“That’s Tommy Doyle!” Debra Hill shouted.

As a smile covered her face, she grabbed him and hugged him. I saw this happen and I knew it was a special moment. The HALLOWEEN Reunion party in 2000 was filled with celebrities. Access Hollywood and Entertainment Weekly were hovering over Jamie Lee Curtis; but I knew this reunion of Tommy Doyle and HALLOWEEN’s producer was just as significant as Laurie Strode eating candy corn. I pulled out the digital camera and I snapped a shot.

Looking at that picture today, it’s hard to believe I’ll never see another Debra Hill film.

I kept my eye on her at that reunion party. She always struck me as much more social than John Carpenter would be, and she didn’t let me down that night. I watched her scurry about, knowing just about everyone in the then-trendy Hollywood club that evening. More than anyone else there, I could tell she was genuinely happy to be around all of the faces that made HALLOWEEN a great film.

While I had often seen her credit on John Carpenter’s films, the first time I saw her face was a documentary television program on women in Hollywood in the early 1990s. She never really received the limelight that John Carpenter did for HALLOWEEN and their other creative collaborations. You won’t find the “Debra Hill Super Fansite.” But she was often a custodian for HALLOWEEN. You won’t find a HALLOWEEN DVD bonus feature without her. When the film showed at the Egyptian theater that night in 2000, she was the only one who stuck around to introduce the second showing. In 1998, when halloweenmovies.com approached her for an interview, she did decline (at that point she was really tired of talking about Michael Myers) – but quickly offered us a transcript of a speech she had given just days before. I think she genuinely cared about all of us – those who enjoyed the fruits of her creative labors.

Her career was an amazing one. From script supervisor on ASSAULT ON PRICINCT 13 to the fun of CLUE to the drama GROSS ANATOMY, she was one woman who was determined to make it in the film industry.

While I never managed to interview her, I have spoken with numerous people who knew her. She’s been described as “caring,” “harsh,” and even “a bitch.” With the obstacles she had to face as a hard-working female in Hollywood, she had every right to carry each of those titles.

HALLOWEEN fans owe her a giant debt. Without her “girl talk,” there would be no characterization in the original film. Without her perseverance, we would not have seen familiar houses in the sequel. Heck, we wouldn’t even have a child-like arm stabbing Judith Myers!

This fall when I venture to the local cinema to check out the remake of THE FOG, I’ll see her name up on screen for the last time. I know I will pause for just a moment and remember the smile I saw on her face that October 13th in 2000.

“…We were a family,” Hill said at the Egyptian Theater that evening. “Many of us were partners with each other, in terms of living with each other. So it was really a wonderful early beginning for all of us in terms of our careers.”

As her career ends, we’re thankful for that amazing creative period of her early work. This autumn, when fans across the globe watch the super-bit deluxe remastered edition of HALLOWEEN on DVD – or just happen to catch it on a UHF television station, we’ll all remember the matriarch of the “HALLOWEEN family” – Debra Hill.