JoBeth Williams
American actressWikipedia
67
MENTIONS
32
EPISODES
29
PODCASTS
Search complete. 67 mentions across 32 episodes found for "JoBeth Williams".
Oct 20, 2026
Frank PaolettiHOST
It's a great twist, a cautionary tale about cutting corners for profit, which makes it a little ironic because the production did basically the same thing.
Frank PaolettiHOST
So remember the scene where Jo Beth Williams, playing the mom, falls into the muddy half-dug swimming pool during a thunderstorm and skeletons start popping up all around her?
LynetteHOST
That's why they had to teach us all about quicksand.
LynetteHOST
Yes.
Frank PaolettiHOST
So curse credibility is three skulls.
Frank PaolettiHOST
Using real human skeletons to make a movie about disturbing the dead is the kind of decision that deserves a little cosmic payback.
Frank PaolettiHOST
And the pictures of Jo Beth Williams' wall are legitimately weird.
Frank PaolettiHOST
But the deaths are human tragedies with human causes, and we're not putting those on a ghost.
Jake BrennanHOST
The skeletons weren't supposed to be real.
Jake BrennanHOST
Or that's what actress Jo Beth Williams assumed.
Jake BrennanHOST
Real skeletons would be too creepy, too gross.
Jake BrennanHOST
But fake skeletons cost too much and took too much time to manufacture.
Jake BrennanHOST
Real skeletons were cheap and easy to come by.
Jake BrennanHOST
So it was real skeletons that bobbed up in the muddy water and brushed elbows with Jo Beth Williams in the iconic pool scene from the original Poltergeist, Toby Hooper's 1982 horror classic.
Jake BrennanHOST
Jo Beth's authentic reaction to her close encounter with actual human bones helped make Poltergeist not only the highest-grossing horror movie of 1982, but the eighth-highest-grossing movie of the entire year.
Jake BrennanHOST
And it wasn't the only authentic reaction in the movie.
Rob SpewakHOST
Poltergeist, 1982, directed by Tobe Hooper, which is not a big deal, but it was written by Michael Grace, Mark Victor, and a guy you may have heard of, Steven Spielberg.
Rob SpewakHOST
uh starring craig t nelson i know you loved him in coach joe beth williams heather o'rourke dominique dunn and of course zelda rubinstein uh this is a metro golden mayor movie one hour 54 minutes and i will say this rob this
Josh SrokaHOST
this movie yes originally received an r-rating due to a gory bathroom scene yeah that's the face so steven spielberg and tobe hooper appealed and got it changed to pg Because that's a
Rob SpewakHOST
tremendous downgrade.
Ben BakerHOST
When The Simpsons hit big, a bunch of channels went, we need one of those, we need an adult cartoon.
JoBeth WilliamsSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
I'm Jo Beth Williams, getting set for my role as Angel on the new comedy Fish Police.
JoBeth WilliamsSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Already time for my number.
speaker_4UNKNOWN
I've
Troy McEadyHOST
And he's so good in this movie.
Troy McEadyHOST
And I liked that in this article, they talk about, so this whole article is just like, um, Craig T. Nelson and Joe Beth Williams, like looking back on, um, the production and i like that they emphasize that he was like a stand-up and his approach to doing like and he did
Dara LaineHOST
groundlings
Troy McEadyHOST
yeah like and you can tell like his performance
ScottHOST
My number one is, I think, in all the families and family dynamics Spielberg has written in horror, Poltergeist is my favorite.
ScottHOST
Those parents, Jo Beth Williams is one of my favorite movie moms of all time.
ScottHOST
She is if you what's really great is if you so in the in the scene where the dad goes to the college to try to get help and he's talking to the paranormal researchers, they say, what are the ages? He says, well, my my wife, Diana, is 32.
ScottHOST
Our oldest, Dana, is 16.
ScottHOST
He usually would get into the divorce things.
ScottHOST
These were not.
ScottHOST
And Jo Beth Williams is acting like we would act.
ScottHOST
Get the fuck away from my babies.
Dave KargerGUEST
And you get to see these great full circle moments that a lot of these stars had with these movies that mean a lot to them.
Jan PriceHOST
And a couple of years ago, they had a screening of Big Chill and Tom Barringer and Jo Beth Williams were there.
Jan PriceHOST
It was, I think, the last film of the film festival and they showed it at the IMAX theater.
Jan PriceHOST
So it was, yeah, great to see it again after all those years.
JuanHOST
Okay.
JoeHOST
And then, uh, Ms. JoBeth Williams, they kept a secret from her, and that secret is that they used real human skeletons in the pool.
JoeHOST
They didn't tell her till after.
AmberGUEST
Yeah.
Sarah BurnsHOST
It was directed by Tobe Hooper with music by Jerry Goldsmith.
Sarah BurnsHOST
Poltergeist stars JoBeth Williams, former Groundling Craig T. Nelson-
Sam PancakeHOST
What?
Sarah BurnsHOST
...
5 MINS LATER
Sarah BurnsHOST
[laughs]
Sam PancakeHOST
... as just a distraction if nothing else.
Sam PancakeHOST
And then seeing this movie in which, I have to say, JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson are so sexy.
Sarah BurnsHOST
Yeah.
Matt GourleyHOST
[gasps]
Paul RustHOST
That, like, JoBeth Williams had a, had her, the older, Dominique Dunne-
Matt GourleyHOST
Uh
Paul RustHOST
... with the, you know, the guy.
25 MINS LATER
Paul RustHOST
[laughs]
Matt GourleyHOST
I never realized, too, that the, there's, like, a feminine, uh, uh, like, um, an...
Matt GourleyHOST
What would you call it? Like, a feminine intuition theme running throughout this movie between JoBeth Williams, Beatrice Straight, and Zelda Rubenstein.
Matt GourleyHOST
And it goes from the, like, the, the, the newbie or the na- naive mother never having dealt with this-
22 more episodes mention JoBeth Williams.
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