Description

The Strangler is a 1964 crime thriller, directed by Burt Topper and starring Victor Buono, David McLean, Davey Davison, and Ellen Corby, with a screenplay by Bill S. Ballinger. The film was inspired by the Boston Strangler, a serial killer of the 1960s.

Cast

The film’s small budget limited the number of big names that could be hired, and the main leads were subject to Allied Artists Pictures Corporation’ approval. Victor Buono, who had recently received an Academy Award nomination for his role in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962 film), was cast as serial killer Leo Kroll independently of director Burt Topper, who chose David McLean (actor) for the role of Lt. Frank Benson, the detective in charge of investigating the murders. McLean was known for his lead role in the 1960 Western television series Tate (TV series).
Veteran character actress Ellen Corby (later to become best known as Grandma Walton in The Waltons) played Mrs. Kroll, Leo’s controlling mother, and Jeanne Bates was Clara Thomas, her attending nurse.
Among the unknowns cast were Davey Davison as Tally Raymond, the female lead, and Diane Sayer as Barbara Wells, Tally’s colleague at the amusement park stand from which Kroll obtains a doll. Topper also drew on the “Burt Topper Stock Company” – an unofficial group of actors he worked with regularly – to fill some supporting roles, including Baynes Barron as Sgt. Mack Clyde, Russ Bender as Dr. Clarence Sanford and Wally Campo as Eggerton.