Why wasn't Zach Galligan, lead in "Gremlins", a bigger star

He was HOT. And had a nice bulge!!! Totally hot.

He didn't put out.

He was dull. Cute but dull.

He wouldn't put out.

He didn't age super-well, imho, but man, he was so HOT in his twenties.

I didn't know who he was so did a quick search.

Oof. That is NOT his angle at r6.

He couldn't keep a secret, career over.

Didn't he have ego issues?

I say this because I saw him at USC in the registrar's office (around late 80s early 90s) years after Gremlins.

He seemed to be registering for summer classes. He pulled up in a huge fancy car, was dressed in a fancy suit, and had a hot girl on his arm whom he kissed and hugged the entire time he was in the office.

He clearly wanted to be known as the movie star who was going to college. (that wasn't so unusual at USC. I'd see lots of former child stars but they were much more low key in how the presented themselves.) I never saw her but Laura Dern took classes for like 15 years or something one at a time when she had no movie work. I don't think she ever graduated though.

Friend of a friend... he had a stroke and paralyzed half his face in 1993ish.

He got busted for shoplifting back in 2003.

His career had stalled long before the shoplifter incident.

He was in one episode of Star Trek Voyager

This guy?

In R14 he has a slight Mark Harmon look

The eyes. Boozer/user?

what a sad thread

I always thought he was so handsome.

[quote]He seemed to be registering for summer classes. He pulled up in a huge fancy car, was dressed in a fancy suit, and had a hot girl on his arm whom he kissed and hugged the entire time he was in the office.

R9 must have just finished watching Pretty in Pink and Steff McKee.

He was ... for a while.

He's looking better today. Maybe he had something done.

R16, what’s sad is that I have a friend who is only 32 with eyes just like that.

"He seemed to be registering for summer classes. He pulled up in a huge fancy car, was dressed in a fancy suit, and had a hot girl on his arm whom he kissed and hugged the entire time he was in the office."

Sounds like he was a really full of himself asshole. I wonder if he still is, even though after his one major success in "Gremlins" his career has been lackluster, to put it mildly.

The last time I saw Gremlins, I wondered this too. Seems like the bottom dropped out awfully quick. I guess he just didn't have much to set him apart from the pack.

I had such a crush on him. Sexy AF.

I don't recall any gossip about him being hard to work with ...

As R6 showed, he looks good tied up

He was in a high profile tv movie called "Surviving: A Family in Crisis." He and Molly Ringwald played two suicidal teens. They were both on the cover of People magazine as promotion for the film. It had quite a cast: Marsha Mason, Ellen Burstyn, Len Cariou, Paul Sorvino, River Phoenix, Heather O' Rourke. The stand out youth performance was definitely by River Phoenix. Of all the young actors in this movie he outshone them all. He was marvelous; he ended up winning a Young Artist award for Best Young Actor in a Television Special or Mini-Series.

I would’ve ridden that cock so good, I would’ve turned him into a gremlin!

Loved All Tied Up. Lots of shirtless and underewear scenes.

There was a rumor that he posed for Playgirl but I can't seem to find any photos anywhere.

He never did Playgirl. I was a faithful “reader.”

Michael J. Fox

[quote]WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) _ ``Gremlins″ star Zach Galligan was arrested for investigation of shoplifting after he allegedly stole a disc by the heavy metal group Deep Purple from a Tower Records store.

He stole a Deep Purple cd? In 2003??? You could go into any thrift store and find them on vinyl for a dollar.

He looked like Jerry Seinfeld.

Is Zach Galligan related to Jimmy Galligan?

Jimmy Galligan's thread has disappeared.

All I know is that I was a little kid and despite Gremilns scaring the hell out of me to the point I slept with the lights on for months, he was the very first to make me "feel things" down there.

[quote]He looked like Jerry Seinfeld.

Get your eyes checked. He doesn't look like that ugly horseface.

I just happened to rewatch the Gremlins movies. He was really good looking, particularly in the second one (maybe his hair was better, I dunno). He was a really decent, likeable lead,I don’t know why he didn’t end up doing more.

He's something like an early Chris O'Donnell who didn't make the successful transition to TV. Zach was so cute it almost hurt.

His problem was:

1. He made shitty career decisions.

2. He wasn't Michael J Fox or any of his other contemporaries. He lost "Back to the Future" because he didn't have Michael's comedic chops.

3. He gave "soft" not 80's "edgy" like Kevin Bacon and others of that time.

4. He'd be lucky if someone, somewhere, brought back the Gremlins movie series and cast him in it. (I mean, that is a trend that's happening now.)

5. R40 is very correct. Chris O'Donnell survives as a TV star and has spent the past 12 years on NCIS: Los Angeles. He is insanely lucky not to have just landed that job but also that show. There's no reason why Zach couldn't have gotten that role (or something like it) if he had the opportunity.

[quote]This guy?

This guy.

The lines in Zach's face at his height remind me of those of a young male romantic male ideal out of a Dante Gabriel Rosesetti painting. Imagine this pose without the Gremlin against a different background. Look at those lips and those lashes!

Someone needs to tell him to lighten up on the beard dye.

Funny I just caught a bit of Gremlins on TV the other night and was struck by how handsome Zach Galligan was in it. I was fourteen when it came out and I saw it in the theater but never gave him a second thought at the time. I think the curly Greg Brady hair was a big turn-off for me. He's kind of bland on-screen but I still would have thought he'd have a higher profile career.

Too bad he never did nude scenes

I'm with those who say it was because he didn't put out. Not just sexually, but he didn't play industry ball with agents, producers, executives, etc.

I just watched Gremlins the other night. When I was little, I had a stuffed Gizmo. It was a fun watch. Zach was very cute.

Wow... just saw a Mountain Dew commercial with him and Gizmo.

He hasn't aged TOOO badly.

[quote] I had a stuffed Gizmo

Zach could stuff me!

Daddy Zach!

R10 is correct. Health issues.

Here's the commercial for those interested:

He wasn't Spielberg's type.

He like hot ratfaced boys like Christian Bale, Alden Ehrenreich, and that kid from Ready Player One.

Zach was the first guy I ever had pics of on my bedroom wall. I had to have been like Eight years old so my mom just thought i "looked up to him." I was also reading her playgirls.

He was hot but that's not enough to make you a star and as others said he didn't put out. He's still around though and still acts. He didn't disappear like Michael Schoeffling or die like Jonathan Brandis.

Arrested for shoplifting. Odd.

[quote] [R10] is correct. Health issues.

…which have kept him from acting for the past 30 years? Really?

Phoebe Cates was stunning and not a terrible actress. She should have had Demi Moore's career.

[Quote] …which have kept him from acting for the past 30 years? Really?

Well, Hello!

He has worked quite a bit in the past 30 years, just most of it was forgettable things that most people didn't watch.

He was very good looking, but was a very mediocre actor. Never stunk it up, but never really impressed either.

Someone upthread said he got upstaged in the surviving TV movie. I think that was true in all of his high profile projects. It wasn’t a hit but I loved gremlins 2 mostly because of haviland Morris and John glover. He would’ve done ok in dumped boyfriend/dad supporting parts.

35 years of totally forgettable imdb film credits / what a cruel business / when you are a cold potato in Hollywood, nobody fucking wants you.

R58 She married Kevin Kline and became a hausfrau instead.

[quote]R10 is correct. Health issues.

Perhaps someone fed him after midnight.

He was really gorgeous in Gremlins 2. He was a decent lead too, I’m surprised he wasn’t cast more.

I would have ripped his pants off and fellated his gorgeous cock, right in front of Stripe AND Gizmo!

Let’s face it, there are only so many good roles and so many great filmmakers and the odds of being the one who is chosen for those parts by those filmmakers are pretty slim already particularly if you start out in a film for kids like “gremlins” was. That being said he could have made a come back on a series probably.

Quite a nice bulge:

Please tell me he's not a right-winger... please tell me he's not a right-winger...

Gremlins was not a “film for kids,” R67. Jesus Christ, have you ever seen it?

It's kind of funny, but when I first saw that commercial for Mountain Dew, I asked myself" "Self, what is David Naughton doing in this commercial with a Gremlin? Doesn't he dance down the street for Dr. Pepper?"

David Naughton and Griffin Dunne were also hot and their careers went nowhere. Dunne gets my respect for doing that masterpiece "After Hours"

For some reason. I assumed he retired and lived a quiet life. I was shocked to see he is still working and he is obsessed with his glory days and cashing in on the Gremlins nostalgia.

Henry Thomas is another one, I was shocked to see is still working and he recently did a commercial with ET.

It's the Polly Holliday curse.

Believe me, I know.

he would not give his hole up to producers?

He's still around. He didn't retire like Michael Schoeffling, Martin Hewitt and Jeb Stuart Adams. He suffers from the C. Thomas Howell curse of being in one popular and iconic 80s film and having nothing to outdo it. Galligan just takes whatever work he can get and he still profits off of his Gremlins fame. He's not in a horrible shape like other former teen stars though.

I’ve met him and posed next to him for a photo at a convention. He’s still hot.

C. Thomas Howell had several popular movies- E.T., The Outsiders, Red Dawn, Secret Admirer, The Hitcher, Soul Man - compared to Galligan’s one.

There’s a revealing interview from 2008 at the link with a part 2 at the bottom of the page.

May as well include Part 2.

He's still handsome. Honestly, he should have had Tom Cruise's career. He seems more charming and likable.

R9 that must be a thing for has beens. Just yesterday I was at a coffee shop sitting by the window and this guy comes walking up the street and I thought, hey that looks like Hud from Cloverfield. He came in the shop with some girl and I went back to working on my computer. Then Hud from Cloverfield started talking to the barista, saying something about my dad comes in here he looks like [this]. I'm his son, I was Hud from Cloverfield. So evidently it was indeed, Hud from Cloverfield. Cloverfield was released in 2008 (I just checked).

Soul Man killed C. Thomas's career. He knows it did. Even starring in a Zefferelli's Young Toscanini could save not have his career after that. Imagine putting out to that old fart just for nothing. I think Zach just refused to fuck for roles and that's the big reason he didn't take off.

I love his cleft chin.

"Hud from Cloverfield" has been in a ton of things, from Silicon Valley to Deadpool. He also was a sex creep, so his career cratered (and was even referenced in Deadpool 2 I think, how they're not ever hiring him again).

Weird he would choose "Hud from Cloverfield" given Hud was behind the camera and was mostly unseen during the movie (except a little at the beginning, and a little at the end).

Zach Galligan received his B.A. in History from Columbia College, Columbia University in 1988 (entered in 1982). Currently works as actor, teacher and screenplay writer based in native New York City.

As for being a "bigger star", there are any number of reasons, but then again same could be said for tons of other actors (especially children, teens or young adults) who had one or two big roles, then seemingly vanished.

William Ragsdale stole what was left of his career.

Funny you mention William Ragsdale. I've always thought that he and Zach favored somewhat.

It's the Polly Holliday curse.

That bitch always poisoned everything!

Zach Galifianakis stole his career.

He wouldn't put out.

GAY??

He and Jason Patric should have played gay lovers. Missed opportunity.

There's a pic of him and Kevin Spacey, on his Instagram page from the '80s, going to a party of Sandra Bernhard's... not that that means anything. 😉

OMG.. he had that. This is why I come here.

Did Spacey feed Zach his cock after midnight?

^ I hope he did

R85, I though Zach was living in Atlanta now? He’s just a lonely, single cat dad, musing about how beautiful he used to be.

I'm watching gremlins now. he truly was pretty back then. Polly was a troll.

R41 hit most of the relevant points on the head.

Plus what can also happen is that the actor and/or their management can get big heads and make too many demands/get too picky about projects after they hit the "big time". If they start wanting huge paychecks and perks and control immediately after one hit, producers and studios and networks will back away...especially if the actor seems pretty generic and replaceable.

Or, they get picky about the parts they want to play....if you start turning down too many roles and time passes and you haven't been in another hit, then they lose all that momentum.

Also: he was cute but not a great actor. He wasn't even good in that commercial.

R93 most people look more attractive in their youth. Spacey seems to have always looked like some sort of average middle aged dude.

Yeah one would think he’d have at least a couple of films to follow gremlins but nothing substantial it seems. I think he admitted to making wrong decisions such as taking a role in the mini series “crossings” instead of another role he was up for. I could be wrong about that though.

What was up with him shoplifting CDs?

He had an ugly girlish face. Clearly that worked against him.

R102 Is he being confused with Rex Reed?

Ahem.

Well, is he or isn’t he?

I just saw Gremlins for the first time today . I loved it. Zach is adorable in it & I too wish he had a bigger career.

He was a better actor than big 80s star Arnold S. & easier on the eyes.

I had a galpal in school who wouldn't shut up about the film (also Ghostbusters)

so I avoided seeing them just to shut her up about them.

Textbook DL thread.

big cock bulge in a few 'Gremlins 2' scenes.