WAMG Tribute: Dyanne Thorne, Star of ILSA, SHE-WOLF OF THE SS, Has Died

Dyanne Thorne, star of the groundbreaking exploitation classic ILSA, SHE-WOLF OF THE SS, (1975) has died. According to the IMDB, she was 77, though she may have been several years older. My first encounter with Ms Thorne (and the twins) occurred in 1977 when I was 15 and my bother and cousins and I traveled to Piggot, Arkansas from our grandparents home in Malden, Missouri to see ROLLING THUNDER. The theater (I wish I could remember the name of it) had a special ‘Adults Only’ show at 11pm. When ROLLING THUNDER  ended about 10:45, we ducked down behind our seats so the usher wouldn’t see us, then popped back up at 11 to see what we were sure was going to be some glorious fun sex film. The ‘Adults Only’ movie turned out to be ILSA, SHE-WOLF OF THE SS. My life was never the same. To this day, ROLLING THUNDER and ILSA, SHE-WOLF OF THE SS is the greatest theatrical double-feature I’ve seen. I recall going to school back in St. Louis and trying to describe ILSA SHE-WOLF OF THE SS to my friends, who couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Finally in 1982, Landmark’s The Tivoli Theater in St. Louis showed a double feature of ILSA, SHE-WOLF OF THE SS and its first sequel ILSA, HAREM KEEPER OF THE OIL SHIEKS, so I knew it had not all been a dream.

In 1975, Legendary exploitation producer David Friedman and director Don Edmonds gave us the taboo-busting cult classic ILSA, SHE-WOLF OF THE SS about a sexy but evil Nazi Commandante who gleefully performs sadistic experiments on (mostly female) prisoners and has a nasty penchant for castrating potential lovers who fail to satisfy her. Ilsa was based in part on an actual person, Ilse Koch, who tortured death camp prisoners and collected skin from those who had tattoos. Dyanne Thorne was a busty red-headed 33 year old (?) former Vegas showgirl who had toiled around in the low-budget sexploitation biz since the mid-60s with roles in films like Joe Sarno’s SIN IN THE SUBURBS (1964) and THE SWINGING BARMAIDS (1973). Working as a chauffeur driver at the time, Thorne was tapped to portray Ilsa and the rest is exploitation cinema history (reportedly Phyllis Davis of BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS and the Vegas TV show was Friedman’s first choice).

With her bleached blonde hair, piercing eyes, evil scowl and Marlene Dietrich accent, Thorne made Ilsa a frightening, cruel and ferocious villainess as well as an icon for fans of films depicting bondage and domination (recurring themes in the Ilsa series). Despite its infamous reputation as tasteless debased schlock, ILSA, SHE-WOLF OF THE SS is actually very well-made entertainment, grim and compelling and, though rated X (rare for a non-porn film in 1975), it was a grindhouse and drive-in hit. Released by Cinepix Productions it was influential as well, setting the standard for the whole Nazisploitiation sub-genre of the late ‘70s, knockoffs (mostly Italian) such as SS HELL CAMP and LAST ORGY OF THE THIRD REICH that sexualized the holocaust.

Ms Thorne quickly reteamed with Friedman and Edmonds the next year for ILSA, HAREM KEEPER OF THE OIL SHIEKS, a worthy sequel that toned down the sadism a bit and added more humor. In 1977 Thorne traveled to Spain to star in Eurotrash legend Jess Franco’s women’s prison opus GRETA THE MAD BUTCHER playing basically the same character (but back to being a redhead). It was retitled ILSA, THE WICKED WARDEN and ILSA, ABSOLUTE POWER for U.S. video release to tie it back to the Ilsa series and these first three Ilsa films are available on DVD in a superb box set put out many years ago by Anchor Bay. There was a fourth Ilsa film, the Canadian-lensed ILSA TIGRESS OF SIBERIA (1978), the final film in the series and the only one still not available on DVD. Dyanne’s post-Ilsa film credits include CHESTY ANDERSON U.S. NAVY, the women’s prison opus HELLHOLE, and REAL MEN.

For more information on the Ilsa movies, I recommend the book The Ilsa Chronicles  by Darrin Venticinque and Tristan Thompson published by Midnight Media. I finally met Dyanne Thorne in 2008 at one of the Cinema Wasteland Conventions in Cleveland and she looked much the same as she did 30 years earlier! In her first convention appearance in 12 years she claimed that at times she felt like distancing herself from the Ilsa character but there she was at age 66 (more or less) posing with fans leather-clad and whip in hand (she even brought her Russian Cossack hat from TIGRESS)! Dyanne Thorne and her husband Howard Maurer (who had small parts in two of the Ilsa films) ran a wedding chapel in Las Vegas where she would, for a price, marry couples wearing her Ilsa Nazi uniform ! (she also performed Star Trek weddings having had a role in the second season episode A Piece of the Action  in 1967).

Dyanne signed stack of movie paper for me including a photo that was inscribed “To Tom – I Will Punish You – Gladly!”  RIP Ilsa!