'Stand By Me' Cast: Where Are They Now?

Stand By Me' Cast: Where Are They Now?

It's been 23 years since the release of 'Stand By Me,' Rob Reiner's touching drama about four Castle Rock, Ore., grade schoolers who went out in search of a dead body and ended up humming '50s pop tunes while pondering things like Annette Funicelli's budding bosoms.

"You never have friends like you have when you are 12," the movie's tagline proclaimed. Though no one in the 'Stand By Me' cast is 12 years old anymore, some probably wish they were. (We're looking at you, Corey Feldman.) Read on to find out where life has taken the 'Stand'ees. -- By Adam Duerson


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Corey Feldman

PLAYED: Teddy Duchamp

THEN: Inspired casting? Hardly. By the time he played the degenerate -- daresay "loony" -- Teddy Duchamp, the most military-obsessed and foulmouthed but probably the least fearsome of the gang, he'd already carved a niche as Hollywood's go-to snot-nosed punk with roles as 'The Goonies' 'Mouth' Deveraux, 'Gremlins' Pete Fountaine and as Regi Tower in the TV version of 'Bad News Bears.' He gave it one more crack a year later in 'The Lost Boys' before -- ahem -- growing up.

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Sony

NOW: So it usually goes, Feldman's move to adult actor wasn't a smooth one. After a failed music career he took on schlock like 'Bikini Bandits' and 'Toxic Avenger IV.' (We blame the drugs.) Give him credit, though, for having a sense of humor about it all. He staged a mini-renaissance with stunts like 'The Two Coreys' and 'Surreal World,' on which he got married in '03. That union, his second, lasted a whole seven years before flaming out in January.

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Wil Wheaton

PLAYED: Gordie Lachance

THEN: Wheaton's turn as an introverted storyteller marked his first foray into the big time. Beforehand he'd done little more than a Jell-O pudding pops commercial with Bill Cosby. But this role, as a wiry worrywart and the childhood version of the movie's narrator (actor Richard Dreyfuss on screen; writer Stephen King in real life), was a perfect fit for the self-described "huge geek" and would pave the way for a lifetime of nerdy roles.

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Columbia Pictures

NOW: It took only one year for Wheaton to find his true calling, as the primly coiffed Can't-Do-Wrong teen Wesley Crusher on TV's 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,'where he was a punching bag for Trekkies, who've always found Crusher a tad too precious -- just like his 'Stand By Me' character. These days he lends his voice to geek staples like the video game Grand Theft Auto and in his spare time waxes nerdy at wilwheaton.net, where he's blogged since '01.

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River Phoenix

PLAYED: Chris Chambers

THEN: For a generation that barely got to know him, Phoenix's role as the de facto leader of the gang said it all: tender, wiser than his years and, ultimately, a tragic figure. He kept the gang in line, lent Gordie a few kind words about his potential, and kept things light with vulgar cracks like this one: "How do you know a Frenchman's been in your backyard? Your garbage cans are empty and your dog's pregnant."

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NOW: Phoenix met a tragic end at the age of 23 in '93, the victim of a heroin and cocaine overdose outside of the Viper Room in Los Angeles. In his absence a role in 'Interview With the Vampire' went to Christian Slater; Leonardo DiCaprio took his spot in 'Basketball Diaries'; and Phoenix's last film, Dutch director George Sluizer's 'Dark Blood,' went unfinished. His younger bro Joaquin, who called 911 when River collapsed, is currently "retired" from acting and pursuing a rap career (uh, right).

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Jerry O'Connell

PLAYED: Vern Tessio

THEN: O'Connell's first acting gig fit his portly figure. In 'Goonies' terms he played the Chunk of the group: thoughtless (his contribution to the trip: a comb and seven cents) and overweight, yet he always managed to stay hungry. Veeern-o, as they called him, set the whole story in motion when he overheard -- from under the porch -- his no-good brother discussing the Brower body. What was Vern doing under the porch, anyway? Don't even ask.

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Sony

NOW: It took O'Connell two years to ditch the baby fat, then his career took off, first with star turns on TV's 'My Secret Identity' and 'Sliders,' and then with cameos in 'Jerry Maguire' and 'Can't Hardly Wait.' O'Connell had two sitcoms canned in '08, ABC's 'Carpoolers' and Fox's 'Do Not Disturb,' but his home life is more than making up for it. A year and a half after he married actress Rebecca Romijn, the couple welcomed twin daughters in December.

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Kiefer Sutherland

PLAYED: Ace Merrill

THEN: He was just a TV actor with a famous last name when he played Ace Merrill, a "cheap dime store hood" with a killer mailbox baseball swing. The role resonated, and he earned his way into the '80s Brat Pack with two more dastardly parts, as a vamp thug in 'The Lost Boys' and as a Wall Street thug in 'Bright Lights, Big City.' He also shined in two ensemble pics, 'Young Guns'and 'Flatliners,' where his brief romance with Julia Roberts found life.

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