WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO: Kim Walker

Several years ago, when the special edition of HEATHERS was first released on DVD, it was offered with several different covers. Each character from the film had their own cover. When it came time for me to buy a version, there was really no question about which one I wanted, Kim Walker.

Kim played the lead Heather, Heather Chandler. As much as I loved Winona Ryder in that film, Kim Walker was the real star of the film for me.

She attended the High School for Performing Arts in New York before going to L.A. There was some TV parts (CRIME STORY and TV 101) before her first, and still best, film HEATHERS.

Most of her lines are unprintable here. I can probably get away with “Such a pillowcase”, or “Transfer to Washington. Transfer to Jefferson. No one at Westerberg is going to be playing any of your reindeer games”.

But her most famous quote? The one about the chainsaw? Here’s a clip



She was so great in that film.

Kim also had a small, but memorable role in SAY ANYTHING.


Seen at a party, I always wondered if her role ended up on the cutting room floor. She commands her one scene, like we are supposed to know her, and then disappears. I thought she would have been a better lead than Ione Skye.

In 1989 she also appeared in the TV film THE PREPPIE MURDER, the true story about the New York killer.

Despite being a fan of her at the time, and a fan of the original film, I never saw an episode of the TV series THE OUTSIDERS that aired in 1990. She played Cherry Valance, Diane Lane’s role from the film. That only lasted one season.


There was an episode of HUNTER, THE JULIE SHOW (an attempt to translate Julie Brown’s great MTV series JUST SAY JULIE to network), the pilot episodes of PICKET FENCES, MATLOCK and THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCO COUNTY.

She starred in a few more films, NERVOUS TICKS (which I have to admit I never even heard of even though it starred Julie Brown and Bill Pullman). And in 1994, THE FAVOR was released. Made in 1991 (but kept on the shelf due to problems at Orion), Kim had a blink or you’ll miss it part (although funny) at a lamaze class.


One of her last acting roles was in 1995’s A REASON TO BELIEVE. This very serious film about date rape on a college campus starred Allison Smith, Jay Underwood and Keith Coogan.

There were a couple more films, that don’t appear to have been given much if any release.


So, What Ever Happened To Her?

In 2000, during the making of her last film, KILLING CINDERELLA, according to internet reports, Kim collapsed on the set. It was then determined that she had a brain tumor.

On March 6, 2001, Kim passed away at home.

She is buried in Farmingdale, New York at Pinelawn Memorial Park.

In many ways this seems like a sick joke. After all, one of Kim’s most quoted lines in HEATHERS was “Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?” Sadly, it isn’t a joke.

The documentary on the DVD was dedicated to her, although they didn’t talk about what happened to her.

I was always waiting for Kim to have her big break. I thought she should have become bigger after HEATHERS. While Ryder and Slater went on to become stars, she acted in smaller projects.

Still, her performance as Heather Chandler won’t be forgotten.