The ’80s Brat Pack: Where Are They Now?
In the 1980s, there were few box office draws as powerful as the Brat Pack.
The term was given to the young stars leading a wave of successful teen and young adult films. Many of them starred together in multiple movies and were even friends offscreen.
The phrase was coined by writer David Blum in a 1985 New York article. “This is the Hollywood ‘Brat Pack.’ It is to the 1980s what the Rat Pack was to the 1960s — a roving band of famous young stars on the prowl for parties, women, and a good time,” he wrote.
“And just like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Sammy Davis Jr., these guys work together, too — they’ve carried their friendships over from life into the movies. They make major movies with big directors and get fat contracts and limousines. They have top agents and protective PR people. They have legions of fans who write them letters, buy them drinks, follow them home. And, most important, they sell movie tickets. Their films are often major hits, and the bigger the hit, the more money they make, and the more money they make, the more like stars they become.”
Blum went on to lay out the criteria for membership in the Brat Pack, noting that box office success at a young age was just part of the formula. “What makes you a member, what makes you a Brat, is the ability to be in a position where Hollywood needs you more than you need Hollywood,” he wrote.
The term Brat Pack soon became a popular phrase, one that has stuck decades after the era that birthed it. But what happened to the members of the Brat Pack after they grew up? We’ve collected updates on all the members cited in Blum’s article, along with several other stars often lumped under the Brat Pack umbrella.
