When the filmmakers behind Friday the 13th were looking for an actress to play Jason's mother, they wanted an Academy Award winning actress who had fallen on hard times and would thus be willing to take less money. The top two choices were Shelley Winters and Estelle Parsons. Ms. Winters wasn't interested at all, while Ms. Parsons started negotiations but chose not to make the film in the end. Coincidentally, the two actresses would play mother and daughter years later on Roseanne.
