If you asked some folks who Curtis Armstrong is they might ask if you’re being serious, but then again not everyone grew up with Revenge of the Nerds and might have no clue who Dudley “Booger” Dawson was back in the day. Of course, he’s taken on many upon many roles since the second movie of his career, but Curtis is bound to be remembered for the disgusting but loyal nerd from the famed movie that was released back in the 80s. In fact, he’s had a very long and successful career of being a supporting actor and has proven that a supporting actor can be every bit as memorable as a main actor. When you factor in just where Curtis has usually shown up those he’s been an important part of a group a few times and the best friend a few times as well. There have been plenty of moments when he’s been just a bit-player, but the fact is that out of a lot of those he’s worked with, his name has still been one of those that has been remembered more often than not. The great part is that Booger, despite being one of his best roles ever, wasn’t the defining moment in his life and didn’t end up with him being typecast as the creepy kind of character that counts being able to belch on command as one of his greatest attributes.
He did show up in That 70s Show for an episode and he was in other movies such as National Lampoon’s Van Wilder as well as Risky Business, Better Off Dead, and Ray with Jaime Foxx. He’s shown a very creepy but also endearing side and he’s shown that he can be a serious actor as well, which is great since it shows that his goofier roles didn’t really define his limits, even if they did make him a classic. If you remember, Booger did come back for the sequels to Revenge of the Nerds, and while he was kind of a jerk and a creep the entire time he was one of the more memorable members of the Tri-Lambs since he wasn’t just a founding member, he was one of those that were there before the fraternity ever started. Even better is when one goes back to that movie and finds out that a couple of scenes weren’t scripted and yet became simply great since they weren’t exactly pivotal to the movie, but they were fun all the same.
Curtis is in his 60s now if you can believe that, but at the time he was playing the part of a teenager he was in his late 20s to early 30s, so it’s easy to be a bit creeped out since he was likely a good deal older than several people on set, especially with Revenge of the Nerds since the movie ended up using a large number of extras from the university the movie took place at. A fun fact is that the Arizona university didn’t want the movie to film at their location at first, and they were ready to say no and be done with it, but apparently something or someone convince them to give in and the movie took place. Curtis has been a part of so many projects that it’s difficult to name them all, and it’s likely that many people wouldn’t know even half of them since he’s expanded his career in a couple of different directions since the 80s, and he’s been on TV and in movies and has even lent his voice out for a couple of video games as well. To say that he’s talented is kind of an understatement, but to say that people still see Booger when they happen to get a glimpse of him is fair since it’s the truth. As I mentioned, it’s not that he’s been typecast into the role, since he’s taken on quite a few roles that have nothing to do with Booger, but it was one of his most memorable, and likely will be the one that people will remember the most since it tends to stick with you if a person pays attention to the movie that made the character famous.
Interestingly enough, Curtis didn’t even want to read for the part of Booger to start with since he had an issue with sticking his finger in his nose on camera. But as you can guess, he took the job since he and a few of the others were struggling actors that needed the work, and it’s a good thing they did since it’s made them all legends in their own way. While it’s easy to state that Curtis isn’t quite the legend that another college scuzzball was, that being Bluto, played by John Belushi in Animal House, he was still great enough to have given Curtis a huge leg up when it came to becoming a cinematic legend.
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