Saturday, April 2, 2011

Scream of the Day: Maureen Prescott

The first real victim, and the reason why the original Scream trilogy ever happened, was Maureen Prescott. While "she was no Sharon Stone," the role was played throughout the series by actress Lynn McRee.

Maureen was an omnipresent character throughout the series. Always talked about and there, but not one with much screentime -- though that did change with Scream 3 and Sidney's nightmares. As such, McRee never received billing for her work in the early films (which consisted of appearing motherly in photos with actress Neve Campbell).

Fans of the series learned, as did central character Sidney Prescott, that Maureen had an affair with the father of Sid's boyfriend, resulting in the split of his parents. As the third film explained, Maureen also spent time in Hollywood trying to be an actress. Her plans didn't quite go as she liked and she buried that period -- and the son who was born during it -- of her life.

Much like her most famous role, McRee herself is a bit hard to place if you look at her IMDB resume. With only a hand of roles, all minor, spread across 20 years, McRee began acting in 1982. However, it wasn't until a pair of roles in the 1989 films Witchtrap and Dragon Fight that she gained billing. Since her time as Maureen Prescott, McRee has appeared in Gus Van Sant's Milk and most recently The Violent Kind, which appeared at last year's Sundance Film Festival.

The actress, who is also a mother, currently lives in Haiku, Maui, Hawaii.