Marilyn Burns

Marilyn Burns (born Mary Lynn Ann Burns; May 7, 1949 – August 5, 2014) was an American actress. Burns is known for portraying survivor Sally Hardesty in Tobe Hooper's influential horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), which established her as an early final girl and scream queen. In 2025, the film was her first to be inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. While in college, Burns made her film debut in Robert Altman's comedy Brewster McCloud (1970). She played Linda Kasabian in the true crime television film Helter Skelter (1976), and starred in Hooper's horror film Eaten Alive (1977) and the science fiction film Future-Kill (1985), the latter of which was written by her Texas Chain Saw Massacre co-star Edwin Neal. She then appeared in two more Texas Chainsaw films, making a cameo as Sally in The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1995) and playing a different character in Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013). In 2009, Burns was inducted into the Horror Hall of Fame at the Phoenix Film Festival. On August 5, 2014, she was found dead in her home. A few of her short films were released posthumously.