Thanks for nothing C. Thomas Howell (AM)

E.T. was on TV on Saturday night. Turns out I remember very little about that movie. And I didn't watch much of it so I'm really no wiser. But I did learn that C. Thomas Howell was in it. Who cares? Look, not me really, but it did get me thinking.

As a very young teenager I kind of had a crush on C.Thomas Howell. Dude played Ponyboy Curtis, of course I had a crush on him. It was just lucky for him I guess that he got to play a guy that was so adorable in text to 13-year-old girls. But in truth by the time I became aware of him his star was already on the wane and I had other hunks to think about. So basically he is just some guy. But it got me thinking about what happens to child stars. I know this is something people talk about on occasion, but it made me think, are there ever successful actors that act for a while and then totally leave the business? Didn't they used to say that the not-George Michael from Wham became a mechanic? Well according to Wikipedia he writes music under a pseudonym and lives with his ex-Bananarama girlfriend. Mechanic my eye! Or maybe I'm confusing has-beens.

Anyway, does this happen to anyone, they just move on and work in an office or something? I wondered if such a person existed. And on Saturday night I started to wonder if maybe C. Thomas Howell was that guy.

Nup. Turns out he has had a continuing acting career that I just happen to be unaware of. The guy is in the new Spiderman movie! I could not have been more wrong.

So I decided  I wanted to try and find someone who just moved on from the industry. But the problem was I can't really remember anyone who disappeared into obscurity, 'cause of, you know, the obscurity. And it seems that with the advent of reality TV there is a place for every star of yesterday.

Jennifer Grey on DWTS. Probably thinking about how she'll never have it as good as when she danced with Swayze.

 Jennifer Grey was on Dancing with the Stars. That seems pretty unreasonable. She was only the star of a little movie called DIRTY DANCING! Where she pretty much spends the whole movie DANCING. How POed would you be if you were a contestant on the show that year!

Ralph trying to explain the Crane move to his partner - unsuccessfully

 Ralph Macchio was on Dancing with the Stars too, which seems to me moderately unfair given his karate experience.

Of course there are shows like The Two Coreys. Cut tragically short by Corey Haim's death. I guess Feldman will be on Dancing with the Stars soon enough.

****************************************************Time lapse*********************************************************

Strike that. Turns out Corey Feldman was was already on a British TV show called Dancing on Ice.

Corey Feldman on ice

Even the guy that played Doogie Howser's best friend Vinnie is still working. Yep, IMDb says that he is working on the new Woody Allen movie. Shit man, he probably never had it so good!

I guess if I've learnt anything it's that actors can have longevity. I guess I feel kind of heartened.