I’ve always found the 1985 film Fright Night a delightful combination of comedy, thrills, monsters, horror, and even a bit of gore. So having been a big fan of the movie already, you can understand why I was ecstatic to find that the five (still-living) main characters of the film would all be assembling for a reunion at the Days of the Dead event in Chicago, Illinois. Meeting any one of these folks individually would be thrilling, but to get them all in one swipe nearly ensured that I’d be making the trek to Chicago for the show on Sunday, November 18, 2012.
The whole process of meeting these great performers was totally seamless and was finished in about 20 minutes time. Each was charging $25 per autograph and posing for photos for free.
I started off with William Ragsdale, who had portrayed the lead character Charley Brewster. He was also known as playing the lead character Herman in the sitcom Herman’s Head from 1991 through 1994. Another notable role was his part as the boyfriend of Ellen DeGeneres on the sitcom Ellen – before she famously came out of the closet.
Our encounter was brief as I didn’t have a great deal to discuss with him – but the most notable part of it was that, since there were absolutely no other fans around trying to meet the cast, I had to rely on one of his co-stars to take our photo.
The co-star who took our photo was Jonathan Stark. He played Billy Cole, the human roomate of the vampire Jerry. I did have a nice conversation with him, and I suspected that I would when I asked him about being a writer on Bob Newhart’s sitcom Bob. He had also appeared on the show as the guy inside the Willy Mammoth costume.
This led to a discussion about Cynthia Stevenson, whom he told me that he’d once date – and still keeps in touch with frequently. I encouraged him to talk her into attending a show, and told him how much I loved her part in Cheers. He reminded me that he had also starred in Cheers as Sam’s replacement bartender, Wayne.
He was kind enough to take the photos of me with William Ragsdale, and then it was Ragsdale’s turn to take my photo with Stark. We made a great trio. It was quite a pleasure meeting Jonathan Stark.
Next was Evil Ed himself, Stephen Geoffreys. Our encounter was exceptionally brief as he seemed a little discombobulated at the moment and was having difficulty making change for me. Nevertheless, he was nice enough, and was another actor I had always hoped to meet.
The penultimate Fright Night encounter was one of the most thrilling for me. I had been extremely disappointed when Chris Sarandon had had to cancel his appearance at the Chiller Theatre Show in 2011. I told him so too this time around. I also told him how much I had enjoyed his role on Picket Fences, and purchased an additional photo from The Nightmare Before Christmas, having him add “Jack Skellington,” the name of the character that he voiced in the film. The other option was to pick up a photo from The Princess Bride, but I had to draw the line somewhere with this great guy.
Chris Sarandon was a heck of a nice guy also, and although he didn’t use my camera to take a photo of any of his Fright Night co-stars, he did offer his services to snap my photo with one of the other celebrities. This one was a biggie for me, and I’m glad I finally was able to catch up with him.
Finally is Amanda Bearse, who played Charley’s girlfriend Amy in the film. Of course her best known role would come a couple of years later in the sitcom Married…with Children. She played Marcy Rhoades/Marcy D’Arcy, the wife and then the ex-wife of Steve Rhoades… who incidentally was played by David Garrison.
Of course, readers of the blog will know of my obsession with It’s Your Move starring David Garrison, and Amanda Bearse seemed very eager to talk about it as well. I told her how I had just missed meeting him after seeing his play Wicked, and then when she mentioned that Married…with Children was created by the same two guys who did It’s Your Move, she was extremely impressed that I was able to name them as Ron Leavitt and Michael G. Moye.
Sadly though, our conversation had to be cut short since she and the entire cast was being whisked away to do a panel discussion about the film. She was extremely sweet and apologized that she had to cut our time short, and I felt she was legitimately excited to talk about It’s Your Move and its creators.
In any case, I was glad that I caught all five of the performers from Fright Night before the panel discussion had been scheduled. After I finished up with the other encounters of the day, I stopped back by to see if she might have returned, but alas, they were all still being interviewed. Nevertheless, it was a thrilling, rapid-fire meeting with five celebrities who had been on one spectacular film.
Incidentally, I never got the chance to meet the sixth star of Fright Night, Roddy McDowall, who passed away in 1998. I did however pick up an autographed photo of him from a dealer shortly after his death… as seen below.
Celebrity encounters from the 2012 Days of the Dead will continue…
Stumbled upon your site here while doing some searching for Calvin’s home (“The Beeches”) and poked through. “Fright Night” is an old favorite of mine. Wanted to share my meeting Roddy.
He came to BGSU, my alma mater, to display his collection of photos he took in Hollywood (most “Apes”-based). After the presentation, he took some time to chat with us college kids (film buffs, pop culture nuts and theatre majors).
I asked for his autograph and he took my program and pen. While he was writing, I told him that I had recently saw his film “Shockma!” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2tnp4QCKtk) and that I appreciated the suspense. With that, he quickly scribbled his name down and forced the program and pen back at me. “Terrible film! Terrible, terrible, terrible film!”
Be well
Matty
February 6th, 2013
I have absolutely adored Fright Night (1985 version) since I saw it in the mid-nineties. Thank you for posting these photos for all of us that did not get to enjoy your fantastic adventure, and the pleasure of meeting this awesome cast! You are SO fortunate. I only wish Roddy McDowall could have been there, as well………..
Anne
July 16th, 2014