Linda Blair was born on January 22, 1959 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Blair began her career by modeling, then acting in commercials.

Blair had originally planned to become a veterinarian, but instead accepted a role in The Exorcist (1973) because the money would allow her to have enough money to be an Equestrian.

At age 15, Blair dated and lived with pop singer Rick Springfield, despite a ten year difference in their ages and her status as a minor.

Blair was arrested in December 1977 for conspiring to purchase and distribute cocaine and for possessing amphetamines. It was revealed that Blair's cohorts happened to be dog breeders; phone taps indicated that the word "dog" was a code word for cocaine. Though there was an actual dog discussed in the phone tap recordings, Linda's legal team preferred to enter a guilty plea rather than challenge the charge. She was fined for possession, sentenced to three years probation, instructed to appear in several anti-drug commercials, and ordered to enter a nine month drug rehabilitation program.

Blair left the Roller Boogie set right after it wrapped to appear in a Florida court.

During the early 1980s, Blair had a relationship with singer Rick James. It is rumored that his song "Cold Blooded" was inspired by her.

Jim Bray was born February 23, 1961, and is from Ontario, California.

Bray was a competitive artistic roller skater in real life and won several national titles in singles and pairs.

At the time of filming Roller Boogie, Jim Bray was only 18 and had won over 270 trophies.

Roller Boogie was Jim Bray's only film performance.

Director Mark L. Lester directed the film Truck Stop Women (1974) before filming Roller Boogie, and went on to direct a number of iconic 80's action films such as Commando (1985) and Firestarter (1984).

Lester also says of the film, "I loved Boogie. Still do. I don't care what people say!"

Dean Cundey was the principal cinematographer on most of John Carpenter's films and was behind the lens for such cult films as Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979), Black Shampoo (1976), Satan's Cheerleaders (1977), Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (1976), and So Evil, My Sister (1974), among others.

Cinematographer Daniel Pearl (who worked on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Class of 1984 (1982), and did a host of music video work in the '80s) was the camera operator for the roller rink sequences in Roller Boogie and also a set photographer.

Roger Perry, who plays Terry's father in Roller Boogie, also starred in Count Yorga, Vampire (1970) and The Return of Count Yorga (1971) as the count's nemesis.

Terry's mother in the film is played by Beverly Garland, veteran of numerous low-budget Roger Corman movies of the fifties and sixties such as Swamp Women (1955), It Conquered the World (1956), Gunslinger (1956), and Not of This Earth (1957).

by Millie De Chirico

SOURCES:
Rollerboogie.net
Nytimes.com
Rogerebert.com
Imdb.com
Allmovie.com
Wikipedia.com
Dvdtalk.com