Before They Were Stars: Marina Sirtis in “Death Wish 3”

I just could not conclude my Star Trek-themed week on “Before They Were Stars” without covering Deanna Troi’s early acting appearance in Death Wish 3, one of the most awesomely stupid movies ever made. I could probably devote an entire column to discussing the hilarious, over-the-top absurdities of Death Wish 3, but for now, I’ll just discuss the silly circumstances of how Marina Sirtis wound up in the film. Even though the story takes place in New York City, Death Wish 3 was actually filmed in London in order to reduce production costs. Being a local London actress at the time, Sirtis was cast in the role of a Puerto Rican woman whose entire function in the movie is to get raped and murdered. Her character literally speaks no English, and I honestly think the only reason they cast Sirtis was because she was dark-skinned enough to pass off as a Puerto Rican. Her only lines of dialogue are spoken in Spanish while she’s standing off-camera and I’m pretty sure they’re dubbed over with someone else’s voice! Anyway, for another “Before They Were Stars” moment in this clip, look for Alex Winter of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure fame as the mugger who harrasses Marina.