Brian De Palma’s classic 1983 crime drama Scarface will forever be linked to the mysterious disappearance of a young aspiring actress. During the famous chainsaw sequence in which Tony Montana (Al Pacino) attempts to buy cocaine from Colombian drug dealers at a Miami Beach hotel, his friend Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer) can briefly be seen flirting with a woman in a blue bikini outside.
The uncredited girl was played by Tammy Lynn Leppert, who also appeared in the Sean S. Cunningham comedy Spring Break that same year. You can check out Leppert’s most notable on-screen moment right here:
According to Leppert’s close friend, Wing Flannagan, Leppert started acting strange after attending a party by herself around the time production wrapped on Spring Break. Leppert’s mother also recalled her daughter saying that she thought somebody was trying to kill her. The up-and-coming actress retreated into isolation for a while prior to being offered a role in Scarface in early 1983. Things seemed to go well until the fourth day of shooting, when Leppert reportedly had a breakdown on set over a scene involving artificial blood.
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As a result, Leppert quit the film and returned home to her family, but her paranoia continued to run rampant. On July 1, Leppert finally snapped and began smashing windows in her house and attacking Flannagan. Leppert’s mother then checked her into a mental health facility for a complete evaluation. She was released 72 hours later.
The next day (July 6), Leppert was driven by a male friend to Cocoa Beach, Florida (five miles from her home), where the two reportedly got into an argument. When police questioned the man, he said Leppert asked to be dropped off by the Cocoa Beach Glass Bank. It was there that Leppert was last seen alive, five months before moviegoers could catch her performance in Scarface.
On the day of her disappearance, Leppert’s male acquaintance claimed that she was barefoot and wasn’t even carrying a purse. Though several theories have been floated about what happened to Leppert, how she went missing remains a mystery to this day.
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