Rich or Rehab: Lloyd Dobler’s Nephew
When most people think about the movie “Say Anything…,” they think about John Cusack, a boombox and Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.” Then they think about Lili Taylor singing “Joe Lies.” Then maybe they think about John Cusack, on a payphone in the pouring rain, proclaiming, “I gave her my heart. And she gave me a pen.”
But eventually, after they’ve covered all those things, they will eventually recall that Cusack’s character — the iconic, perpetually romantic kickboxer Lloyd Dobler — had a nephew. You remember this kid. He also did a little kickboxing. He had a mullet. His mom was played by Joan Cusack. And when Lloyd asked, “Hey, my brother. Can I borrow a copy of your ‘Hey Soul Classics’?,” the kid responded: “No, my brother. You have to go buy your own.”
Turns out little Jason Dobler was played by an actor named Glenn Walker Harris, Jr. And since 2009 marks the 20th (!) anniversay of “Say Anything…,” this seems like as good a time as any to find out what happened to him.
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Tags: child actors, child stars, Glenn Walker Harris Jr., Jen Chaney, John Cusack, Lloyd Dobler, Movies, rich or rehab, Say Anything, Where are They Now
Rich or Rehab: Laura From ‘Family Matters’
It takes a very special girl to win the heart of Steve Urkel. And Laura Winslow — as played by Kellie Williams during nine seasons of TV’s “Family Matters” — was just that sort of special girl.
Williams, a native of Forestville, Md., in the Washington D.C. area, dabbled in modeling and theater before she snagged her starring role on the ABC (and later, briefly, CBS) sitcom at the age of 13. So what has happened to her since the days of laugh tracks and listening to Urkel repeatedly ask the question, “Did I do that?” Let’s find out.
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Tags: child actors, child stars, Family Matters, hollywood, Jen Chaney, Kellie Williams, Laura Winslow, rich or rehab, Steve Urkel, tv, Where are They Now
Rich or Rehab: Linda Blair
Of all the demonically possessed kids to ever show their devilish faces in a horror movie, Regan McNeill in “The Exorcist” is easily the most terrifying — and memorable. Is there anyone who grew up in the ’70s and wasn’t absolutely petrified by the sight of her freaky head spinning all the way around? Or later, when the footage was reinserted into the film, the image of her crawling, spider-like, down a staircase?
It seems only fitting, then, to bring this month’s Halloween-themed Rich or Rehabs to a close with a primer on the queen of the child horror stars, the actress who played Regan: Linda Blair.
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Tags: child actors, child stars, halloween, hollywood, Jen Chaney, Linda Blair, Movies, rich or rehab, The Exorcist, whatever happened to
A Wired Cover Story That Jenny McCarthy Won’t Like
With all the concern about swine flu, not to mention the regular flu (hey, remember that?), conversation about the potential dangers of vaccinating our children is bubbling up again.
Jeanne posted an item earlier this week, pegged to a story on Slate, about how non-vaccinated children can have a potentially negative impact on children whose immune systems are compromised by leukemia or other conditions. Shelley Abreu also wrote this piece right here on Babble about why parents should not be afraid to get their children an H1N1 flu vaccine.
But one of the most candid, no b.s. media reports on the anti-vaccination movement has to be the cover story of November’s Wired magazine. Let’s put it this way: when Jenny McCarthy reads it, she will not be pleased.
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Tags: autism, autism and vaccines, Autism One, flu vaccine, Generation Rescue, h1n1 vaccine, h1n1 virus, Jen Chaney, Jenny McCarthy, swine flu vaccine, vaccinations, vaccine
Rich or Rehab: Damien From ‘The Omen’
Imagine being four-years-old, auditioning to play the spawn of Satan and actually getting the part. In other words, a filmmaker and a casting director looked at you, as a child, and said, “Yeah, I can see this kid being the antichrist.”
That’s more or less what happened to Harvey Stephens, the young British child who played Damien Thorn in 1976’s “The Omen.” And, as part of our month-long Halloween-themed series of Rich or Rehabs, I have attempted to find out what that little son of a devil has been up to since.
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Tags: child actors, child stars, Damien Thorn, Harvey Stephens, hollywood, Jen Chaney, Movies, rich or rehab, where are they now?. The Omen
Rich or Rehab: The Kid From the ‘Child’s Play’ Movies
As mentioned in last week’s Rich or Rehab, I am devoting the month of October to tracking down child stars of the horror genre. Which brings us to this week’s subject: Alex Vincent, the boy who starred as Andy in the first two “Child’s Play” movies.
First of all, it could not have been easy being a 7-year-old kid and having to share so many scenes with Chucky, easily the ugliest doll in toy history. And I’m talking even before he started cursing at people and trying to murder them. Seriously, that little @*!#ing thing was just not attractive. But somehow Vincent managed to survive the experience. So where is he now?
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Tags: Alex Vincent, child actors, child stars, Child's Play, halloween, horror movies, Jen Chaney, Movies, rich or rehab, Where are They Now
10 Halloween Costumes for the Pregnant Set
It’s the time of year when pregnant women gaze down desperately at their swollen bellies and ask: what kind of Halloween costume can I possibly wear in this condition?
Actually, the possibilities are pretty endless. Last year around this time, I wrote a post that offered up seven Halloween costume ideas for pregnant chicks (all of which are still valid … well, except for Bristol Palin). Now, in an effort to give women-with-child even more Halloween costume options, here is a brand new list for 2009, complete with 10 Oct. 31st ensembles that work perfectly when you’re knocked up. A couple of these are more effective as one-half of a couples costume, but most work as solo numbers, too. And none of them involve painting a target or a stop sign on your bare belly.
Feel free to add even more of your own suggestions in the comments.
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Tags: halloween, halloween costumes, Jen Chaney, Kate Gosselin, lost, mad men, michael jackson, mommy blogger, nadya suleman, Octomom, pregnancy, pregnant women
A Parenting Segment You’ll Never See on TV
The notion that Facebook and Twitter provide ideal, Webby ways to stalk our kids isn’t exactly a new joke. But the good people at The Onion manage to milk some fresh humor out of it in the video below, which plays almost verbatim like a cheesy segment on the “Today” show.
Well, verbatim, except for all the cursing and the fact that the show’s resident “e-mom” refers to her son’s girlfriend as “trampy” and “a slut.”
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Tags: Facebook, Jen Chaney, stalking your kids, The Onion, twitter
Rich or Rehab: The Kid From ‘The Shining’
In honor of October — the year’s most ghoulish, Halloweeny time — every Rich or Rehab this month will focus on kids who starred in scary movies.
Our first horror star: Danny Lloyd, the young boy who mumbled some stuff about “redrum” and darted through a maze to escape from a psychotic Jack Nicholson in “The Shining.” What happened to him after his uneventful and delightful stay at Stanley Kubrick’s version of the Overlook Hotel?
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Tags: child actos, child stars, Danny Lloyd, hollywood, Jen Chaney, Movies, rich or rehab, Stanley Kubrick, The Shining, Where are They Now
Rich or Rehab: ‘School of Rock,’ Part Deux
In last week’s Rich or Rehab, I wrote about five of the musically gifted kids who starred in “School of Rock.” This week I attempt — and not always successfully — to track down a few more.
Without further delay, let’s get rockin’.
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Tags: Aleisha Allen, Angelo Massagli, child actors, child stars, Jen Chaney, Movies, rich or rehab, Robert Tsai, School of Rock, Where are They Now
