Anthony Michael Hall is lucky to have survived as a child star – with a little help from his mother.
During the performance at ViewOn the June 21 episode, Hall, 56, recalled his early career films and dealing with the fame that came at a young age. The actor starred in a comedy from 1983 National Lampoon’s Vacation at age 15 as the son of Clark and Ellen Griswold Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo. A year later, he starred opposite Molly Ringwald and Michael Schoeffling in the classic rom-com Sixteen candles.
“You came off as normal,” co-host Joy Behar remarked. “A lot of these child actors are all crazy.”
The Saturday night live The alumnus explained that living in New York with a “tough Irish-Italian Catholic mother” makes him and his sister “real.”
“Thank God that I had that foundation of my faith and my family. I just kept pushing,” Hall said.
Anthony Michael Hall with his mother Mercedes Hall in 2004.
Christian Alminana/FilmMagic
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From working on National Lampoon’s Vacation with comedy icons like Chase and John Candy, Hall told the panel the experience was “amazing.” He expressed his long-standing love for SNL and described the performance as “a true ‘wide-eyed’ summer” where he honed his comedic chops with “legends”.
Co-host Sunny Hostin mentioned this at the time Sixteen candles this year marked its 40th anniversary, which Hall called “a journey.” She joked that even though Hall was only 16 at the time, he poured drinks in the scene as if he were a “seasoned bartender”.
“Well, you know us Irish – we can’t go past the bar in the morning,” Hall said with a laugh. “It was so funny because my memory gets boosted on set and [director John Hughes] he looked at me and said, ‘We’re going to get a Sinatra song.’ And then I put on an apron and then I get a nut cocktail and I cross my leg like an old man… it just cracked him up.”
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(L-R) Anthony Michael Hall, Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo and Dana Barron in ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’ 1983.
The Everett Collection
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The breakfast club the star has previously spoken about her struggle with fame. In an interview with S. 2021 The Independent, said being a celebrity is “disgusting” and “like a horror movie.” He cited people staring at him in “strange ways”, not knowing what others thought of him and people whispering behind his back.
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He admitted to Fox Digital News in September 2022 that he “didn’t expect to be famous at 15”. The first time he was publicly recognized for his big roles, he told the newspaper that it scared him.
“The idea of recognition… It was very challenging,” the Halloween kills the actor explained. “I’d joke, but the truth is, it probably took me 20 years to realize I was 15 because I’ve been through so much in between.”
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Source: HIS Education