SD: After the production of L.A. BOUNTY which I produced and starred in, I had a back injury. This caused much pain, treatments, doctor visits, wrong diagnosis - that finally led to surgery, then recovery! Thereafter I decided to be private for a while. Thank you, and all my fans, I am happy to be back too!

HYB: How did you land the role in “Grindhouse”?

SD: I was/am a Rob Zombie fan and always wanted to work with him. A true and dear friend, Ken Foree’ and I were talking one day and I mentioned I had just seen THE DEVIL’S REJECTS and that I would love to work with Rob. Ken was kind enough to pass my message on to Rob and one day, I get a call, Rob Zombie would like to have you in his movie - the rest is History! And now I am fortunate to be in another Rob Zombie movie!

HYB: “Chained Heat” is a legend of the women in prison genre, with a formidable cast. Did anyone involved expect it to develop such an enthusiastic cult following?

SD: No, I don’t think so. I think everyone had fun making this movie, thinking it would be successful and that was it! It is going to come out this year on DVD. I just did an interview for the DVD and also for the DVD of JUNGLE WARRIORS, which some people consider a kind of Women in Prison movie.

HYB: “Battle Beyond The Stars”, essentially a space-based remake of “Seven Samurai”, found you in one of your most beloved roles, as the Valkyrie warrior St. Exmin. Was this when you realized you had the qualities of an action star, rather than just another blonde bombshell?

SD: This was my second movie after moving to Hollywood from Germany. I absolutely love this movie and my fans still talk about it and love it as well. I don’t think I gave this role any other thought than, I really liked it a lot! St. Exmin was the ONLY woman among the men to fight the bad guys! My role was kind of like Horst Bucholz’ character in the first re-make of the SEVEN SAMURAI. There’s no doubt she was sexy but also strong and ended up being the heroine. She drove her “dart” spaceship (created by James Cameron), the smallest of them all, into the stellar converter of the big bad ass bad guys, mother ship - committing her version of “space Harakiri” and dying to save the rest. Usually, re-makes don’t make it - but this is one of the best re-makes of a movie I’ve ever seen, with no spirit lost and a wonderful cast! All came natural in this role! I’ve always been a tomboy and no one has ever accused me of looking like a man. The realization, I could be good in action roles came later.

HYB: Some of your first genre credits are the obscure gialli “Eye In The Labyrinth” and “The Red Queen Kills Seven Times”. How did you wind up in Italian films?

SD: You’ve really seen everything! I hear THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES has just come out on DVD. When you work in Europe, you work all over Europe because the continent is so small and therefore the industry has to share and do co-productions. In those days Italy was #1 in movie production and I loved making movies with them. The fun part is, I remember one day shooting on a movie in Rome, it was an Italian, German, French co-production. I said my lines in German to the Italian actor who answered me in Italian, then his counter part who was French, answered us back in French! That’s one reason why I speak different languages!

HYB: It’s interesting that you are so often cast in some sort of dominant queen archetype role, the female warden, etc. Is this a side of yourself that you deliberately accentuate for auditions?

SD: No, I think with time, this is the side people see in me, the strong, domineering type. I like playing those roles because in most movies, women are the victims and I have become a sort of “role model” for women. I get mail from female fans who tell me how my characters give them strength in their every day lives! That makes me feel very good to know I’ve done something to help women’s esteem!

HYB: Equally notable is your unapologetic sexuality. Does this make it difficult for you to be taken seriously for your acting range?

SD: Yes, it does make it difficult to be up for just a dramatic, maybe even unattractive role. I have proven I can do it in movies like OPERATION THUNDERBOLT, the Raid on Entebbe movie where I played the very unattractive German Terrorist, Gabriele Tiedemann of the Bader Meinhoff group. I enjoyed playing a historic character, unattractive, with no make-up, flat shoes, wide skirts, etc. The movie was nominated for an OSCAR for “Best Foreign Film.!”

HYB: Some of our music lovers wil want to know how it was to work with punk queen Wendy O. Williams in “Reform School Girls”. Does anything stand out?

SD: Wendy O - Bless her soul! I’m sure everyone knows Wendy passed on. What you saw, was what you got! What I liked about her, was her truthfulness. She could be very rude, but you knew she meant it! We got along. I did want to have a fight with her, for power, so to say! The fans would have loved that and some told me they actually expected it! It was not in the script, Wendy did not want to do it and so we didn’t. I never asked her why! I saw her again at the gym where I work out, after we finished the movie, but we never talked about the movie.

HYB: Is it true that Lou Ferrigno had you wear the cloak in “Hercules” so your body wouldn’t draw more attention than his?

SD: I really don’t think Lou was ever afraid no one would look at him in the movie! He is a very confident man. I’ve seen him lately, and he looks great!

HYB: One of your best-known horror film appearances is in “The Howling II”. My guess is that that particular shoot was a lot of fun.

SD: Whatever gave you that idea! Yes, it was a hoot, shooting in what was then, still communist, now Czech Republic! We had for certain a KGB agent in our hotel spying on us. He always sat in the same corner at the same table in the Restaurant, just looking at us. We had to hold back from cracking up totally because he wore thick glasses and a something that looked like a dead squirrel on his head! Working on location as we did in that beautiful castle always adds to the authenticity and fun because it really carries you into the situation, as apposed to being on a set! It was the 5th movie I had done with Christopher Lee and I hope not the last!

HYB: Critics seem to universally detest this film, but you and Christopher Lee are always mentioned as the saving grace. Would you be willing to return to Howling territory, if a sequel or re-make was planned?

SD: Very interesting question, thank you. Actually, I went to the director, Philippe Mora, right after the enormous success of the release on DVD for SONY/MGM and told him we should do a sequel to HII and I had a treatment already written and passed it on to Philippe who loved the idea. He came back, after talking to Gary Brandner, author of all the HOWLING books and screen writer on some and said that, after 6 HOWLING movies, we should move on to doing our own new Franchise. Gary, Philippe and I are now partnered in a new franchise with the working title, WOLF PROJECT.

HYB: What’s next for you?