Some performers will constantly be linked with a particular character, and regardless of what they have done later in life, some can never escape the exact role that made them famous.

Marlon Brando will always be the Godfather, Sarah Jessica Parker will always be Carrie Bradshaw, and Jennifer Gray will always be Baby Houseman in Dirty Dancing.

She’ll always be Cry-Mona Baby’s “Hatchet-Face” Malnorowski to me.

The cult hit released in 1990 and made Kim McGuire a Hollywood sensation overnight – yet only 6 years later, her flame had gone out and Kim disappeared totally.

What happened? Kim lost everything, became homeless, and was traumatized forever due to horrible circumstances.

Kim initially wanted to be a lawyer like her father.

After high school in New Orleans, Kim aspired to dance. Therefore, she attended the University of New Orleans and received a master’s degree in theater and dance.

But the tradition from her father was strong, and Kim was also interested in the legal profession. She became a lawyer at Loyola Law School.

Kim excelled in entertainment. “A cheerful soul and always happy,” she made others laugh and feel special.

At the University of New Orleans, Kim refined her acting skills, and she performed in several of the theatre department’s performances. Kim left New Orleans to perform in New York City in 1989.

John Walters began writing “Hatchet-Face” in 1985. However, the film never got produced, but John Walters’s persona would live on. So when he started planning for Cry-Baby, Walters wanted a comparable character in the cast.

It has been suggested that Mona “Hatchet-Face” Malnorowski was actually meant to be performed by Harris Glenn Milstead, better known by his stage name Divine. The American actress, singer, and drag queen appeared in several Walter films. But Milstead died abruptly in March 1988, a year before the filming of Cry-Baby began.

In 1989, the casting began to discover Hatchet-Face, a nasty and loud-mouthed teenage gang member commanded by Johnny Depp’s character Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker.

For those of you who don’t know, Cry-Baby is an adolescent musical romantic comedy film that takes place in Baltimore in the 1950s.

“Hatchet-Facead“ caught attention.

Cry-Baby productions requested that candidates send a card. Kim McGuire pounced.

I randomly sent my photo to six casting directors that week. Paula Herold, the casting director for Reversal of Fortune, received it. “And I think I had a reversal of fortune, because they called me in for Cry-Baby,” Kim remarked in It Came From Baltimore, a special feature on Cry Baby’s director’s cut DVD.

Waters recruited Kim “very immediately” after her audition.

Since 3, I’ve wanted this. As a dancer, I aspired to do Chekhov and Shakespeare and become a triple threat. Just magical. I’ve always wanted to be famous.”

The role transformed Kim and cemented her place in film history. Her movie look was memorable.

Cry-Baby exacerbated Kim’s already unique facial characteristics. Kim was unrecognizable.

“That expression that she wears in the movie is undoubtedly make-up; Kim has a pretty blank face in real life,” Walters subsequently observed.

A critic called Kim “a Cubist poster-child” because to her excessive makeup.

Kim handled her appearance criticism well.

“After viewing that, people think I look extremely good,” she told The Atlanta Journal in 1991.

People discussed more than her appearance and facial contortions. Kim, 34 at the time, performed well in an ensemble cast that included Johnny Depp, Iggy Pop, Ricki Lake, Troy Donahue, Willem Dafoe, and others. Her acting skills were undervalued.

Walters found that Kim’s “Hatchet-Face” performance was well-received during test screenings.

Cry-Baby, despite its $12 million budget, was a box office failure in 1990.

The film became a cult hit and was converted into a Broadway musical with new tunes. The musical premiered at New York’s Marquis Theater in 2008, according to IMDB. The Tony Awards nominated it for Best Musical, Book, and Score after 68 performances.

Kim McGuire struggled to advance her acting career after Cry-Baby.

Kim appears in Serial Mom and Acting on Impulse.

She last appeared in New York Undercover in 1995.

She became an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles a few years after the wedding. She succeeded well in her new work, but she couldn’t give up performing, her true passion.

“A last hoorah in theater” brought her and Gene to New York in the early 2000s. We’ll never know if Kim’s career would have flourished in New York.

After 9/11, they fled New York. Kim and Gene moved to Biloxi, Mississippi, on the Gulf of Mexico in 2001 to start again.

They started a new life at the Mississippi Repertory Theater Company. Her husband Gene handled advertising and marketing while Kim handled legal matters.

Hurricane Katrina “slabbed” their home and their lives in August.

We established ourselves in Biloxi. “Everything’s a shame how it worked out,” Kim McGuire told Sun Herald in 2015.

Katrina destroyed their lives one summer day.

Kim lost her home, family photos, and lifestyle. Hurricane Katrina was unprepared for by the New Orleans actress.

Gene carried Kim on his back to save her. They took shelter behind a school breezeway but faced the cyclone for 8 hours before winds calmed. Kim was transported to Mobile, Alabama, for foot treatment.

Kim’s foot healed, but her life broke.

They lost everything “except for Gene’s Emmy, which was found broken amidst the rubble that was their home,” reports said.

In November 2005, the couple moved into low-income housing alone. New Orleans-based Kim’s parents lost everything.

We moved into Section 8 housing. Change. We were wealthy in L.A. . Then nothing. Beverly Hills, nothing. A major lifestyle adjustment. Not just stuff. Losing roots. “I haven’t seen my parents in three years, which is terrible,” Kim stated in 2015.

Alabama hired Kim as a lawyer. She assisted Hurricane Katrina widows.

Kim and Gene relocated five times in ten years. The natural calamity haunted them forever.

Even if they prepare, it’s never enough. . After the disaster, he told the San Diego Union-Tribune, “I told a friend about all of that and he said, ‘Do me a favor and tell me where you’re moving next.’”

The couple moved after a decade of homelessness and financial issues.

Kim and Gene lived well in Naples, Florida. Kim persevered despite her challenges. Kim and Gene suffered mentally and physically from Katrina.

The Cry-Baby actress released a book about how Katrina affected her and her family in 2005.

Tragically, Kim’s new life in Florida was short-lived. Pneumonia sent her to Naples’ Physicians Regional Hospital ICU in September 2016.

Kim’s non-response left doctors helpless.

In 2016, Kim McGuire’s death was widely lamented by her friends and husband Gene.

Kim’s family, friends, and fans’ love and prayers have been overwhelming and comforting. “Kim was a dancer, choreographer, actor, attorney, and novelist who praised her wonderful father for instilling a passion of learning,” her obituary added.

After reading about her life and accomplishments, I understand Kim McGuire was much more than “Hatchet-Face” in Cry-Baby.

Kim was a bright, positive person who blossomed in theater and worked as an attorney in numerous places; an outstanding woman indeed! Thank you for the memories and for supporting Katrina-stricken women. Share this story on Facebook to commemorate Kim!

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