Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Where Are They Now?




Have you ever wondered what happened to a crush of yours from your childhood? Well, my answer is yes and it looks like my continuing saga of discussing celebrity crushes is back again; however, this one was a real special one.

In the early 1970s, child actor Lee Harcourt Montgomery began his career in the entertainment world. He appeared in the Disney movie, "The Million Dollar Duck" and then in other countless movies, like "Pete and Tillie"--with Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett playing the title roles--and "Ben," in which a young Michael Jackson sang the theme song to. As Lee grew older, he continued acting and appeared in more films, and did some guest stints on TV shows like "Fame," "Family Ties" and "Highway to Heaven."

In spring 1985, a film was released about teens competing in a dance competition titled Girls Just Want to Have Fun. It starred five unknown actors at the time: Sarah Jessica Parker (from TV's "Square Pegs"), Helen Hunt (from "Mad About You"), Jonathan Silverman (from "Weekend at Bernie's"), Shannen Doherty (from of "Little House on the Prairie" and "Beverly Hills, 90210") and Lee Montgomery. I had developed a huge crush on Lee when I saw him guest star in a TV movie titled "Happy Endings." Two years later, he was cast in GJWTHF. My crush was so bad that I used to rent GJWTHF like every week or weekend! Thankfully, many years later I got my hands on a copy of the film.

A few years after GJWTHF was released, I had read a rumor in a teen magazine that Lee had gotten married. I'm not sure if this was true, but nonetheless I was heartbroken. Shortly thereafter, he completely left show business altogether.

Several years ago, my curiosity got to me, so I poked around online to see if there were any sightings of the elusive Mr. Montgomery. I couldn't find anything about him on his sister Belinda's website and his other sister, Tannis, hadn't garnered much fame compared to Belinda and Lee. I then viewed Lee's page on IMDB.com and it indicated that he was a music composer for films. In 2002, he composed music for the films "Legend of the Phantom Rider (aka Trigon: The Legend of Pelgidium)" and 2005's "Trespasses," but as far as Lee's acting career, he has not acted in over 24 years. So this curious writer/journalist wants to know what he's been up to these days? Is he still composing music? Will he ever return to acting?

Recently, I poked around online again and did a search for him and came up with three 'new' search entries, including one by a friend of Lee's, one by another blogger who posted a tribute blog to Lee and another search that mentioned that he'll be making a public appearance sometime this year. Now if I can somehow attend the event he'll be at then I'll be a happy girl! I mean, after all these years, I'd still love to meet him! I'm crossing my fingers I can make this wish a reality! :)

Here's a favorite scene of mine from GJWTHF:



And here's the final scene, one of my other favorites:

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you seen this: http://splicetoday.com/pop-culture/lee-montgomery-life-of-an-actor

Anonymous said...

I can't believe it, but I just found out LEE MONTGOMERY is appearing at a Monster film convention NEXT WEEK in NJ! I don't live anywhere near there, so I won't be attending, but here is the link: http://www.monstermania.net/MMC25_GUESTS.html

Little Sister Pixie said...

Yes, I have read that blog. Thanks for the info. about Lee's upcoming appearance at the Monster film convention in NJ. I don't live anywhere near there either, so hopefully other fans will post some photos on the web soon.

Trish dykeman said...

Why are there no pics of lee? Recent ones? I'm 40 and just watched Gjwthf again... still love that movie. Wish there was more about him online but really wish he'd appear in recent movies. Love him...

Little Sister Pixie said...

Hi Trish,

Some fans were lucky enough to meet Lee at the Monster Mania Film Convention in Aug. 2013 & were kind enough to post their photos on a Lee Montgomery Facebook Fan page. Here's the link to the FB fan page: http://on.fb.me/1mjVR83

Jules said...

You mentioned having read that Lee had gotten married shortly before he left the world of acting. Sadly for those of us still nursing our teenage fantasies, I have discovered that to be true. I recently had the opportunity to buy a few slides of photos taken of Lee back in the late '80s. When they arrived, I was stunned to see one of them had the caption "Lee Montgomery with Wife" written on the white cardboard border. He is pictured with a pretty brunette. Both look very happy. In one of the other photos, he is clearly wearing a wedding band. In the recent photos taken at Monster Mania conventions, he is NOT wearing a ring, so it's quite possible he is no longer married.