Minnie Castevet: The Neighbor from Hell
Who doesn’t know ROSEMARY’S BABY by now, right? It’s based on the book by Ira Levin, and one of the best characters in that classic horror movie was Minnie Castevet (Ruth Gordon). Gordon’s portrayal of Minnie was so damned good (pun intended) that she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress — the first time anybody won an Oscar for playing a witch! It’s hard to really do justice to Minnie in words without showing her in action:
Seemingly innocuous New Yorker, intrusively working her gritty charm like a fiend (her awesome charm bracelet is such a great accessory in the scene, jangling away while she scouts out Rosemary’s apartment and gathers intel), Minnie works her diabolical ways to help bring Satan’s child into the world with the help of her special concoction she serves up the hapless Rosemary.
Her drugged chocolate mousse made the diabolical conception possible, and her herbal potions help Rosemary along until her devilish baby is born.
Minnie’s one smoothie operator….
Wicked Minnie is the point person for the Satanic cult, and full props to Ruth Gordon for nailing that role and landing that Oscar for her marvelous portrayal of an eccentric old bird who’s really a witch with some mad skills, working behind the scenes.
Wicked Minnie Castevet Quotes
“He chose you, honey! From all the women in the world to be the mother of his only living son!”
“Now! That’s what I call the long arm of coincidence!”
For More Witches, Wicked and Otherwise
Can’t get enough of witches? Be sure to order our anthology, Wax & Wane: A Gathering of Witch Tales, for 30 spellbinding witch stories!