Proceeding with the posts about tv series that marked my youth, I would like to share the stories related to one that was/is one of my personal favorites. The adventures of a friendly (and insatiable) lil' alien from the planet Melmac, with 10 vital organs of which 8 are stomachs, named Gordon Shumway, alias Alf (Alien Life Form), born on the 28th October 1756 (just 249 y.o., just a child...), that lands on the Tanner's (your typical american family) garage, changing their life for good...Let's start with the parents, Willie e Kate. The father, played by Max Wright, is on downward spiral. Now 62, Willie has seen a lot more of state prisons that he would like, arrested and booked for drunken driving. In January 2000, he was arrested in Hollywood and in September 2003, he ended up loosing driving privileges in New York State for 6 months following a guilty plea to a drunken-driving charge. Wright was visiting his adult daughter upstate when he ran afoul of local authorities by getting to know a few mailboxes and a traffic sign more intimately.
The mother, Anne Schedeen, spent many years without disclosing her age to the public. We know now she is 56 y.o. Got out of the movies in 1996, and now works as an antiquer and decorator, we can't found a single photo of this red head on the Internet that is more recent than this one...
About the Tanner children, let's start with good-looking Lynn (Andrea Elson). As so many famous teenagers, after loosing her bracers, she suffered from bulimia. Now a 36 y.o. beautiful woman, Andrea is a vegan enthusiast that ended up marrying one of Alf's production assistants.
Little Brian (Benji Gregory), now aged 27, had his own grandmother for an agent, started up on a Fantasy Island episode (and no, he was not the little man who waved at the plane) and starred in episodes of The Twilight Zone and The A-Team. When Alf was cancelled, Ben said it was a relief. He didn't want to do any more shows, but he didn't regret any of it.
What about the Tanner's neighbors, the pesky and nosy Ochmonek? Trevor, or John LaMotta makes a living playing Shakespeare, in Elm Shakespeare Company... who would say? His wife, Raquel (Liz Sheridan), now aged 76, besides playing Jerry Seinfeld's mother, she was once, imagine that, engaged to James Dean...
And Alf himself, you wonder? Have you ever wondered who was on that furry suit?
Well, in the 4 years the show was on, there were no more no less than 3 aliens. While Alf's voice was Paul Fusco's, now 53 y.o, the long-nosed alien's shorts were filled by hungarian midget Mihaly 'Michu' Meszaros and a 5 years old Abraham Verduzco, that later ended up working in movies as El Mariachi or Desperado, both starring Antonio Banderas, on very small roles (can't even get a picture of the guy)...
To end, as the ol' Alfer would say...
"My life is history. I'm a cursed melmacian, I belong to the room of the goshdarned".
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