City of Beatrice serves as setting for upcoming horror film ‘The Gallows’

“When I was little, I really wanted to be a Rugrat”, she says of the Nickeleodeon cartoon.

Gymnastics, ballet and violin admittedly were among the 100 things Cassidy Gifford tried but didn’t stick with during her childhood.

In 1993, high school student Charlie Grimille died by the noose in a freak accident during Beatrice High’s production of the play ‘The Gallows.’ Twenty years later the play is revived and it seems Charlie will finally have his curtain call.

The actress deprived herself of food and sleep, listened to depressing playlists and dwelled on bad memories to deliver an authentically terrified performance in “The Gallows,” opening July 10. “Personally, I prefer that the next project be a romantic comedy, please”, Kathie Lee said.

She and her three costars – Pfeifer Brown, Ryan Shoos and Reese Mishler – became fast friends while filming in the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Fresno, Calif., which is rumored to be haunted in real life. WATCH the scary clip here – if you dare!

Gifford’s new movie is as far away from Rugrats as possible. “It’s hard because 90 percent of the time there’s a preconceived notion about me going in for an audition, or anything, whatever it is”.

“So when I saw it, I was really excited”.

The gifts just keep on coming.

Before “The Gallows“, Gifford had a couple of smaller roles under her belt – including a guest role on CBS’ “Blue Bloods,” a part in the Christian drama “God’s Not Dead” (2014), and an appearance in the sitcom “That’s So Raven” as a kid. “So my mom would be, like, swearing that they’re our family members – they’d move in with us, they’d speak a different language and then just see what happens”, Cassidy said. “I grew up on John Carpenter and Wes Craven, and I love the old classic slasher movies”, Lofing recalls, “but I think mostly for the film, it was a lot of necessity”.

“It’s insane”, she said. The dialogue is thin, bordering on cryptic; the characters’ motivations are unclear; and most important-at least for the school’s liability insurer-it climaxes with an execution on a fully functioning gallows, which has already resulted in one student’s accidental death back in 1993.

Kathie Lee passed on the opportunity to film a reality series for E!, but suggested that producers consider a good friend of hers for the series – Kris Jenner. “It really freaked me out”.