Mike Myers comes to town — sans mask

Rockville Centre residents got to meet iconic horror actor, Tony Moran, who played the masked killer Michael Myers in the 1978 “Halloween” film. Moran, now 57, appeared at Cannon’s Blackthorn this past weekend. When Jamie Lee Curtis unmasks Michael Myers at the end of the movie, Moran’s face is on screen.

Moran grew up in southern California and got into acting through his younger sister Erin Moran, who played Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days. When he was nine and she was five, they did a commercial together. “I hated it,” said Moran. “And I stopped doing it. And my little sister kept going.”

Moran said that Erin’s agent would often ask him if he wanted to go back to acting. “I would say no, no, no,” said Moran. “Until I was about 19 years old, got out of high school, didn’t know what I wanted to do.”

One day, Moran’s agent told him about an interview for a low budget horror film: “Halloween.” “I actually said no,” said Moran. “I wasn’t interested because I was taking myself pretty seriously back then. Being in an acting workshop, doing Shakespeare, stuff like that.”

Moran also thought Halloween was “a corny name for a horror film.” He did not know who Jamie Lee Curtis was. He only went to the job interview because Donald Pleasance, who played Doctor Loomis, was in the movie. “And I was a huge fan of his,” said Moran.

At the audition, Moran had a 10-minute conversation with director John Carpenter. “Later that afternoon my agent called me up,” said Moran. “[She] said, ‘Congratulations, you got the job.’ And I said ‘whoop-de-doo’… It just didn’t appeal to me.”

However, Moran said he took the job because he needed the money. “I was sleeping on a couch at my buddy’s place,” said Moran. “A typical starving actor story.”

Moran did not know he would be wearing a mask until after he signed the contract and came to the set. “The wardrobe girl came up to me,” said Moran. “And she had overalls and boots and a mask and a jar of Vaseline.”

When Moran asked what the mask was for, the wardrobe person said he had to wear it — but the mask would come off and people would see his face. “Okay,” said Moran. “So what’s the jar of Vaseline for?”