and in another war film the same year The Long Gray Line. Throughout the late fifties, Palmer was recongized as a news reporter on "The Today Show on NBC" then becoming largly involved in television from then on she remained in Made for TV films and notable guest appearances and then appearing in the 1980 hit horror film, Friday the 13th, but continued on with television. Her recent film was "Fear 2: Resurrection" but didn't make much impact. Palmer today often spends her time at her home in Indiana. She apparently was offered the role of Jason Voorhees' mother in "Jason X" this year, but she turned it down and said to use her original footage from Friday the 13th.



Friday the 13th (1980/I) (): $10,000 ($1,000/day)

Daughter, Missy, who was born in the autumn of 1962. Betsy's husband was a practicing pediatrician. Stated that she never would have played the role of Mrs. Pamela Voorhees in Friday the 13th (1980/I) if it weren't for the fact that she was in desperate need of a new car. In fact after she read the script she called the film, "A piece of shit!" The first name of her daughter, Missy, was Melissa. Betsy was once a professional secretary. She was nominated for a 1974 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Guest Artist for her performance in William Inge's play, "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs," at the Ivanhoe Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.