Whatever Happened To Ralphie From A Christmas Story?
What movie deserves the honor of best Christmas movie? The question generates great debate. While not the type of discussion that could ever end with a clear-cut, objective winner, only one holiday movie has inspired annual 24-hour marathons for more than 25 years and counting — and in recent years, on two different channels (TBS and TNT) to boot. Not only that, but as recently as 2019, those marathons still drew ratings. In fact, airings of the movie during said marathon ranked among the 25 highest-rated cable programs on Christmas Day that year.
Not that we need to say it, but the movie we're talking about is "A Christmas Story." The iconic holiday film originally opened in theaters in 1983, and though not a huge hit initially, it obviously has since found its audience and then some. It also provided the (eventual) breakthrough role for a young actor named Peter Billingsley, whom families have been watching wear pink bunny pajamas, have soap put in his mouth, and shoot his eye out over and over again as Ralphie Parker for decades. He will forever be most widely associated with the character — even now in his fifties — but there is plenty more that Billingsley has accomplished on, behind, and away from the camera since then.
He remained a busy actor throughout the '80s and '90s
Before "A Christmas Story," Peter Billingsley had mostly done commercials — than 100 of them, in fact. He booked his first movie in 1978 by way of the rom-com "If I Ever See You Again," but the one-two punch of "Honkey Tonk Freeway" and "Paternity" in 1981 — the latter of which earned him a Young Artist Award nomination – really set his screen acting career in motion.
Two years after "A Christmas Story," Billingsley got his first lead role in a movie with the fantasy film "The Dirt Bike Kid." He also ventured into television during those years, appearing on shows like "Little House on the Prairie," "Who's the Boss?", and a multi-episode stint on "Punky Brewster." He appeared in several more films throughout the decade but slowed down a bit going into the '90s, although he stayed busy on the small screen through at least 1997 when he landed a recurring role on Showtime's adult comedy series "Sherman Oaks." His showbusiness interests began to lean more on the production side after that but Billingsley continued to do sporadic acting work into the 2000s and through the 2020s.
He was almost one of the first kids in space
Going into his teen years, Peter Billingsley not only bolstered his acting resume but his fame also put him in line to do something relatively few people of any age have ever been fortunate enough to do — travel into space. In 1981, NASA launched its shuttle program that was meant to make space travel accessible for civilians, even children. And to bring focus to that last goal, President Ronald Reagan eventually created the Young Astronauts Program and enlisted Billingsley as its spokesperson.
Billingsley made various appearances on television to discuss his involvement in the program and express his excitement about potentially being among the first kids to go to space. But the whole concept of civilians riding in space shuttles took a dark turn with the Challenger explosion in 1986. The disaster killed everyone on board, including civilian Christa McAuliffe, who had been part of the Teacher in Space Project — another Reagan-created initiative. After that, NASA indefinitely shelved any further plans to let civilians take space flights. Billingsley had been invited to watch the Challenger's launch live, and was one of the unlucky few who witnessed the disaster in person. He discussed his history with NASA and the Challenger explosion in the 2020 Netflix docuseries "Challenger: The Final Flight."
He moved into writing, directing, and producing in his 20s
Even though Peter Billingsley's screen credits started to thin out in the 1990s, it doesn't mean he had moved away from the business entirely. As mentioned earlier, the actor got more into behind-the-scenes work after a certain point, and that would become the bulk of his resume for his career between the late '90s and today. But it started a few years before that, when — as Peter Michaelson — Billingsley served as a post-production supervisor for the 1993 B-movie "Arcade," which he also starred in. As Michaelson, he also worked that same year as an assistant editor for a fantasy film called "Knights" with Kris Kristofferson and Lance Henriksen.
In 1994, Billingsley ambitiously wrote, directed, produced, and starred in his own project. Titled "The Sacred Fire," it was an award-winning sci-fi short film that was included in a VHS compilation called "Midnight Follies" with three other shorts. Interestingly, most of his work as a producer and director has been in connection with a very famous longtime friend Billingsley met when the two were still teenagers.
He's a longtime friend and collaborator of Vince Vaughn
That famous friend alluded to in the previous entry is none other than Vince Vaughn. While best known for his acting roles — especially as part of the so-called Frat Pack with movies like "Old School" and "Wedding Crashers" — Vaughn is also a prolific producer in his own right. He and Peter Billingsley met when they worked on an after-school special about steroid abuse, and they've been friends ever since. Eventually, their personal relationship also became a professional one as well.
The first time they teamed up beyond that acting gig was when Billingsley co-produced Vaughn's 2001 crime comedy "Made." Billingsley would later be an executive producer on "The Break-Up" in 2006, which not only starred Vaughn but also marked Vaughn's first story writing credit. That same year, Billingsley co-produced Vaughn's "Wild West Comedy Show" documentary comedy road movie. The two later co-produced both "Four Christmases" and "A Case of You," both of which also starred Vaughn. The pair also co-produced the TBS sitcom "Sullivan & Son" and the Netflix animated series "F is for Family."
He also frequently works with Jon Favreau
Vince Vaughn has another Hollywood buddy that he frequently works with on both sides of the camera. After meeting while making the movie "Rudy," Vaughn and Jon Favreau became fast friends whose first major project as partners was the 1996 comedy "Swingers" which Favreau wrote and co-starred in with Vaughn. Favreau also happened to write, direct, and star in "Made" — which of course put him into the orbit of Vaughn's pal Peter Billingsley.
From there, Billingsley and Favreau have not only collaborated on various projects that Favreau worked with Vaughn on, but also on multiple films that Vaughn had no involvement in whatsoever. For example, Billingsley played Ming Ming in Favreau's Christmas classic "Elf," and he also co-produced the movie. He then co-produced Favreau's underrated "Jumanji" sequel, "Zathura: A Space Adventure," as well as Favreau's IFC interview series "Dinner for Five." All that said, arguably the biggest single project that Billingsley and Favreau ever produced together was "Iron Man," which means that Billingsley played a part in laying the foundation for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.
He's officially part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Having his name on "Iron Man" — the film that kicked off the MCU — as an executive producer would've been bragworthy enough for Peter Billingsley, but he's not only a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in an off-camera capacity. Billingsley played a named character in the MCU, and he's now done so for two movies and counting.
In "Iron Man," Billingsley portrayed Stark Industries scientist William Ginter Riva, assigned by Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) to create an Arc Reactor like the one Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) did to save his life — and also power his Iron Man suit. Riva made a surprise return to the screen more than 20 years later when he showed up in "Spider-Man: Far From Home" — this time, as part of a group of former Stark employees now working under Quentin Beck/Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). Riva played a small but significant role in the events of both films, and they represent some of the meatiest non-comedic acting opportunities in Billingsley's career.
He produced a Christmas Story stage musical
"A Christmas Story" belongs to a meta-franchise known as the "Parker Family Saga." Its original roots lie in the radio stories of humorist Jean Shepherd based on his childhood in small-town Indiana, eventually reworked into a single narrative for the 1966 book "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash." It would eventually spawn multiple films, not only "A Christmas Story" but also three subsequent made-for-TV successors as well as a direct sequel, "A Christmas Story 2" in 2012. And Peter Billingsley didn't have any involvement in any of those sequels.
After his first outing as Ralphie, Billingsley seemed content to let the "Parker Family Saga" and all its related media exist without him for over 25 years. It wasn't until the original film was adapted into a stage show called "A Christmas Story: The Musical" that Billingsley decided to jump back into the franchise that made him a household name. While he didn't act in the show, which first ran in 2009, Billingsley served as an executive producer. And it was the perfect time to re-join the "Christmas Story" family, as the musical proved to be one of the most successful and acclaimed properties this side of the original film. It eventually hit Broadway, where it earned three Tony Award nominations, and it continues to tour to this day.
He has directed a sitcom and two feature films
Just because we haven't mentioned Peter Billingsley's directing career since the short "The Sacred Fire" doesn't mean that it ended his time behind the camera. As a matter of fact, Billingsley returned to the director's chair for a feature-length, major-studio movie starring two of his famous buddies. Co-written by and co-starring Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau, 2009's "Couples Retreat" marked Billingsley's debut as a Hollywood filmmaker.
He's since only directed one other movie: Vaughn's 2016 action thriller "Term Life," which co-starred Hailee Steinfeld and Bill Paxton in one of his final roles before his death. The production was extremely troubled, including the entire movie being outright canceled at one point until eventually being picked up by and finished under a different studio. The finished movie earned a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, so it should surprise no one that Billingsley hasn't yet ventured back into directing. Perhaps he'll at least return to television directing someday, as he likely had a far better experience when he helmed six episodes of the sitcom "Sullivan & Son," which he co-produced with Vaughn and was popular enough to run for three seasons on TBS between 2012 and 2014.
He got married and has two children
It's all well and good to be best friends with Hollywood A-listers. But Peter Billingsley eventually wanted a family, and he started down that road in 2015 when he married a woman named Elizabeth "Buffy" Bains. Though it is unknown if she remains in this line of work, at the time of their marriage, Bains taught ballet in Los Angeles, following in the footsteps of her ballerina mother. She has lived in both Illinois and Colorado, and graduated from Southern Methodist University in Texas.
Two years after they got married, Billingsley and Bains expanded their family to include a daughter. In 2020, they added a son to the mix, growing the Billingsley-Bains household to four. And finally getting to see things — the holidays in particular — through the eyes of a father played a big part in inspiring Billingsley to make his long-awaited return to a certain character that he hadn't portrayed since childhood.
He played an adult Ralphie in A Christmas Story Christmas
"A lot of people have said, 'Why now?' for this movie, and definitely being a father in real life [paralleled] being able to channel being a father in 'A Christmas Story Christmas,'" Peter Billingsley told People as to why he finally decided to reprise the role of Ralphie Parker nearly 40 years after the original film. In 2022, the movie got what is arguably its first true sequel by way of "A Christmas Story Christmas," which sees a now-adult Ralphie having to be the father tasked with creating magical holiday memories for his family. Billingsley co-wrote the story.
In the movie, Ralphie's father has passed away, which casts a shadow over the Christmas season. This means that Ralphie has become the patriarch of the family, a role that he takes on bittersweetly but attacks with his whole heart. In the process, he reconnects with some of his childhood buddies — most played by their original actors — in a homecoming that, for both fans of "A Christmas Story" as well as its cast, was four decades in the making. "A Christmas Story Christmas" earned a Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the general consensus being that it's a worthy sequel to the iconic original — and almost good enough to make us forget that the dreadful "A Christmas Story 2" exists.
He started a podcast about classic Christmas movies
Perhaps because he felt nostalgic after co-writing and starring in "A Christmas Story Christmas," but 2022 saw Peter Billingsley take on another project aimed at remembering classic holiday films. Along with Nick Schenk, his fellow story writer on "A Christmas Story Christmas," Billingsley also launched a podcast that year called "A Cinematic Christmas Journey." Each episode takes a deep-dive look at a specific movie, delving into its making and its legacy.
While "A Christmas Story" is naturally featured, so too are "Home Alone," "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," "It's a Wonderful Life," and more. Many episodes also feature a guest who was involved in the movie being discussed, including actors as well as members of the crew. Not surprisingly, Vince Vaughn stopped by to join the show's examination of "Four Christmases." Here's hoping the series continues for many holidays to come and covers as many Christmas movies as possible, even the ones whose places in the holiday movie canon are debated from year to year.
He reunited with his Christmas Story castmates for the movie's 40th anniversary
By all accounts, everyone loved working on "A Christmas Story Christmas." Peter Billingsley says that getting in touch with everyone to get them on board wasn't difficult, as most of the cast has kept in touch and remained in each other's lives over the years. But he says that it wasn't until they were making the movie that everyone gathered together in one place again, and they took every opportunity to relish that fact. As it happens, 2023 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of the original "A Christmas Story," and the cast used that as an excuse to reunite once again.
On the weekend of December 16th, eight members of the cast — including Billingsley, Scott Schwartz (who played Flick), Ian Petrella (who played Randy), and R. D. Robb (who played Schwartz) — appeared at a live event in Hammond, Indiana to commemorate the movie's anniversary. Hammond was the hometown of Jean Shepherd, and served as the inspiration for the movie's fictional town of Hohman. Unfortunately, Shepherd passed away in 1999, and the actors who played Ralphie and Randy's parents in the original movie — Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon — died in 2006 and 2023, respectively. Dillon's passing came just two months after the release of "A Christmas Story Christmas," though Julie Hagerty assumed her role in that movie.