An actor who featured in one of the most enduring films of the 1980s, and on two of its most beloved TV series, was spotted in this week.
Showbiz
80s Heartthrob Spotted at 69—Guess Who?
An actor who featured in one of the most enduring films of the 1980s, and on two of its most beloved TV series, was spotted in Los Angeles this week.His best-re...
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His best-remembered role was in the picture that made movie stars out of and an actress who later became one of 's leading ladies.
During the same decade, he played recurring characters on an iconic musical TV drama as well as a hit sitcom about a girls' boarding school.
In more recent decades he has appeared in movies with such names as and and on shows ranging from Will & Grace to CSI: Scene Investigation.
Now aged 69, he was glimpsed this week looking sprightly as ever as he surfaced for a grocery run in a casual ensemble of jeans, a hoodie and tortoiseshell shades.
Can you guess who he is?
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An actor who featured in one of the most enduring films of the 1980s, and on two of its most beloved TV series, was spotted in Los Angeles this week
His best-remembered role was in the picture that made movie stars out of Sean Penn and an actress who later became one of Quentin Tarantino's leading ladies
He is none other than Robert Romanus, best known to movie fans as the scalper Mike Damone in the 1982 high school movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Based on a book by Cameron Crowe, the coming-of-age film proved to be a career breakthrough for Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Judge Reinhold, as well as for first-time director Amy Heckerling, who went on to make Clueless.
He is none other than Robert Romanus, best known to movie fans as the scalper Mike Damone in the 1982 high school movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Based on a book by Cameron Crowe, the coming-of-age film proved to be a breakthrough for Sean Penn and Jennifer Jason Leigh, the latter of whom is pictured with Romanus
Now aged 69, he was glimpsed this week looking sprightly as ever as he surfaced for a grocery run in a casual ensemble of jeans, a hoodie and tortoiseshell shades
He enrolled in an acting class, fell in love with the profession and shortly thereafter landed his first movie, the 1980 coming-of-age drama Foxes starring Jodie Foster
Three years went by before he landed Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which he had to audition for seven times because the producers were unconvinced
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Romanus noted: 'All the actors were fairly new. Sean Penn, I think, who was maybe the most known at that moment, was coming off TAPS…So there was no: “I am this, I am that, I want a big trailer, blah blah blah… I’m a star.”'
He added: 'It was only: “Let’s have some fun. Let’s shoot this movie.” And I would go down to the set and watch Sean do a scene - and I’d think: “Oh man, these guys are so f***ing good. I have to go home and do my homework.” It just made me want to make me go home and work harder because everything was looking so good.'
As the decade wore on, he landed a recurring role on the musical TV series Fame about a performing arts high school in New York - based on the real-life institution that produced stars ranging from Al Pacino to Jennifer Aniston to Timothee Chalamet.
He also had a memorable turn on The Facts of Life, a long-running sitcom about an all girls' boarding school, in which he played the boyfriend of Mindy Cohn's character Natalie Green, who loses her virginity to him.
Romanus has since had guest roles on a string of TV series like 21 Jump Street, Weird Science, Will & Grace, Family Guy, Cold Case and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
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His movies have included American Pie Presents: The Book of Love, the fourth part in the franchise, as well as the reality show parody A Halfway House Christmas.
In a full-circle moment, he played a guitar teacher in the 2010 rock biopic The Runaways starring Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning as Cherie Curie - 30 years after the real Curie and Romulus made their movie debuts in Foxes.
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