She deliberately chose roles in movies she expected to fail, so she'd never have to be famous.

Despite this, she won a Tony and an Oscar nomination, sang the last song in Robert Altman's Nashville (1975), and was cast by Alfred Hitchcock in his final film (after initially turning him down).

In 1987, Barbara Harris succeeded in making a film that grossed only $65,000.

NICE GIRLS DON'T EXPLODE (1987) stars Michelle Meyrink as April Flowers, a young woman raised to believe her own body bursts into flame whenever she is attracted to someone. On dates, she carries a fire extinguisher.

Her mother is setting the fires, blowing up April's love life from a distance, one date at a time. Wallace Shawn plays a pyromaniac named Ellen.

New World released this independently produced comedy. Stephen M. Katz, who shot Messiah of Evil (1973) and The Blues Brothers (1980), photographed it in Kansas.

Meyrink had already made Valley Girl (1983) and Real Genius (1985). Two years after this one, at twenty-six, she quit acting for good, saying she wanted more from life. She took up Zen and never came back.

Two women who did not want what Hollywood was selling, in a comedy about a girl insulated from her own desires.