During the golden age of 1980s cinema, John Hughes’ romantic comedy Pretty in Pink stood out as one of the most iconic productions of the era. With its celebrated cast, each of the Pretty in Pink cast members added an unforgettable dimension to the story.
So, do you want to get to know them better? Follow me here.
Pretty in Pink Cast: All-Star Lineup
It’s about Andie, a high school girl from a blue-collar family, wonderfully played by Molly Ringwald, who finds true love as she struggles with the boundaries of the poor and wealthy classes.
What other great Pretty in Pink casts are out there? We’ll introduce you soon.
Molly Ringwald as Andie Walsh
Born: February 18, 1968
Roseville, California, U.S.
Known for: Tempest, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Riverdale…
Molly Kathleen Ringwald is an American actress, author, and translator.
She has a brother who died before she was born and two sisters, Beth and Kelly. She is partly of Swedish descent. She began acting at age five as the Sleeping Mouse in the stage production of Alice in Wonderland. The next year, she made the Dixieland jazz album Molly Sings: I Wanna Be Loved by You with her dad and his band, the Fulton Street Jazz Band. Ringwald graduated from Lycée Français de Los Angeles.
Fluent in French, Ringwald has translated two books from French into English. The first is the novel Lie with Me. The second is the book My Cousin Maria Schneider.
As a teen, she was aware of how people saw her and tried to be a good example for them. Ringwald said this about For Keeps (1988): “I didn’t want to send the wrong message to teenagers. I feel some kind of responsibility. I mean, I was a very, very famous teenager, and I think a lot of teenagers looked up to me and emulated me, and I didn’t want to make a movie that in any way said that having kids at that age would be easy.
Kristy Swanson as Duckette
Born: December 19, 1969
Mission Viejo, California, U.S.
Known for: Deadly Friend, Hot Shots, The Phantom, 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag…
At nine, she expressed her interest in acting to her parents and began looking for roles in television commercials. Her first job was an appearance in a dollhouse commercial, followed by several more commercial appearances.
[Writer] John Hughes told me, “We’re re-shooting the end of Pretty in Pink.” Swanson talked about how she got the part in the movie. “I was wondering if you’d be in the scene with Ducky, our main character, since the way we tried it out in the play didn’t work. We need him to be with someone else at the movie’s end. So, will you be playing the role?”
Throughout the 1990s, she mainly appeared in movies. She returned to television in the late 1990s.
Harry Dean Stanton as Jack Walsh
Born: July 14, 1926
Died: September 15, 2017
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Known for: Kelly’s Heroes, Dillinger, The Godfather Part II, Escape from New York…
Harry Dean Stanton was an American actor who had many outstanding credits in a career that spanned over six decades.
At the beginning of his work, he changed his name to Dean Stanton to avoid confusion with the actor Harry Stanton. Stanton occasionally toured nightclubs as a singer and guitarist, playing mostly cover songs with a country flavor. He has collaborated with several musical artists, including Dylan, Art Garfunkel, and Kris Kristofferson, and played harmonica on The Call’s 1989 album Let the Day Begin.
Stanton never married, although he had a brief affair with actress Rebecca de Moni in 1981-82. “I may have had two or three (children) out of wedlock,” he once told The Associated Press. “But that’s another story.
Alexa Kenin as Jena Hoeman
Born: February 16, 1962
Died: September 10, 1985
New York City, U.S.
Known for: The House Without a Christmas Tree, The Word, I Ought to Be in Pictures…
She is known for her supporting roles in several films released in the 1980s, including Little Darlings (1980), Honkytonk Man (1982), and Pretty in Pink (1986), which was released in her honor after her death.
At 17, Kenin and her mother moved to Los Angeles after her mother divorced John Ryan. Kenning attended Beverly Hills High School while maintaining her acting career.
On September 10, 1985, at the age of 23, Kenning was found dead in her Manhattan apartment. The exact cause of her death has never been made public. Kenin’s death certificate states that complications from asthma caused her death, but a drug overdose (heroin) appears to be the real cause.
Jon Cryer as Philip F. “Duckie” Dale
Born: April 16, 1965
New York City, New York, U.S.
Known for: Pretty in Pink, Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God… Be Back by Five
When Claire was twelve, he decided he wanted to be an actor. When his mom heard this, she thought he should have a backup plan and joked, “Plumber would be a good career.” Claire spent a few summers at Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center as a teenager and graduated from Bronx High School of Science in 1983.
To his mother’s “great disappointment,” he didn’t go to college. He instead studied Shakespeare for a short time over the summer.
In 2012, Molly Ringwald, co-star of Gone With the Wind, told Out magazine that she believed Claire’s character Duckie in the movie was gay, to which Claire said, “I respectfully disagree. I want to stand up for all the idiots who are feminine.”
Annie Potts as Iona
Born: October 28, 1952
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Known for: Corvette Summer, Heartaches, Ghostbusters, Pretty in Pink…
She was up for a Golden Globe Award for her role in Corvette Summer (1978) and got one for Heartaches (1981). In addition to this, she has other talents. She voiced Bo Peep in the Toy Story franchise’s first, second, and fourth movies (1995, 1999, and 2019) and various Disney video games.
In 2017, she became a regular on the CBS sitcom Young Sheldon as Connie “Meemaw” Tucker.
James Spader as Steff McKee
Born: February 7, 1960
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Known for: Tuff Turf, Pretty in Pink, Mannequin, Sex, Lies, and Videotape…
He is known for playing strange characters who don’t always have clear morals. Before going into television, he worked in independent films with good reviews. For his work in TV, he has won many awards, including three Primetime Emmys, three Golden Globes, and ten Screen Actors Guild Awards.
According to Spader, he was subjected to a very progressive and liberal upbringing. “Dominant and influential women always surrounded me, which made a big impression on me.”. He dropped out of school at seventeen and moved to New York City to pursue an acting career. While studying to become a full-time actor, Spade worked as a bartender, taught yoga, drove a meat truck, loaded train cars, and worked as a stable boy.
Andrew McCarthy as Blane McDonagh
Born: November 29, 1962
Westfield, New Jersey, U.S.
Known for: St. Elmo’s Fire, Pretty in Pink, Less than Zero, Weekend at Bernie’s…
McCarthy’s first major role was opposite Jacqueline Bisset in the 1983 comedy Class. He was part of a group of young Hollywood actors in the 1980s, dubbed the “Brat Pack” by the press. During his acting career, he held many important roles.
In addition to this, he also loves writing and serves as a contributing editor for National Geographic Traveler magazine. He has received several awards from SATW (Society of American Travel Writers), including the 2010 Travel Journalist of the Year Award.
In 1992, McCarthy entered a drug rehabilitation program and has remained sober ever since. In 2004, he announced that he had had a serious drinking problem, starting at age 12. He has one child with his first wife and two with his second wife.
Kate Vernon as Benny Hanson
Born: 1961 (age 62–63)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Known for: Battlestar Galactica, Falcon Crest, Who’s the Boss, L.A. Law…
She is a Canadian-born American actress best known for her role as Sophia in the 1992 film Malcolm X and her role in The Rise of the Fairytale. When she was seven, she went to Los Angeles, California, with her family so her father could work. Nan Vernon is her sister and a singer.
She’s been in many TV and movies and plays great parts.
Andrew Dice Clay as Bouncer
Born: September 29, 1957
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Known for: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Blue Jasmine, A Star Is Born…
Andy Dice Clay is an actor and stand-up comedian from the United States. In the late 1980s, he became famous for playing “The Diceman” in a way that was both cocky and meant to be rude. He continues his acting career while touring and performing stand-up comedy.
The television program Dice ran for two seasons on Showtime. He also launched a podcast in September 2018, “I’m Ova Hea’ Now.”
Dweezil Zappa as Simon
Born: September 5, 1969
Los Angeles, California, U.S
He is an American rock guitarist who sometimes acts. He is the son of Frank Zappa, a musician and songwriter.
Exposed to the music industry at an early age, Zappa developed a passion for playing guitar and making music and was able to learn directly from guitarists such as Steve Vai and Eddie Van Halen, releasing his first single at the age of 12. Since the 1990s, Zappa has been working on a musical composition called “What the Hell Was I Thinking?”, a 75-minute piece featuring several famous guitar solos.
His mother passed away in 2015, and the four siblings had a slight dispute over the distribution of equity. In 2018, the four siblings announced a reconciliation.
Gina Gershon as Trombley
Born: June 10, 1962 (age 61)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Know for: Bound, Cocktail, Showgirls, Face/Off…
Born in Los Angeles to an older brother and sister and an interior designer mother, Gina L. Gershon attended Circle in the Square Professional Theatre School in New York City, working first with David Mamet and then with Harold Guskin and Sandra Seacat, whom she described in an interview as “hugely influential. interviews, calling them “hugely influential.”
She had a small role in Pretty in Pink but went on to have more significant roles in other films. In addition to her acting career, she focuses on music and writing. Gershon plays the Jaw harp on ” I Can’t Decide,” a song from the Scissor Sisters’ 2006 release Ta-Dah.
Gershon and her brother Dann are the authors of the children’s book Camp Creepy Time.
Margaret Colin as English teacher
Born: May 26, 1958 (age 65)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S
Known for: The Edge of Night, Now and Again, Something Wild, Three Men and a Baby…
She comes from an Irish family and grew up in a Catholic home. 1976 she finished Baldwin Senior High School and went to Hofstra University. She has appeared in numerous plays, movies, and television programs.
She is an anti-abortion activist and is the former Honorary Co-President of the anti-abortion organization Feminists for Life. Colleen is an honorary board member of Feminists for a Nonviolent Alternative.
Jim Haynie as Donnelly, School Director
Born: February 6, 1940
Falls Church, Virginia
Died: April 3, 2021 (aged 81)
Langley, Washington
Known for: Pretty in Pink, The Bridges of Madison County, The Peacemaker
During childhood, his family moved frequently, living in various towns in Oklahoma and Ohio as his father changed jobs every year or two. During his senior year of high school, his family settled in Sunnyvale, California, and after graduation, he headed to UC Davis, where he majored in Theater Arts.
He entered the movie industry in 1978 with a supporting role in Honky Tonk Nights and went on to appear in approximately 100 film and television productions over the next several decades.
Haynie died of pneumonia on April 4, 2021, at the age of 81. He was married to Maggie Causey and had two children. He also had two children from a previous marriage to Janice McKelheer.
Maggie Roswell as Mrs. Dietz
Born: November 14, 1952
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Known for: The Simpsons, Midnight Madness, Lost in America, Pretty in Pink…
Maggie Roswell began her acting career after attending Catholic schools and Los Angeles City College. In the 1970s, she made guest appearances on television programs such as MAS*H, but it was not until the 1980s that she landed her first major acting role.
Roswell has also worked on stage, appearing in an improv show directed by Paul Sills at Lamb’s Theatre in 1986. In this show, the audience gave the actors characters and situations.
In the early days of The Simpsons, Roswell and Rayle had a pay dispute. The dispute was not initially revealed to the press. Fox said at first that she was leaving because she was sick of flying back and forth between Denver and Los Angeles for recording sessions. Roswell then announced that she was asking for a raise, not only because she was tired of traveling but also because of the rising price of airfare. Roswell had been making between $1,500 and $2,000 an episode for the three seasons before she quit. She asked Fox to raise her pay to $6,000 an episode. But Fox only gave her a $150 raise, which wasn’t enough to cover her travel costs, so she quit.
In 2002, Roswell returned to “The Simpsons.”
Conclusion:
Through the year’s hit singles and the era-traversing style of dress, the outstanding performances of the Pretty in Pink cast not only carved the movie into the hearts of countless fans but also established it as a model of youth cinema.
If you have yet to see the movie, take some time to review it. It’s worth it!
Smith Nicole R