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PETER BILLINGSLEY
interview by insane wayne chinsang
illustration by fphatty lamar
www.tlchicken.com
YOU MIGHT NOT REMEMBER PETER BILLINGSLEY AS THE TWO-YEAR-OLD PROP IN THAT GERITOL
COMMERCIAL FROM THE SEVENTIES. BUT YOU PROBABLY DO REMEMBER HIM AS "RALPHIE" FROM
A CHRISTMAS STORY. READ ON TO FIND OUT JUST HOW MUCH OUR LITTLE PETER HAS
GROWNS UP, AND GROWNS UP, AND GROWNS UP.
Wayne: So, how did you get into acting?
Peter: I guess sort of by luck. I grew up in New York City, and people
used to tell my mom that my brother and I were cute, and that we should be
in commercials.
My mom didn’t know much about it, but she took us to an agent with aspirations
of maybe getting a print ad in The Times in our little sailor suits or something.
One agent said we were too fat, another agent said we were too ugly. (laughs)
She was kind of beaten up from the business after a couple of meetings. But
the third agent said, “Yeah, they’ll work.” So I went on
an audition for Geritol, and I got it. I was two-and-a-half years old. Betty
Buckley played the mom, and there were some other kids, but I was basically
a prop. And she said something like, “With kids like these you take Geritol
twice a day.” It just snowballed from there.
W: I was going to ask how a kid--
P: Was using Geritol?
W: Yeah. (laughs)
 P: Yeah. They were just popping me full of pills. (laughs) I was blessed
because I didn’t have the child star syndrome family that you hear
a lot about. It was always just something that was to be done for fun. If
anything, my family
was trying to stop and make sure that I was comfortable doing it. And I was.
W: That was part of my next question. There seems to be so much talk of child
actors being thrown into the “harsh world” of Hollywood. Do you
think it’s that dramatic?
P: I think it was a different time for me back then. The amount of
available money wasn’t as great. Now, kids are making adult salaries. Before, there
were kid salaries and adult salaries. So I think it’s encouraging parents
more and more to see there’s some financial benefit that they can make
off of their kids. But also, the regulations have improved. But I was really
lucky. I don’t have an E! True Hollywood Story. (laughs) Some woman from
E! came up to me in a bar one time and said, “Oh, we should do one.” And
I said, “I don’t think it will get good ratings.” There’s
nothing to talk about. You know: “Peter grew up in a loving family in
Phoenix.”
W: (laughs) “He did not smoke crack or star in porn.”
P: (laughs) “He tried a cigarette once. We’ll be right back.” There’s
really nothing there.
W: You hear a lot, especially earlier on and with child actors, about how
people sign their royalty rights away because it wasn’t something anybody
considered. Were you fortunate enough to not sign away your royalties?
P: Yeah. As far as I understand it, it was all done through the Union
through SAG, so it was whatever the contracts were at the time. The unfortunate
thing
is that with movies like A Christmas Story, made in ‘83, cable was something
that only a couple of lucky people had. No one really knew what it was. So,
they had to find a royalty based for cable back then, and it’s really
worth nothing, and of course TNT plays it a lot. But, it’s certainly
not about that. I’m just thrilled to have been a part of a movie that
goes on and on. I mean, Jesus, it plays 24 straight hours. That’s pretty
awesome.
W: I was wondering about that. There’s so many things that people associate
with the holidays. They watch certain things, or they do certain things. And
A Christmas Story is a big part of many other people's holidays. What is something
that is a big part of your holiday?
P: Trying to avoid watching A Christmas Story. (laughs) Sometimes
I go back and my parents will still put it on. My family is all spread out
so, like a
lot of families, we just try our best to get together at Christmas time. Every
other holiday and birthdays fall by the wayside, but Christmas is one time
we all try to meet up. We’re just spread out everywhere. I’m on
the West Coast, I have family in Philly, Florida and New York. And I’ve
got a brother in Turkey.
W: Yeah. I read an interview E! did with you, and you were in Turkey while
you were doing the interview.
P: Really?
W: I’m pretty sure. I remember thinking it was bizarre you were in Turkey.
Maybe they made it up.
P: Well, I was in Romania once, and I saw a TV movie that I had done; it was
one of the last things I had done acting. I was about 21 at the time. But it
was dubbed in Turkish, and I had the voice of a 55-year-old guy. (laughs) I
had a really deep voice.
W: One of the most timeless qualities about A Christmas Story is that Jean
Shepherd’s writing is so universal. I know you said you try and avoid
watching it, but how does the film hold up for you?
P: I say that I avoid it really only as a joke. I’m at the point where
I can appreciate it now. It’s just that, when you’re so close to
something, and you’ve got so many memories associated with it, it’s
hard to be objective when watching it. But I’m actually at a point when
I can watch it, and it does hold up. He (Shepherd) just seemed to have a knack,
and everyone,.. (pauses) I think the movie speaks for itself. So it’s
a bit difficult to articulate why the movie works. Jean just really had a way
of capturing the world through a child’s eyes, and creating a family
life that everyone can relate to. He was a great guy.
W: There has always been a lot of comparisons between A Christmas Story and
The Wonder Years.
P: Yeah. The similarities are pretty obvious, I guess. Hats off to ‘em.
They were smart enough to be inspired by the film and to make a really successful
TV show about it. It was neat to watch.
W: The interview that I read on E!--
P: I don’t know what this interview on E! is.
W: I can send you the link.
P: They cannot be trusted. (laughs)
W: (laughs) But the funny part about the interview is that it is with “The
Christmas Story Kid”, not Peter Billingsley. Does it ever get frustrating
being “The Christmas Story Kid”?
P: (laughs) Yeah. But thank God it’s not like, “Oh. You’re
Mikey from Life.” At least it’s a great film. It’s kind of
something I want to be known for. Being associated with it is a really positive
thing.
W: It’s cool to hear that you enjoy being a part of it, because so often
you hear people that are like, “That was forever ago, and I don’t
want to have anything to do with it now.”
P: I think your life takes you where you lead it. And, in time, people
will get to know you. And I prefer to move more organically toward the things
I’m
doing next. As I became a teenager, I wasn’t going to rip off my glasses,
spike my hair, and say, “Oh. I’m a young adult.” I was still
blind; I still wore my hair down. It was just a lot easier to be myself through
the phases of life than to try and do something fake. My family life was a
blessing. With the kids I was working with at the time, really the big difference
was the family. We were raised in Phoenix, I had a lot of brothers and sisters,
and acting was something that was a privilege and a joy to be a part of. And
if it wasn’t fun, then it was just going to stop.
W: That’s a great way to look at it. I just interviewed James Gunn,
and we talked about how so many people just bitch about working in Hollywood.
And he said they should just get a different job.
P: It’s a pretty awesome business to be involved in when you break it
down. I mean, what we’re actually doing for a living is pretty incredible.
W: The freedom has to be amazing.
P: It’s great. But you’re also in that a little bit, aren’t
you? I imagine you can budget your schedule, and you get to call up cool people
and ask them funky questions.
W: (laughs) Yeah.
P: Try and rattle their cages a little bit. (laughs)
W: A bit. (laughs) So, has there been any talk of a sequel?
P: There was one.
W: You mean the one where no one from the original returns?
P: Yeah. With Mary Steenburgen and Kieran Culkin. Did you see it?
W: No. But I’m talking a sequel with the original cast, where the kids
are all grown up.
P: Well, A Christmas Story is a short story in Jean’s anthology. There
was some talk about it. But Jean’s gone now, and I don’t know,..
you know, the idea certainly entered my head. But I don’t know how you
approach it without him. Without the voice and without his vision behind it,
it would be hard.
W: Good point. So, my father loves the movie. He got me hooked on it as a
kid, and he wants me to ask you who got to keep the leg lamp?
read the rest of the interview here ...
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