Issue Date: September 4, 2005
1985-2005 Special 20th Anniversary Edition
By Lorrie Lynch
Bruce Willis, Michael J. Fox, Madonna and Heather Locklear are among the big stars of 1985 we've all kept close tabs on. Here's an update on other names of that era, the "what-ever-became-of?" reader favorites.
Allyce Beasley & Curtis Armstrong
They were the quirky sidekicks of "Moonlighting," TV's hit with wisecracking Bruce Willis and icy Cybill Shepherd, Beasley was the rhyming receptionist wooed by Armstrong's Herbert Viola. After bit roles, Beasley, 51, a breast cancer survivor, acts in L.A. theater. Film actor Armstrong, 51, has been in several movies, including the coming "Akeelah and the Bee."
Charlene Tilton & Pamela Sue Martin
Before TiVo and e-mail, we watched nighttime soaps in real time to gossip at the water cooler the next day about bad girls Tilton (wild child Lucy Ewing on "Dallas") and Martin ("Dynasty"'s brat Fallon Carrington Colby). Off-set, each posed for "Playboy," hosted "Saturday Night Live" and became a single mom. Tilton, 46, has written a gossip column for the "Globe." Martin, 52, now owns an Idaho theater production company.
Steve Guttenberg
His 1985 vehicle was "Cocoon." But it took "Short Circuit" and the "Police Academy" and "Three Men and a Baby" franchises of the '80s to launch his box-office grosses into the billions. Next up: NBC's "The Poseidon Adventure" remake in November.
Patrick Swayze
He burst onto the scene with "North and South," the 1985 miniseries based on John Jakes' best seller. But Swayze, a trained dancer, already had made the cult flick "Skatetown," USA and starred in "Grease" on Broadway. Today, he's looking for mature lead roles. "There are times you're hot and times you're not and times you're hot again," says Swayze, 53. He and his wife of 30 years, Lisa Niemi, are stars of "One Last Dance," just out on DVD.
This is perfect timing -- just as America is dancing again.
"Dancing is primal ... innate. And dance movies rock if they're good."
You say dance partners' eyes must connect. Did you tell John O'Hurley that, when coaching him for Dancing With the Stars?
"Yeah. They should've won."
Dancing takes discipline. How do you and Lisa stay in shape?
"We get back in the studio, put on music and dance."
Kelly McGillis
The film "Witness" with Harrison Ford made McGillis the actress to watch in 1985; the next year she delivered as Hollywood's top gal in smoldering scenes with Tom Cruise in "Top Gun." Now the twice-divorced mother of two owns a restaurant and has taken to the stage -- last year in "Macbeth" and "The Graduate."
Danny Pintauro
"Who's the Boss?" was all about Tony Danza and Judith Light, but their TV kids made it work. At just 8, Pintauro began playing Jonathan Bower, son of Light's character. The series ended when he was 16. The Stanford theater grad, 29, now acts onstage -- I saw him in the edgy "Hot 'N' Throbbing in 1999 -- and is learning lines for his next show.
Name-dropping
When I look over the celebrity names of 1985, I see good stories to tell. For instance ...
I met "Miami Vice" heartthrobs Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, at a White House state dinner at the peak of their fame, and I shared a cocktail with Johnson in a quiet corner. First lady Nancy Reagan regularly brought Hollywood to Washington, D.C., and her parties gave me my first close-ups of Clint Eastwood, Tom Selleck and Sylvester Stallone. Her 1985 dinner for Prince Charles and Princess Diana was most memorable for Diana's dance, above, with John Travolta. (Years later, I danced with him myself.) I talked with James Brolin, the sexy lead of '80s TV favorite "Hotel," over coffee at the Fairmont in San Francisco. "Moonlighting"'s Cybill Shepherd and I talked in a hotel, too, but she stayed in bed. Really. I sat at the foot, dutifully taking notes.
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BIRTHDAYS
September 4: Beyonce Knowles, 24; Mike Piazza, 37
September 5: Michael Keaton, 54
September 6: Elizabeth Vargas, 43
September 7: Tom Everett Scott, 35
September 8: Pink, 26 David Arquette, 34; Latrell Sprewell, 35
September 9: Goran Visnjic, 33; Adam Sandler, 39; Hugh Grant, 45
September 10: Ryan Phillippe, 31; Colin Firth, 45
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
Contributing: Gayle Jo Carter, Andrea Cowsert
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