As Prancer Turns 35, Former Child Star Rebecca Harrell Tickell Says She’s Living the Life Her Character Would Have (Exclusive)

Rebecca Harrell Tickell knew that Prancer she was special from the moment she read the script of the 1989 holiday movie as an eight-year-old child actress.

“I remember crying,” the 44-year-old documentary filmmaker and environmental activist tells PEOPLE. “And I remember reading that and just thinking, ‘I’m going to get this part because this is me.’ ”

And to land the role she did, beating out other young actors to star alongside Sam Elliott, Rutanya Alda and Cloris Leachman as Jessie, a little girl who nurses an injured reindeer, believing him to be a member of Santa’s team.

The film was a modest success at the time, but has become a Christmas cult classic. Ask people who grew up in the late 80s and early 90s to name the most famous reindeer of all and, sure enough, they’ll probably still say Rudolph. But chances are Prancer is coming right after.

Rebecca Harrell Tickell in ‘Prancer’ from 1989.

Michael Ochs/Getty Archive

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“I think for the people who watched Prancerthey feel like they’ve kind of grown up with it and it’s become part of their tradition,” says Tickell.

That’s especially true for people in La Porte, Ind., and Three Oakes, Mich., where much of the movie was shot. This year, Tickell returned to both cities for “PrancerPalooza,” a two-day celebration of the film’s 35th anniversary on Dec. 14 and 15. Tickell revisited the shed where her character hid Prancer in the film, signed autographs, rode in the parade, entered a Sam Elliott lookalike contest and participated in a Q&A with director John Hancock after the film’s screening.

Prancer fans have shared memories and stories with Tickell, which she says show the deep and lasting impact the film has had on people.

“One gentleman battling stage 4 cancer said meeting me was on his bucket list,” she told PEOPLE after the event. “One woman said her daughter didn’t like the way Sam Elliot treated me in the film and became a social worker as a result.”

Watching the movie with her own 10-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son has become a tradition for Tickell as well.

“It’s really sweet because my son takes care of me,” she says. “It’s a little confusing for him because he’s like, ‘Wait, is that your dad? Wow, he’s kind of mean.’ They don’t like that my character is struggling. They say: ‘Where is your mother? And why are you walking alone through the forest?’ I said, ‘Well, it was the ’80s.’ ”

Rebecca Harrell Tickell and Sam Elliott in 1989.

Ron Galella, Ltd./Collection of Ron Galella via Getty

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Tickell compares the making Prancer to the wild west. “We didn’t follow any timetable that was supposed to exist,” she recalls. “I worked all night. I got up long before the sun rose. I worked six days a week. I took her around with the deer. And honestly, I loved it. I loved every second of it.”

She describes Hancock, whose own ranch served as another primary filming location, as “like family, and still considers Elliott a father figure. The two still talk regularly, and she has a lot A star is born Oscar nominee’s voicemail saved on her phone.

Even as a young girl in 1989, Tickell says she was aware she was working with entertainment legends. “Sama was constantly followed by women who threw themselves at him,” she recalls, “and Cloris was a total rebel.” And they were both method actors, so they related to me as their characters. So Sam was really like my father.

She particularly remembers one scene in which Elliott’s character is holding Jessie, and the script called for her to laugh. After Hancock yelled “Cut,” Elliott, still in character, looked at young Tickell and sternly told her she had to do better. “He treated me like someone who was the character he was to me in the movie,” she says, “who loved me, but it was a tough love, and also the kind of love from someone who wanted me to be great. .”

Rebecca Harrell Tickell at ‘Prancer’ 35th Anniversary Event.

Courtesy of Rebecca Harrell Tickell

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Tickell later appeared in several other film and TV roles in the late 90s and early 2000s, but eventually decided to shift her focus to documentary filmmaking. She and husband Josh Tickell have produced and directed more than a dozen feature and short films focused on environmental issues and sustainable agriculture. Their film from 2008. Fuelit won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival that year and was shortlisted for the Oscar. King Charles III even reportedly named their 2020 film. Kiss the groundwhich focuses on regenerative agriculture, his favorite film.

Tickell sees a direct connection between her current work and Prancerwhich he notes centers on a struggling farming family. “I think for a lot of people in 1989, and the reason it’s held up over the years, is because it reflects the struggle that Americans feel, especially American farm families,” she says. “That resilience and American determination that comes to the fore in the film resonates with people because it captures that industrious spirit of the American Midwest.” And Jesse’s optimism and the fact that he refuses to give up and keeps that magical spark alive — I think that’s what really touched people.”

Rebecca Harrell Tickell and Josh Tickell at the screening of their documentary ‘Common Ground’ in 2024.

Gregg DeGuire/Variety via Getty

The Tickells keep returning to the theme of agriculture in their films, she says, “because through agriculture and the way we manage the land and the way we grow food, we can actually reduce carbon and create climate resilience. That’s what our films are about.”

And it’s easy to imagine where her bold, outspoken character would be today. “Like Jessie, I have a great love for nature, animals and life,” she says. “I think Jessie’s spirit is in me and I think she is a part of me to this day. I live the life I think she would have led.”

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Source: HIS Education