| Peter Billingsley |
| Born |
April 16, 1971 (1971-04-16) (age 38)
New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Other name(s) |
Peter Michaelsen
Peter Billingsley-Michaelsen |
| Occupation |
Actor, producer, director |
| Years active |
1978–present |
Peter Billingsley (born April 16, 1971), also known as Peter Michaelsen[1] and Peter Billingsley-Michaelsen,[2] is an American actor, director, and producer best known for his role as Ralphie in the 1983 movie A Christmas Story.
Early life, family and education
Billingsley was born in New York, New York. His father, Alwin Michaelsen, is a financial consultant who graduated from Princeton in 1954,[3][4] and his mother, Gail Billingsley was once Alwin's secretary. Gail is the niece of Stork Club owner Sherman Billingsley. Gail's cousin, Glenn Billingsley, was briefly married to actress Barbara Billingsley who continued to use his last name for her stage name.[5] Gail was the one who initially took the children around to auditions. All five of the children in the family had acting careers when they were young. The oldest of Billingsley's siblings, Dina and Win, had the briefest acting careers working mostly in commercials with brief guest spots on television shows. Dina and her current husband live in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Win is now an attorney in Istanbul, Turkey.[6][7] Billingsley's older sister Melissa Michaelsen was probably best known for her role as Maxx Davis in the 1980 television show Me and Maxx.[8] Slightly older than Peter is brother Neil Billingsley who began playing Danny Walton on the daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow in 1975 and had numerous roles in commercials, and guest shots on TV series. Following his acting career, Neil entered the world of finance and works in New York City.
Billingsley received his early childhood education from a combination of tutors (including child actor tutor Wesley Staples), public schools and private institutions (including the Professional Children's School in New York City), Phoenix Country Day School in Paradise Valley, AZ and eventually passed his California High School Proficiency Exam at the age of fourteen. He seems to have also attended some public secondary schools following the GED including Arcadia High School in Phoenix.[citation needed] In the late 1980s, Billingsley took a brief break from show business to attend Phoenix College.
Career
Billingsley's first acting role was as a two-year-old in a Geritol commercial with Betty Buckley playing his mom. He went on to star in about 120 television ads throughout the 1970s and early 80s. At 12 he was quoted as saying: "After 100 [commercials], you lose count." He was likely best known for a series of commercials for Hershey's chocolate syrup in which he portrayed the popular character Messy Marvin.[9][10]
One of Billingsley's earliest film roles was 1978's If I Ever See You Again, written and directed by Joseph Brooks. His role in 1981's Paternity opposite Burt Reynolds earned a nomination for "Best Young Comedian - Motion Picture or Television" at The Young Artist Awards.[11] Later in the year, he appeared in Honky Tonk Freeway. In October 1981, Billingsley was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
In 1982, he starred in several features, including Death Valley, Massarati and the Brain, and the made-for-TV movie Memories Never Die with Lindsay Wagner and his sister, Melissa Michaelsen. Billingsley also had a featured guest role as Gideon Hale on Little House on the Prairie. He also began a three-year stint as a co-host on NBC's popular Real People, which would also land him another Young Artist Award nomination.[11] He also hosted a two-episode offshoot of the show called Real Kids.
In 1983, Billingsley starred in A Christmas Story, based on Jean Shepherd's In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, which built its audience slowly over the years and is now broadcast twenty-four hours a day on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on TBS. A Christmas Story is a story about a young boy named Ralphie who wants nothing more than a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, while all the grown-ups in his life discourage him with the warning that "you'll shoot your eye out." This film earned Billingsley another Young Artist Award nomination.[11]
The following year, Billingsley starred in an adaptation of The Hoboken Chicken Emergency opposite Dick Van Patten and Gabe Kaplan, a special Thanksgiving episode of the PBS series WonderWorks.[12] He also appeared on a "Super Teen" special edition of the popular Family Feud and on the game show Celebrity Hot Potato.[13] As the late 1980s approached, Billingsley's acting career was in decline. He found work as a guest star on series such as Who's The Boss?, Punky Brewster, The Wonder Years,[14] and Highway To Heaven,[15][16] and saw occasional film work with The Dirt Bike Kid (for which he won a Young Artist Award),[11] Carly's Web, Russkies (alongside a young Joaquin Phoenix) and Beverly Hills Brats.
The early 1990s saw Billingsley tackling older roles such as a would-be jock who gets hooked on steroids in the CBS Schoolbreak Special The Fourth Man. It was on this project where he would meet and form his close friendship with Vince Vaughn.[17]
His next Schoolbreak Special appearance was in 1994's The Writing on the Wall, starring Hal Linden as a rabbi who teaches three teenage boys about the horrors of intolerance after they are caught defacing his home, temple, and car with swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti. Billingsley was nominated for an Emmy Award for this role.[11][18]
Other work
The most rewarding of his later film acting assignments was 1993's Arcade, in which he starred as a teenaged "virtual reality" addict, and also worked as the post-production supervisor using the last name Michaelsen. He made some career decisions and began working behind the scenes more. Going under the name Peter Michaelsen, Billingsley worked as an assistant editor on a film called Knights which starred Kris Kristofferson. In 1994, Peter starred in, wrote, and directed the short film The Sacred Fire using the last name Billingsley but was listed with the name Michaelsen as the executive producer. This film won an Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films' Golden Scroll Award. His career behind the scenes continued on with much success including work on The Discovery Channel's A.R.K., The Adventures of Animal Rescue Kids, Patriot Son, The X Show, Made, and Elf. In 2001, he was nominated for an Emmy Award as co-executive producer for the show Dinner for Five. In 2005, he helped produce the movie Zathura (2005). He served as an executive producer for the Universal Pictures production The Break-Up starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn in which he also plays the supporting character Andrew appearing alongside frequent collaborator Jon Favreau. Billingsley served as executive producer on director Favreau's Iron Man feature film; he also acted in the film, playing a scientist who works for Obadiah Stane.[19][20] Billingsley, Favreau and Vaughn all appear in 2008's Four Christmases. He also directed 2009's Couples Retreat starring Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn.
Billingsley has never completely given up his acting career, having small roles in Sherman Oaks,[21] Family Reunion: A Relative Nightmare, Elf, L.A. Heat and No Deposit, No Return, which was voted Best Feature Film at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in 2000.[22] Peter also took an acting part in an experimental film for the new Maxivision 48 projection system developed by Dean Goodhill.[23]
Billingsley released a CD titled Christmas Stories...Christmas Songs on Run For Cover Records in 1999 with longtime friend Brian Evans.[24]
References
External links
