Remember Peter Billingsley? You might not simply because of his success as Ralphie on A Christmas Story, but his career continued to build after this no matter that many people might have missed it. For a kid that starred in roughly 120 TV ads by the time he reached the iconic movie that really made him, he doesn’t seem to have gotten a lot of hype as the years have gone by. But, if you really look at it, the success he’s had in his career has been mostly behind the scenes with a few cameos as he got older. He has been seen onscreen more than once since A Christmas Story, but if you really saw him then it means that you’re a diehard fan. Otherwise you had to look for him like I did.
Acting Career
Prior to 1983 he did have a few other roles in various films, one that was opposite Burt Reynolds. He even got invited to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. But up until A Christmas Story his legacy had never been fully rooted just yet. Afterwards his popularity, albeit as a kid, continued to roll on year after year as word of mouth began to spread about the movie. When you think of it can you even remember the first time you heard of A Christmas Story? Did someone tell you about it, or did you come across the movie while flipping channels one Christmas season? Honestly someone told me about it and I had to and check it out. To this day I believe that was one of the best ideas ever.
To this day apparently Billingsley still gets stopped on the street by people that quote this line to him. You can imagine it gets a little old if he has to hear it over and over, but quite honestly it seems like it would be kind of nice to know that he’s got a fan base even if it took years to develop. Speaking of developing, his career started to take off a bit following this movie as he earned a Young Artist Award nomination for this role. Then in 1984 he was a guest on the “Super Teen” edition of Family Feud. During the 80’s he was something of a hot commodity following his time as Ralphie, but thankfully as the decade wore on he started to be seen in other productions as well, both in TV and in film. As the 80’s continued he was seen to make guest appearances in Who’s The Boss?, Punky Brewster, The Wonder Years, and even Highway to Heaven. He also appeared in The Dirt Bike Kid and Beverly Hills Brats.
His career did slow down as the 80’s wore on. Even with his guest appearances and continuing movie career he was starting to wane in his fame. Keep in mind the 80’s were a time when a lot of stars were constantly coming and going and stardom wasn’t as concrete of a thing as it seems to be in this day and age, when aging stars are still around and still getting strange cameos here and there (cough cough, Deadpool 2, cough cough, rhymes with Hit). But Billingsley still took on various roles as he continued to get older and move away from his childhood years. He starred in a CBS Special titled The Fourth Man about a would be jock that ends up getting hooked on steroids, something that’s a lot different from anything he’d done to that point. But if you remember, steroids were a big deal in the 90’s, and it was kind of obvious that Peter wanted to stick around as much as possible. Thankfully he became good friends with Vince Vaughn, an up and coming actor, and he’s been friends with him ever since. Peter also starred in another film titled The Writing on the Wall in 1994, but at that time his acting career was taking a rather drastic dip as he continued to try and remain relevant.
Other Work
Thankfully after a few career decisions he decided to start seeking work behind the scenes. He became an assistant editor on the film Knights, and in 1994 he directed, wrote, and starred in a short film titled The Sacred Fire. After that he continued to work behind the scenes and found opportunities on The Discovery Channel and in various films where he has the occasional cameo. It’s not too likely that a lot of people are going to be able to recognize him without being told who he is, but if you watch Iron Man and The Break-Up, you’ll note that both are films that have something to do with Jon Favreau, who is also an old acquaintance, perhaps even friend, of Billingsley. The two men, and Vince Vaughn, also appeared in the film Four Christmases together at one point and the film Couple’s Retreat, which was Billingsley’s first major film as a director.
At this point his career is still going, acting, producing, and directing, and he’s even released a CD titled Christmas Stories…Christmas Songs. He signed on as the executive producer of a musical adaptation of A Christmas Story in 2010 and has been sticking behind the scenes as much as possible ever since.
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