Heaven’s Gate (and the Missed Kiss)

Tammy shares her encounter with Kris on the famous set.

1979 during the filming of Heaven’s Gate I was introduced to Kris by his personal driver. Later I became an extra in the movie as an expert horse rider. I nearly ran him over but came to a sliding stop on my Palomino so as not to hit him.

He looked up at me and smiled real big and went on his way. I asked him a bit later for a birthday kiss, he was in hurry to get back to the starting place but said something as he was fast walking away but I couldn’t hear what he said.

I thought it might be an excuse as to why he couldn’t do that but later after director Micheal Chamino called a wrap for the day he came looking for me.

I knew that he went to sign autographs after the work day so I went looking for him. I didn’t find him anywhere on set so I figured he had left for his hotel.

Nearly back to my bus and experiencing heat exhaustion barely able to walk, a small crowd came towards me and I tried to get out of the way, but it was Kris.

He stopped about 3 inches away from my face and I was in a daze not realizing he had come to give me my kiss!!! When I didn’t respond after a few moments ( I’m afraid he thought I was blowing him off) he continued on to where fans awaited him.

Still in a daze it finally hit me what he must’ve said but now I’m out of time because I had to catch my bus from Idaho back to Kalispell.

I looked for him on the set but never saw him again, and shooting in Kalispell ended. What a way for things to end! We had stare downs and I know we made a connection!!

This has haunted me 42 years and I have loved the man for 50 years!

I would love to be able to tell him I desperately wanted to kiss him and get to know him but how do you reach a star?

I was in a couple of those takes in the trailer, but with all the cutting they did to it the close ups of me didn’t make it into the feature. My father actually cut the lumber used for the roller skating building. This was cool. We used to make fun of Ella, the character, not the person. They did put a special thanks in the credits that said, a special thanks to the Kalispell extras. Oooh, we were famous. Just kidding. It was a fun job for sure.

Tammy Malaski

Snaps from the Set