Animal House' Then & Now
The movie that created the mold for every gonzo comedy that followed in its schizoid wake, 'National Lampoon's Animal House' (1978) introduced the world to a bunch of underachieving fraternity brothers (including an iconic John Belushi) with IQs even lower than their GPAs. 'House' turns a dirty 30 this year. Find out where those Delta House frat rats ended up after fleeing Faber. --By Tom Johnson
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John Belushi
Then: During hiatus from 'Saturday Night Live,' Belushi took on the beer-guzzling role of John "Bluto" Blutarsky, a Faber College scholar with a 0.00 GPA. Bluto's knack for instigating food fights and squashing Budweiser cans on his forehead created a comedy sensation.
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John Belushi
Now: Belushi's anarchic antics in 'House,' 'The Blues Brothers' and 'SNL' skits led to enduring fame as a clown prince of comedy. But in 1982, at the age of 33, Belushi's bright light flamed out when he died of a drug overdose -- a heroin and cocaine "speedball" -- in an L.A. hotel.
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Tim Matheson
Then: Unctuous and oversexed, Eric "Otter" Stratton, isn't above boffing Dean Wormer's horny wife during a toga party. A showbiz vet since the age of 13, Matheson was the voice of Jonny Quest in the titular 'toon and briefly owned 'National Lampoon' when the mag was in dire financial straits in the late '80s.
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Tim Matheson
Now: Best remembered recently for his role as the deceptively calculating VP John Hoynes in TV's 'The West Wing,' Matheson has acted in more than 100 film and TV projects since his teenage debut. He was the father of the title character in 'Van Wilder' -- a role inspired by "Otter."
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John Vernon
Then: Cast against type as Dean Wormer, Vernon was a frazzled administrator constantly one-upped by the Delta dunces. Known for tough-guy turns in such movies as 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' and 'Topaz,' Vernon's exasperated Dean and his final capitulation ("I really hate those guys") achieved cult status.
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John Vernon
Now: Returning largely to villainous roles, Vernon played lead in the short-lived series 'Acapulco H.E.A.T' and followed that up with voice work as Iron Man and Batman in animated TV shows. The father of actress Kate Vernon ('Falcon Crest') died in 2005 at the age of 72 after undergoing heart surgery.
Karnbad Michelson, Globe Photos
Verna Bloom
Then: Dean Wormer's adulteress wife could almost drink Bluto under the table and was more than a match for horndog Otter in the boudoir. Prior to 'House," Bloom co-starred with Clint Eastwood in 'High Plains Drifter,' in which she was a disillusioned wife who finds understanding in the arms of flinty Clint.
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Verna Bloom
Now: Bloom regained her halo when she appeared as Mary the mother of Jesus in Martin Scorsese's 'The Last Temptation of Christ.' That 1988 movie has been Bloom's last feature film acting job to date, although she's appeared in one-offs of TV shows like 'Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.'
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Tom Hulce
Then: In Hulce's second film, as innocent, butter-wouldn't-melt-in-his-mouth Delta pledge Larry "Pinto" Kroger, he hit the perfect nerdy stance. Six years later, Hulce perfected that goober image when he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as arrested adolescent Mozart in 'Amadeus.'
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Reader Comments (26)
crazybratinpa at 3:39PM on Aug 27th 2008
Awesome movie! One of the classics!
Robert McCarthy at 8:30PM on Aug 27th 2008
You missed Hoover !! James Widdoes, one of the most successful sit-com directors in LA. Married to Brooks for over 25 years and the father of 3 great kids
MRLeff78 at 3:39PM on Aug 28th 2008
So many amazing performances. Dwayne Jessie changed his name to Otis Day and tours. Of the two other writers, Lampoon founder and Caddyshack co-author Doug Kenney died in a fall in Hawaii in 1980. He played Stork. Chris Miller, co-author of Club Paradise and Multiplicity just wrote The Real Animal House, available at his website www.chrismillerwriter.com. Lots of photos from the production and some video of the inspiration for Delta Tau Chi, Dartmouth's Alpha Delta Phi, where he was nicknamed "Pinto" and there really was an assman named Otter. Oh, and the folk singer on the stairs was Steven "On and On" Bishop, who dated Karen Allen for a while. I think that's all I have for now. There's a very good documentary about AH on the Biography Channel. I'm sure they'll rerun it. Thanks Doug, Chris and Harold and John and Ivan and Matty and all the cast and production staff. God Bless Doug and John B. and John V. Hey, what happened to Mayor DePasa Caesar Denova?
GregF at 9:49PM on Aug 27th 2008
ok---------------Greg--------------http://us.imdb.com/name/nm2734923/
Shari at 10:13PM on Aug 27th 2008
Martha Smith is more beautiful now than she was then. And there's nothing wrong with selling houses. I admire both she and Karen Allen for making good lives for themselves outside of Hollywood.
jkskrap at 10:46PM on Aug 27th 2008
How could you not mention James Widdoes?????
John at 10:53PM on Aug 27th 2008
Thanks for the Animal House cast update. That was a great idea.
jt44mag at 11:57PM on Aug 28th 2008
THIS FILM CAME OUT WHEN I WAS IN COLLEGE ..IT SHAPED MY COLLEGE LIFE ...IT WAS THE BEST TIME OF MY LIFE ...!!!...WE DID THE TOGA PARTIES...THE DANCES.......THIS FILM INSPIRED US ....!!!...TO THIS DAY I STILL WATCH THIS >>AND AS MY KIDS WENT TO COLLEGE ....THEY SAW THIS FILM AND WERE INSPIRED TO NOT TAKE LIFE TOO SERIOUSLY ....THEY ARE BOTH OUT NOW AND BOTH MAKING SIX FIGURE INCOMES EACH..BOTH HAVE THEIR HOUSES PAID FOR AND NO DEBTS ......THEY BOTH QUIT COLLEGE EARLY ...AND AS THEY PUT IT ...." IT WAS A GIANT WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY "...!!!!........THIS FILM IS 1 OF THE GREATEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME ...!!!...j.t.
ace at 2:40AM on Aug 28th 2008
As someone who was lucky enough to be an extra on the movie, the film folks kept telling us that AH would be a big hit. We University of Oregon students who watched the disjointed shooting and thought the movie would tank were amazed when the movie took off.
Another guy who wasn't mentioned was producer Ivan Reitman, who was a Canadian newcomer to the Hollywood and later directed "Ghostbusters" and "Dave", as well as "producing" Jason Reitman (director of "Juno" and "Thanks for Smoking").
I drew portraits of some of the actors on the set and Belushi was kind enough to sit for almost an hour for me during the down time at the trial scene. The whole time he talked about drinking at different bars in NYC. At the time , I thought it was cool--after he died, it wasn't so cool anymore.
Andrew Palmer at 3:18AM on Aug 28th 2008
Get your photos straight. "Babs" is not in the gallery, "Mandy Pepperidge" is. False advertising! Do your research.
Al at 9:01AM on Aug 30th 2008
Whatever happened to the tall skinny guy with the glasses and bad haircut who played the part of "The Stork". Classic lines, "We all thougth the Stork was brain damaged when he first pledged" or "What we are going to do now ya moron.
steve at 6:19AM on Aug 30th 2008
ZERO POINT ZERO
pep at 8:05AM on Aug 30th 2008
DIDN'T KAREN ALLEN ALSO PLAY IN THE MOVIE STARMAN?
john at 9:09AM on Aug 30th 2008
7 years of college down the drain!........
Marco M Danova at 9:14AM on Aug 30th 2008
You missed Cesare Danova (Mayor De Pasto) !! What are you guys thinking???
rickson at 9:34AM on Aug 30th 2008
i noticed these dimwitted anti- establishment teen movies were released in the eighties as a hollywood backlash against the Reagan administration, they were idiotic then and idiotic now.
Deborah Hudd at 10:18AM on Aug 30th 2008
I watched this movie when it first came out and one of my favorite scenes was the cafeteria-Blutarski being a giant zit with the mashed potatoes- and yup, we all tried that. Good music, except for the falk singer on the stairs. But Blutarski took care of that. Years later, my own daughter actually pulled a Blutarski in her first year of college- actually managed to get a 0.0 GPA. I said that was pretty special, first person I'd ever met who'd done that. She's got it all together now but she had a wild year!
RICK BADMAN at 11:57AM on Aug 30th 2008
I remember that soon after the movie became a big hit, Steven Spielberg used Belushi in the movie "1941" and some other cast members of "Animal House" trying to make a movie just as funny and popular. his movie was a comical take on what actually happened when a Japanese submarine shelled the refinery at Long Beach, California. It even had Christopher Lee as a Nazi who had given the Japanese what they needed for the attack. Before Spielberg started directing the movie he did a video diary and said either the movie would be a big hit or it would be one of his biggest flops. It became an expensive flop with special effects not even able to save it.
CD at 2:15PM on Aug 30th 2008
Tom Hulce was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Amadeusm not Best Suporting Actor. He played the title character for crying out loud...
Eliza Roberts at 2:26PM on Aug 30th 2008
Hi, It's "Brunella At The Desk", Eliza Garrett then, Eliza Roberts now. I was in ANIMAL HOUSE, and before that, I was in John Landis' SCHLOCK. My husband, Eric Roberts, worked with Karen Allen in VOYAGE, shot in Malta. It was great to catch up. I've remained friends with the AH cast, and with John, and most all of them are fans of the youngest cast member of ANIMAL HOUSE, who happens to be my son, Keaton Simons, whom I was pregnant with when we shot in Eugene, Orgeon (hence the poncho I wore as my character). Keaton is now on CBS Records. www.keatonsimons.com
I have continued acting, and I am also a casting director, bringing in my cast mates from ANIMAL HOUSE for roles whenever I can. "Do you mind if we dance with your dates?" For those of you who didn't quite catch the name "Brunella". It's a fun movie to celebrate!