What the Hell Happened to Ally Sheedy?

Ally Sheedy rose to fame as part of the Brat Pack in the 1980’s.  In the middle of the decade, she starred in two of the most iconic coming-of-age movies of the decade.  Like a lot of her fellow Brat Packers, Sheedy’s  movie career cooled off quickly as the decade came to an end.  In the 90’s, Sheedy seemed to disappear.

What the hell happened?

Ally Sheedy - She Was Nice to Mice - 1975
Ally Sheedy – She Was Nice to Mice – 1975

In 1975, Sheedy authored a best-selling children’s book at the age of 12.  The book was about a mouse who is transported back in time to England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth.  How does a 12-year-old get a book published?  It helps to have connections.  Her mother was a writer who knew a lot of editors.  When one such friend was visiting, Sheedy acted out and read from her book.  The editor was impressed and took the project back to McGraw Hill.

Alley Sheedy - To Tell the Truth - 1975
Ally Sheedy – To Tell the Truth – 1975

The success of the book lead to Sheedy’s appearance on the TV game show, To Tell the Truth.  The premise of the show was that a panel of celebrities would be given the description of someone with an unusual background.  Then they would ask questions of three challengers.  Their goal is to identify the person who actually fits the description that was provided.

In 1976, Sheedy appeared on The Mike Douglas Show to promote her book.  When she was asked what she wanted to do when she grew up, Sheedy answered that she wanted to be an actress.  A talent agent saw her on the show and called her up which lead to a string of commercials.  

Here’s Sheedy selling toothpaste in 1978:

Continuing the theme of fresh breath, Sheedy appeared in a Tic Tac commercial that same year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsqYenOXUag

In 1980, Sheedy’s enticing offer of Stove Top stuffing with pork was too good to resist:

Ally Sheedy - Pizza Hut Commercial - 1981
Ally Sheedy – Pizza Hut Commercial – 1981

In 1981, Sheedy was serving up hot pan pizza in commercials for Pizza Hut.

Ally Sheedy - CBS Afternoon Playhouse: I Think I'm Having a Baby - 1981
Ally Sheedy – CBS Afternoon Playhouse: I Think I’m Having a Baby – 1981

Commercials lead to TV movies.  In 1981, Sheedy appeared in a bunch of teenage message movies.  Her first was the CBS Afternoon Playhouse episode, I Think I’m Having a Baby.  Jennifer Jason Leigh, who more or less owned the teen movie of the week genre in 1981, starred as a high school student who thinks she might be pregnant.  The titles of these things usually told you all you needed to know about the plot.  Helen Hunt, who starred in more than her fair share of TV movies, played one of Leigh’s friends and Sheedy appeared as a classmate.

Ally Sheedy and Jennifer Jason Leigh - The Best Little Girl in the World -1981
Ally Sheedy and Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Best Little Girl in the World -1981

Later that year, Hunt and Sheedy once again played Leigh’s classmates in the TV movie, The Best Little Girl in the World.  The topic of the week was anorexia.  Leigh played a high school student who struggles with the disease.  Charles Durning and Eva Marie Saint played her parents who desperately try to help their daughter before it’s too late.  Sheedy’s character gossips with Leigh in the lunch-line.

Ally Sheedy - The Violation of Sarah McDavid - 1981
Ally Sheedy – The Violation of Sarah McDavid – 1981

In The Violation of Sarah McDavid, Sheedy played a student in at a rough high school.  Patty Duke starred as a new teacher who is raped in her classroom.  The principal, played by Ned Beatty, tries to cover-up the incident to avoid bad press for the school.  While filming, Sheedy met co-star Eric Stoltz and the two of them started dating.

Ally Sheedy - The Day the Loving Stopped- 1981
Ally Sheedy – The Day the Loving Stopped- 1981

The Day the Loving Stopped starred Dennis Weaver and Valerie Harper as a couple that goes through a divorce.  Sheedy and Dominque Dunne (best-known from Poltergeist) played their two daughters as young adults.  In the present, Dunne is about to be married.  But her experiences with her parents’ divorce give her cold feet.

Ally Sheedy - St. Elsewhere - 1982
Ally Sheedy – St. Elsewhere – 1982

In 1982, Sheedy graduated from TV movies to guest spots on TV series.  She appeared in episodes of Strike Force, Chicago Story and the medical drama, St. Elsewhere (pictured).  On St. Elsewhere, Sheedy played a theater student who listens to a doctor’s sob story at a bar.

Ally Sheedy - Hill Street Blues - 1983
Ally Sheedy – Hill Street Blues – 1983

1983 was a big year for Sheedy.  She kicked things off with a three-episode guest spot on the cop drama, Hill Street Blues.  Sheedy played one of several students at a Catholic high school who visit the police station.  Sheedy found the early TV role to be a lot of fun:

I loved Hill Street Blues. It was my first part on a TV series. I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but that part was a lot of fun to play.

Ally Sheedy - Deadly Lessons - 1983
Ally Sheedy – Deadly Lessons – 1983

Next, Sheedy appeared in the TV movie, Deadly Lessons.  The movie was about students at an exclusive all-girls school who are stalked by a psychopath.  Sheedy played the killer’s final target.  Donna Reed played the school’s headmistress and Bill Paxton played a stable boy who is suspected of being the killer.

Ally Sheedy - Bad Boys - 1983
Ally Sheedy – Bad Boys – 1983

Sheedy made her big screen debut opposite Sean Penn in the crime drama, Bad Boys.

Penn played a juvenile delinquent who gets sent to prison after he accidentally kills an eight-year old boy.  The boy happens to be the brother of his rival played by Esai Morales.  While Penn is serving time at  the Rainford Juvenile Correctional Facility, Morales decides to avenge his brother’s death by raping Penn’s girlfriend played by Sheedy.  After Morales is arrested for the rape, he is sent to the same correctional facility as Penn.

Clancy Brown and Alan Ruck (best known from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) also made their film debuts in Bad Boys.  Ruck played Penn’s partner in crime and Brown played an alpha male in the prison known as “Viking”.

Looking back, Sheedy said her career came together quickly.  But at the time, it didn’t feel that way:

In hindsight, it didn’t take too long for things to fall into place. Although at 18 it felt like it did. I pounded the pavement finding an agent just like everyone else. I started to work in television. My first break was Bad Boys with Sean Penn. I auditioned for WarGamesover and over for four months. And John Hughes came up with the idea of offering me Allison in The Breakfast Club. It took me about five years to get on a roll.

Despite positive reviews, Bad Boys was not a hit at the box office,  It opened in eighth place behind a reissue of Disney’s The Sword and the Stone.

Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy – War Games – 1983
Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy – WarGames – 1983

Later that year, Sheedy co-starred opposite Matthew Broderick in the Cold War thriller, WarGames.

Broderick played a computer whiz who accidentally hacks into a top-secret military computer which has unlimited control over the nuclear arsenal of the United States.  He thinks he is played a computer game, but he may have unwittingly started a nuclear war.  Sheedy played a classmate whom Broderick impresses by changing her grades at school and Dabney Coleman played the scientist responsible for automating the US nuclear defenses.

WarGames was inspired by Stephen Hawking.  The original script was titled The Genius and it was about a dying scientist and a rebellious kid.  The kid in the script is the only person smart enough to understand the scientist.  According to co-screen-writer, Lawrence Lasker, “I found the predicament Hawking was in fascinating – that he might one day figure out the unified field theory and not be able to tell anyone, because of his progressive ALS. So there was this idea that he’d need a successor. And who would that be? Maybe this kid, a juvenile delinquent whose problem was that nobody realized he was too smart for his environment.”

Beverly Hills Cop director, Martin Brest, was originally hired to direct WarGames.  But the producers found his take on the material to be too dark.  Brest was fired after twelve days of filming and replaced by Saturday Night Fever director, Jon Badham.  According to Badham:

[Brest had] taken a somewhat dark approach to the story and the way it was shot. It was like [Broderick and Sheedy] were doing some Nazi undercover thing. So it was my job to make it seem like they were having fun, and that it was exciting.

Badham has said that Broderick and Sheedy were “stiff as boards” when he arrived at the set.  They were concerned about being fired along with Brest.  So, Badham tried to put his young actors at ease in order to give the film a lighter tone.  To lighten them up, he had them do things like race around the sound-stage with the loser having to sing to the crew.  When Badham lost the race, he sang The Happy Wanderer which he said was the silliest song he could think of.

Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy – WarGames – 1983
Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy – WarGames – 1983

Sheedy has nothing but praise for her WarGames co-star:

Matthew Broderick is one of the funniest people I have ever met. He was also well-versed in showtunes even back then. He loved musical comedy, he loved the stage and he loved Neil Simon. A delight.

Reviews were mostly positive.  Roger Ebert raved that the movie was a “masterstroke” and gave WarGames his highest rating.  But Vincent Canby of the New York Times wrote a dissenting opinion in his review.   He compared the movie to a video game that “once played, tends to disappear from one’s memory bank.”

WarGames opened in third place at the box office behind Psycho II which also opened that week.  Return of the Jedi was the #1 movie that weekend.  Although it never held the top spot at the box office, WarGames became the 5th highest grossing film of 1983 behind Trading Places.

Ally Sheedy - Oxford Blues - 1984
Ally Sheedy – Oxford Blues – 1984

In 1984, Sheedy appeared in her first “Brat Pack” movie, Oxford Blues.

Rob Lowe starred as an American hustler who sees a rich English woman in a Las Vegas casino and decides to follow her back to Oxford.  In order to win her over, Lowe attempts to enroll in the college and join the rowing team.  There he meets another American played by Sheedy who just might be the girl he is supposed to end up with.  Okay, she is.  It’s a Brat Pack movie.

The movie was a remake of the 1938 comedy, A Yank at Oxford.  The remake was given a failing grade by critics and audiences alike.  It opened in eighth place at the box office behind The Karate Kid which had already been in theaters for 10 weeks.

Ally Sheedy - The Breakfast Club - 1985
Ally Sheedy – The Breakfast Club – 1985

In 1985, Sheedy’s career would be changed forever when she co-starred in John Hughes’ coming-of-age drama, The Breakfast Club.

The Breakfast Club was about five high school students from different social groups who bond during detention.  Molly Ringwald played the rich, popular girl.  Judd Nelson played the juvenile delinquent.  Sheedy played the weird outsider and Anthony Michael Hall played the nerd.  Emilio Estevez played the jock.  Despite their differences, the teens come to realize that they have a lot in common.

The cast went through a few changes.  Originally, Ringwald was offered the role of outsider, Allison.  She was upset because she really wanted to play the snooty Claire.  Estevez was originally cast as Bender, the kid from the wrong side of the tracks.  But Hughes was having trouble finding someone to play the part of John the jock.  So Hughes had him switch roles.  Hughes wanted Nicolas Cage to play Bender, but he asked for too much money.  Next, Hughes cast John Cusack in the role.  But he later changed his mind.  Thinking that Cusack didn’t look intimidating enough, Hughes replaced him with Nelson.  Rick Moranis was cast as the janitor, but he left over creative differences with Hughes.

The cast rehearsed the movie several times like a play.  It was shot sequentially and several scenes were improvised.  The scene in which the kids reveal their reasons for being sent to detention was completely unscripted.  Sheedy remembers cracking up during several improvisations:

It was so funny making it that some of my character’s hiding came about because I kept breaking up during scenes. Judd, especially, killed me. There were times I could npt even look at him. A lot of his scenes have improvised lines added to John’s dialogue. When they worked he kept them in.

Molly Ringwald - The Breakfast Club - 1985
Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy – The Breakfast Club – 1985

Hughes nearly fired Nelson for giving Ringwald a hard time off camera.  But the cast convinced Hughes that Nelson was a really talented actor and that he was just trying to stay in character.  According to Ringwald:

“I think Judd was doing the method actor thing during rehearsals. He was wearing Bender’s clothes and trying to annoy me. I was fine but John Hughes was very protective of me. We ended up having a powwow, led by Ally. I remember her telling me, “We have to get him focused. Like a laser!” I think a bunch of us including myself called John and asked him to reconsider. I am thankful he did.”

Sheedy’s character undergoes a make-over in the movie’s third act so that she can have a happy ending with the jock played by Estevez.  Sheedy said she was never a fan of the idea:

It wasn’t my thing at all. I’m not a big makeup person and I don’t particularly subscribe to the idea that you have to look a certain way to suddenly look gorgeous to everyone. I like how Allison looked anyway. But it was a moment of passage in that movie. It had to do, I guess, with her becoming more part of the group in some way. Not using what she looked like to put people off. To become more inviting in some way. And then Emilio’s character had to somehow see her as pretty. Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t think it needed to happen. But I think everybody needed to have their moment of truth and I guess that was something for Allison.

Critics were divided on The Breakfast Club.  No seriously, they were.  I know, you’re looking at Rotten Tomatoes where the movie is certified “fresh”.  But go back and read the original reviews from when the movie was released.  For every positive review from someone like Roger Ebert, there’s a critic who was put off by the movie’s teen angst stereotypes like Janey Maslin.  Over time, the movie has become a beloved classic.  But when it was actually released, The Breakfast Club received mixed reviews.

It was however a hit at the box office.  The Breakfast Club opened in third place behind Beverly Hills Cop and Witness.  Third place may not seem great, but the movie was reported to cost about a million dollars and it grossed five times that in its first weekend.  It went on to gross $45 million dollars during its domestic run making it an extremely profitable movie.

Brat Pack New York Magazine
New York Magazine – 1985

Later that year, New York Magazine ran an article titled Hollywood’s Brat Pack.  The author, David Blum, was planning to write and article about Emilio Estevez.  Estevez invited the writer to hang out with him, Judd Nelson and Rob Lowe one night at the Hard Rock Cafe.  After watching the young actors party, Blum decided to change the focus of his article from Estevez to the entire group of young actors.  He coined the term Brat Pack as a derogatory comparison to the Rat Pack of the 60s.

The tone of the article was sneering.  Blum lingered on embarrassing details like Nelson dancing by himself or the lengths Estevez would go to in order to avoid paying for a ticket to see Ladyhawke.  He gripes that the young actors have not studied their craft and points out that none of the core members of the Brat Pack graduated from college.  The article portrays them all as privileged and oblivious.  In short, it sounds like an old person complaining about “kids these days”.

When the article was released, it sent a shockwave through the group.  Blum was jealous of the young actors and sought to punish them for their carefree lifestyle.  The article and the Brat Pack label attached a stigma to the young Hollywood actors.  Previously, they had been viewed as talented performers who would go on to have long careers.  But after Blum’s article, they were viewed as a bunch of frat boys.  According to Nelson:

“The writer portrayed us as bad people, and we weren’t. We just liked to have fun and I guess that’s not allowed.”

The impact wasn’t just professional.  It also fractured the group’s social dynamic.  According to Sheedy, “The article just destroyed it. I had felt truly a part of something, and that guy just blew it to pieces.”

Even Blum came to regret coining the term Brat Pack.  In 2010, he admitted that he shouldn’t have written the article.

Emilio Estevez – St Elmo’s Fire – 1985
Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy – St Elmo’s Fire – 1985

Shortly after the infamous New York Magazine article, Sheedy joined her fellow Brat Packers for Joel Schumacher’s coming-of-age drama, St. Elmo’s Fire.

The movie focused on a group of friends who have just graduated from college.  Their relationships are tested as they try to adjust to adulthood.  Estevez played a waiter who romances a hospital intern played by Andie MacDowell.  Andrew McCartrhy played Estevez’s roommate, a writer with a secret crush on Sheedy’s character.  Sheedy and Nelson play a couple of yuppies in an upwardly mobile relationship.  Rob Lowe played a former frat boy who is struggling with family life and Demi Moore played the party girl of the group.  Mare Winningham played the friend who helps all the others out.

Several studios passed on St. Elmo’s Fire.  According to Schumacher, “the head of one major studio called its seven-member cast ‘the most loathsome humans he had ever read on the page.'”  Finding seven young stars proved a challenge.  Hundreds of actors were interviewed.  Sheedy, Estevez and Nelson were recommended to producer  Lauren Shuler Donner by John Hughes.  Schumacher said he had to fight the studio over the casting of Estevez, Nelson, and McCarthy.

St. Elmo’s Fire received mostly negative reviews.  It opened in fourth place at the box office behind Rambo: First Blood Part II which had been in theaters for six weeks.  That doesn’t sound like the most auspicious opening, but St. Elmo’s Fire went on to gross close to $40 million dollars on a $10 million dollar budget.  It cost more and grossed less than The Breakfast Club.  But it was still the 23rd highest grossing movie of the year.  And despite being viewed as inferior to John Hughes’ movie, St. Elmo’s Fire has become a Gen-X favorite on video.

Ally Sheedy - Twice in a Lifetime - 1985
Ally Sheedy – Twice in a Lifetime – 1985

Sheedy rounded out 1985 with a supporting role in the domestic drama, Twice in a Lifetime.

Gene Hackman starred as a middle-aged construction worker who meets Ann-Margret at a bar on his 50th birthday.  He decides to leave his wife, played by Ellen Burstyn to start over with the sexy barmaid.  Amy Madigan and Sheedy play Hackman’s daughters.  So basically it’s the same plot as The Day the Loving Stopped except this time it’s Sheedy who is getting married.

Despite mostly positive reviews, Twice in a Lifetime received a limited theatrical release.  Hackman was nominated for a Golden Globe and Madrigan was nominated for both a Globe and an Oscar.

Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy - Blue City - 1986
Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy – Blue City – 1986

In 1986, Sheedy reteamed with Judd Nelson in the crime drama, Blue City.

The movie was based on the novel of the same name.  Nelson played a young man who returns to the small town in Florida where he grew up only to discover that his father has been killed.  When the police show no interest in solving the crime, Nelson takes matters into his own hands.

Actress Jenny Wright (who also appeared in St. Elmo’s Fire) was originally cast as the female lead in Blue City.  But she was replaced by Sheedy while the script was in rewrites.

Blue City was the first and only theatrical film directed by Michelle Manning.  It took such a beating from critics that Paramount Pictures executive Dawn Steel defended her to the LA Times:

“I suspect Michelle took her shot at directing too early. I think the experience for Michelle was unbelievably difficult. She may not necessarily have had the experience she needed. She didn’t have the production support we thought we’d be able to supply her with. She was out there pretty much by herself. That’s really tough your first time out. I think Michelle will turn out to have enormous amounts of talent. She kills herself. I never saw anyone work harder, ever. She’s very smart. I think she’ll be one of the few who gets a second chance. I don’t think a first-time male director would have had much more luck than Michelle, given all those things. It had nothing to do with her being a woman”.

Manning agreed:

“I was out there pretty much on my own. In retrospect, I do think the critics were more tough on me than they had to be. I’m not a war criminal. I don’t think many directors’ first films are perfect. Maybe the timing wasn’t right. There was a lot of ‘brat-pack’ backlash”.

Blue City opened in second place at the box office behind Richard Pryor’s Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling.  Three weeks later, it was out of theaters having grossed less than $7 million dollars.

It was also nominated for five Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture, Worst Actor, Worst Actress, Worst Supporting Actor and Worst Director, but it didn’t “win” any awards.  Nelson “lost” to Prince for Under the Cherry Moon and Sheedy “lost” to Madonna for Shanghai Surprise.

Ally Sheedy - Short Circuit - 1986
Ally Sheedy – Short Circuit – 1986

Later that year, Sheedy co-starred opposite Steve Guttenberg in John Badham’s talking robot comedy, Short Circuit.

Guttenberg and Fisher Stevens played scientists who invent a series of prototype robots.  One of the robots, Number 5, is struck by lightning and somehow becomes sentient.  He escapes the military facility where he is being held and meets an animal caretaker played by Sheedy.  She mistakes the robot for an extra-terrestrial life form (which is understandable because Short Circuit is an E.T. rip-off) and she introduces him to the pop culture of the mid 80’s.  When the military reclaims Number 5, he fears deactivation.  Slapstick robot escapes follow.

Of all her co-stars, Sheedy gave Johnny 5 low marks:

It was unbelievably challenging working with the robot. There isn’t a person across from you so there’s absolutely nothing coming back. I was out there on my own. Without reciprocal energy it’s exhausting. Mentally. And strangely lonely.

Reviews were mixed.  Some critics gave Short Circuit credit for being better than other movies in the same vein.  But Siskel and Ebert both gave Short Circuit thumbs down.  Ebert wrote the movie off as a “kid’s movie”.  He allowed that “quite possibly the kids will like it. But they’ll have to be fairly young kids.”

Short Circuit opened in first place at the box office and grossed over $40 million dollars.  That may not sound like a lot today, but it was enough to be the 21st highest grossing movie of 1986.  With a budget under $10 million, Short Circuit was a hit.

Two years later, Stevens returned for a sequel.  Guttenberg did not return and Sheedy had only a small voice cameo via a cassette recording.  According to Sheedy, money was a factor:

I think it may have had something to do with an increase in my paycheck for the second one. I’m only partly kidding.

Plans for a third movie which might have starred Sheedy were canceled after Short Circuit 2 disappointed at the box office.

Ally Sheedy - We Are the Children - 1987
Ally Sheedy – We Are the Children – 1987

In 1987, Sheedy starred in the TV movie, We Are the Children.  Sheedy played an idealistic doctor working in Ethiopia.  Ted Danson co-starred as a cynical American photojournalist who falls for Sheedy while she tries to save lives.  The subject matter could be seen as exploitative, but TV critics thought We Are the Children avoided that trap.  The New York Times wrote that it was “better than we have a right to expect.”

Ally Sheedy - Maid to Order - 1987
Ally Sheedy – Maid to Order – 1987

Later that year, Sheedy headlined a movie for the first time with the comic fantasy, Maid to Order.

Sheedy starred as a spoiled rich girl who gets arrested for drunk driving and drug possession.  When her father, played by Tom Skerrit, says he wishes he had never had a daughter, a fairy godmother played by Beverly D’Angelo grants his wish.  When Sheedy returns from jail, her father does not recognize her and she is forced to take a job as a maid to support herself.  Michael Ontkean (of Twin Peaks) co-starred as a chauffeur working for the same employer.

Critics weren’t impressed with the Cinderella story in reverse.  Maid To Order received a limited theatrical release during which it grossed under $10 million dollars.

According to Sheedy, she was frustrated with her career and decided to make a change:

I felt stuck in my career by 1988. I wanted dark complex roles and a whole lot more variety so I could discover my range. I had an idea it was pretty big and I wanted to put it to the test. I made the move to New York to study with a teacher, Harold Guskin, and explore my options in independent films. The indie world was taking off right about then. It was a conscious choice. I started all over again.

Ally Sheedy and Phoebe Cates – Heart of Dixie – 1989
Ally Sheedy and Phoebe Cates – Heart of Dixie – 1989

In 1989, Sheedy starred opposite Phoebe Cates and Virgina Madsen in the period drama, Heart of Dixie.

The movie is based on the 1976 novel, Heartbreak Hotel by Anne Rivers Siddons.  Sheedy, Cates and Madsen played sorority sisters at Randolph College in 1957.  When Sheedy meets a handsome photographer played by Treat Williams, he opens her eyes to the struggles of the Civil Rights movement.

Reviews were mixed to negative.  The Washington Post trashed the film saying:

“Ally Sheedy, Virginia Madsen and Phoebe Cates combine their negligible talents in Heart of Dixie — a melodrama so full of hams, it oinks. Led by Sheedy, the tedious trio plays giddy coeds caught up in the racist and sexist traditions of the South in the late ’50s. They all sound like they’ve been gulping hush puppy batter…Working from McCown’s histrionic screenplay, Martin Davidson of Eddie and the Cruisers proves once again that he don’t know nothing ’bout directing no movies.”

Heart of Dixie received a limited theatrical release during which it grossed around one million dollars.  Sheedy was nominated for a Golden Raspberry for Worst Actress but “lost” to Heather Locklear who “won” for The Return of Swamp Thing.

Like a lot of young Hollywood stars, Sheedy was dealing with some personal problems.  She was addicted to drugs and had contemplated suicide.  In 1989, a group of her friends led by Demi Moore intervened.  They gave Sheedy a plane ticket to the Hazelden Foundation rehab clinic in Minnesota.  Sheedy says she learned how to deal with turbulent emotions through poetry.

Ally Sheedy - Betsy's Wedding - 1990
Ally Sheedy – Betsy’s Wedding – 1990

In 1990, Sheedy reunited with Molly Ringwald in Alan Alda’s romantic comedy, Betsy’s Wedding.

Alda wrote the script for his favorite writer and director both of whom happened to be Alan Alda.  He plays a Long Island construction contractor whose daughter, played by Ringwald, is getting married to a well-to-do boy played by Dylan Walsh. As the wedding approaches, Alda stresses about the mounting expenses just like Steve Martin in Father of the Bride only less funny.

Madeline Kahn played Alda’s wife and Sheedy co-starred as Ringwald’s sister.  The supporting cast included Anthony LaPaglia, Catherine O’Hara, Joe Pesci and Burt Young

Betsy’s Wedding got mixed reviews.   It opened in 6th place at the box office behind Gremlins 2 which was in its second week of release.  It went on to gross just under $20 million dollars.

Ringwald and Sheedy were both nominated for Golden Rasberry Awards as Worst Actress and Worst Supporting Actress respectively.  There was really no reason for the nominations other than the Razzies having an axe to grind with former Brat Packers.  They seemed determined to kick the 80’s actors while they were down every time one of them dared to show up in a mainstream movie.  Ringwald “lost” to Bo Derek who “won” for Ghosts Can’t Do It and Sheedy “lost” out to Sofia Coppola who very deservedly “won” for The Godfather Part III.

Ally Sheedy - Fear - 1990
Ally Sheedy – Fear – 1990

Later that year, Sheedy starred in the thriller, Fear.  No, not the one with Marky Mark.  This one co-stars Danny Noonan.

Sheedy played a psychic who can link to other people and see through their eyes.  She uses her gifts to help police catch serial killers.  She tries to help Michael O’Keefe catch a killer who shares her talent.  Unfortunately, Sheedy comes to realize that the killer is more talented than she is.  Lauren Hutton co-starred.

I love that the trailer credits O’Keefe as an Oscar nominee.  He was nominated for The Great Santini, but he’s always going to be remembered as the guy from Caddyshack.  You also gotta love that they bill the movie as a “psychological suspense thriller in the tradition of Silence of the Lambs“.  Silence of the Lambs was released in 1991 – one year after Fear.  And I don’t remember any psychics or Oscar-nominated caddies in that one.  But yeah, other than that, they are exactly the same.

Fear was intended to be released in theaters.  But instead, it debuted on Showtime.

Ally Sheedy - The Lost Capone - 1990
Ally Sheedy – The Lost Capone – 1990

Rounding out 1990, Sheedy appeared in the TV movie, The Lost Capone.  Adrian Pasdar starred as Al Capone’s younger brother (in reality, the character played by Pasdar was the eldest of the Capone siblings).  Eric Roberts co-starred as the notorious gangster.  Pasdar decides to pursue law enforcement instead of crime.  He changes his name and marries a school teacher played by Sheedy.  Eventually, the two brothers come into conflict as brothers do.

Ally Sheedy - Only the Lonely - 1991
Ally Sheedy – Only the Lonely – 1991

In 1991, Sheedy co-starred with John Candy in Chris Columbus’ romantic comedy, Only the Lonely.

Candy played a Chicago cop who is pushing 40 and still lives with his overbearing Irish mother played by Maureen O’Hara.  Sheedy played a shy cosmetician who does make-up for the deceased at her father’s funeral home.  When the two of them begin dating, it puts a strain on Candy’s relationship with his mother who does not approve.  James Belushi portrayed Candy’s friend and co-worker and Anthony Quinn appeared as Candy’s neighbor who flirts with his mom.

John Hughes produced Only the Lonely which explains the presence of Hughes regulars like Candy and Sheedy.  The cast also included not one but two Culkins; Macaulay and Kieran.  It’s one of only two movies Hughes produced that he did not write himself.

Columbus wrote Only the Lonely with O’Hara in mind.  After he finished the script, he discovered that O’Hara had retired from acting twenty years ago.  He contacted the actress through her brother who was still active as a producer and actor and asked him to send a copy of the script to O’Hara.  O’Hara read the script and is said to have loved it, but she would not commit to the movie until she met her co-star.  When she met Candy, they bonded instantly and O’Hara agreed to come out of retirement.

According to Belushi, O’Hara was given a tiny trailer by the producers.  Candy complained on her behalf, but he was told that there was no money in the budget for better accommodations.  So Candy gave up his luxurious trailer and slept on a cot for three days until the producers gave in to his request.

Reviews were mixed to positive.  Some critics complained that the movie was mundane but many were won over by the movie’s sweetness and strong performances.  

The movie opened in fifth place at the box office sandwiched between Thelma and Louise and Drop Dead Fred.  There were seven new releases in theaters that weekend and one of them, Backdraft, took the top spot.  In the end, Only the Lonely grossed about $20 million dollars.

Ally Sheedy - Yesterday I Saw the Sun - 1991
Ally Sheedy – Yesterday I Saw the Sun – 1991

In 1991, Sheedy had her second book published.  This one was a collection of poems titled Yesterday I Saw the Sun.  Sheedy’s poems.  The book was met by literary circles with sneers and jeers.  A New York Post headline mockingly read “Ally Sheedy from bad to verse.”  The gossip column then went on to detail Sheedy’s personal struggles with bulimia and substance abuse.  The night the article ran, Sheedy had a poetry reading.  After she finished her reading, a reported demanded “Why did you write this?”

I don’t know what I was expecting, but I didn’t think that people would be that dismissive and condescending.

Sheedy said she thought her book might be helpful to people who were struggling with some of the same issues she had been dealing with.  Her mother was a literary agent at this point and she gave the book to the president of Summit Books.  According to Sheedy, Jim Silberman was encouraging:

He got exactly what I was doing when he said, ‘There are people who don’t have the words for it, but who are doing the same thing. They’ll get a lot from the book.’

Sheedy’s mother blew off the critics and encouraged her daughter to do the same:

I have 250 clients.  She’s just one of 250. And I say to her exactly what I say to every other client: ‘You write because you want to. Publishing was a decision you made. And people who respond to it have a right to their own opinion…’ I guess you think that’s not very sympathetic, but that is my attitude.

Ally Sheedy - The Red Shoe Diaries - 1992
Ally Sheedy – The Red Shoe Diaries – 1992

In 1992, Sheedy tried to shed her Brat Pack image (and some clothing) in an episode of  Zalman King’s erotic TV anthology series, Red Shoe Diaries.  The series aired on Showtime and was hosted by a pre-fame David Duchovny.  Sheedy appeared in an episode titled Accidents Happen in which a sexy Italian maid finds her employer’s sex tape and becomes obsessed with doing the kinds of things Italian maids do in Zalman King productions.

The episode was directed by Pet Sematary director Mary Lambert under the pseudo-name Alan Smithee.  This was right around the time that the failure of Pet Sematary 2 essentially ended her career directing feature films.

Ally Sheedy - Home Alone 2: Lost in New York - 1992
Ally Sheedy – Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – 1992

Later that year, Sheedy appeared in the highest-grossing movie of her career.  The John Hughes production more than tripled the grosses of The Breakfast Club.  It also reunited Sheedy with her Only the Lonely director, Chris Columbus and Betsy’s Wedding co-stars Joe Pesci and Catherine O’Hara.  Yep, Sheedy had a cameo as a ticket agent in Home Alone 2:
Lost in New York.

Ally Sheedy - Lethal Exposure - 1993
Ally Sheedy – Lethal Exposure – 1993

Sheedy kicked off 1993 with the TV movie, Lethal Exposure.  She played an American photographer who gets involved in a mystery in Paris.

Ally Sheedy - The Pickle - 1993
Ally Sheedy – The Pickle – 1993

After that, Sheedy had a supporting role in Paul Mazursky’s show biz comedy, The Pickle.  Danny Aiello starred as a director whose career parallels Mazursky’s.  He’s recently returned to New York after spending the last decade in Paris.  He’s coming off three consecutive flops, so he agrees to direct a sci-fi movie about a space pickle.

Sheedy appeared in the movie within the movie.  She played a farm girl who becomes romantically involved with an adviser to the President of the United States.  Griffin Dunne played the adviser and Little Richard portrayed the President.

The Pickle was panned by critics.  It played in a limited release of 40 theaters where it grossed about $80,000.00.  The movie more or less ended Mazursky’s career as a feature film director.

Ally Sheedy - Chantilly Lace - 1993
Ally Sheedy – Chantilly Lace – 1993

Chantilly Lace was a TV movie that aired on Showtime starring JoBeth Williams, Helen Slater, Martha Plimpton, Jill Eikenberry, Talia Shire, Lindsay Crouse and Sheedy as seven women who get together three times a year and talk about their life experiences.  The movie was written and directed by Linda Yellen although the dialogue was improvised by the actresses.  *spoilers* One of the characters dies during the course of the movie.  The actresses drew straws to determine who wouldn’t make it.

Ally Sheedy - Man's Best Friend - 1993
Ally Sheedy – Man’s Best Friend – 1993

Sheedy ended 1993 with the horror movie, Man’s Best Friend.

Lance Henriksen played a scientist who has been conducting animal experiments.  One of his subjects is a dog named Max.  Max has been enhanced with other animal traits which make him extremely dangerous.  Sheedy played a TV reporter who breaks into the lab to report on the cruelty of the experiments being performed there.  She accidentally frees Max from his cage and decides to adopt him.

Not surprisingly, the critics weren’t kind to the Cujo rip-off.  Man’s Best Friend opened in fifth place at the box office and grossed nearly $13 million dollars which was roughly twice its budget.

Ally Sheedy - Ultimate Betrayal - 1994
Ally Sheedy – Ultimate Betrayal – 1994

Ultimate Betrayal was a TV movie based on a true story.  Marlo Thomas and Mel Harris starred as two sisters who sue their father for incest and child abuse.  Sheedy played a younger sibling who was also molested as a child.

Ally Sheedy - Parallel Lives - 1994
Ally Sheedy – Parallel Lives – 1994

Parallel Lives was another Showtime movie directed by Linda Yellen.  Like Chantilly Lace, the cast improvised most of their dialogue.  The movie was about high school reunions and had a star-studded cast including James Belushi, Liza Minnelli, James Brolin, Helen Slater, LeVar Burton, Jack Klugman, Patricia Wettig, Mira Sorvino, Paul Sorvino, Matthew Perry, JoBeth Williams, Jill Eikenberry, Treat Williams, Dudley Moore, Gena Rowlands and of course Sheedy.

Ally Sheedy - The Haunting of Seacliff Inn - 1994
Ally Sheedy – The Haunting of Seacliff Inn – 1994

In The Haunting of Seacliff Inn, Sheedy played a TV producer who decides to get away from it all.  She and her husband move north where they plan to open a bed and breakfast.  Unfortunately, the house Sheedy picks might be haunted.  The title of the TV movie suggests that is a very strong possibility.

Ally Sheedy - The Tin Soldier - 1995
Ally Sheedy – The Tin Soldier – 1995

We’re in the middle of a dark decade for former Brat Packers.  During the 90’s, Molly Ringwald fled to Europe and Emilio Estevez slummed in Mighty Ducks movies.  Sheedy spent most of the nineties taking any job she could find.  Which unfortunately meant starring in the kiddie flick, Tin Soldier.  Sheedy played the mother of a boy coping with his father’s death.  The always-grating Dom DeLuise gives the boy a tin soldier which comes to life.  Jon Voight played the knight who teaches the boy life lessons.  Voight also directed.

Ally Sheedy - One Night Stand - 1995
Ally Sheedy – One Night Stand – 1995

Next, Sheedy starred in Talia Shire’s directorial debut, One Night Stand (also known as Before the Night).  Sheedy played a recently divorced ad exec who has a one night stand with a mystery man played by A. Martinez.  The next morning, she wakes up in his apartment to find out that not only is he gone, so is all the furniture.  Soon she realizes that the apartment belongs to someone else and the man she slept with isn’t who she thought he was.  As this is an erotic thriller, there’s a pretty high likelihood that he’s a killer.  Either that or it’s all some kooky misunderstanding that they will all laugh about in a few years.  But most likely he’s a killer.

Ally Sheedy - The Outer Limits - 1996
Ally Sheedy – The Outer Limits – 1996

It’s 1996 and Sheedy’s career had pretty much stalled out.  So it’s time for the sci-fi anthology shows.  And right on time, here comes an episode of The Outer Limits.  Sheedy played a reporter who discovers a plot to eliminate a controversial author.  She tries to warn her editor and the police, but no one takes her very seriously.  When the author disappears, she investigates.  Eventually she turns up a stranger who is using a futuristic weapon to make people disappear into the Twilight Zone.  No, that’s not right.  You get the point.

Ally Sheedy - Hijacked: Flight 285 - 1996
Ally Sheedy – Hijacked: Flight 285 – 1996

Later that year, Sheedy reunited with Anthony Michael Hall for the TV movie, Hijacked: Flight 285.  Hall played a crazed killer who hijacks a commercial jet and holds 200 people hostage.  He is opposed by an FBI agent played by Perry King and a detective played by Sheedy.  They race against time to stop Hall before he starts killing off hostages.

Ally Sheedy - Country Justice - 1997
Ally Sheedy – Country Justice – 1997

What was I doing in 1997?  Apparently I was watching the TV movie, Country Justice!  George C. Scott starred as a West Virginia miner whose granddaughter, played by a young Rachael Leigh Cook, is determined to find the mother who abandoned her (Sheedy of course).  Against her grandpa’s wishes, she goes looking for her mom in Tennessee.  As this is a TV movie, she is instead raped by her mother’s boyfriend.  Not only that, she gets pregnant from the rape (which is possible despite what some conservative Congressmen may tel you).

Naturally, Scott wants to get him some country justice.  Which for you yanks out there, means shooting the man who raped his granddaughter right between the eyes.  But Cook talks him out of such drastic action.  But the scumbag boyfriend doesn’t know when to quit.  First, he stalks Cook which causes her to go into labor.  Then he sues for custody of the baby and wins.  Yep, it’s time for some country justice all right!

Ally Sheedy - Buried Alive II - 1997
Ally Sheedy – Buried Alive II – 1997

Later that year, Sheedy appeared in the TV movie, Buried Alive II.  I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking, “But lebeau, I’ve never seen Buried Alive I.”  Don’t worry.  I’ve got you covered.  The first Buried Alive came out in 1990 and starred Tim Matheson as a man who had a happy marriage to his wife played by Jennifer Jason Leigh.  No, I’m just kidding.  Really she was having an affair, so she poisoned him with a toxin that made him appear to be dead so he could be buried alive.  It’s right there in the title, folks.  Can you imagine how pissed you would be if you sat down to watch a movie called Buried Alive and no one got buried alive?  I’d be out for some old-fashioned country justice if that happened to me.

The first movie was directed by Frank Darabont.  Yes, the guy who directed The Shawshank Redepmption.  The sequel was directed by Tim Matheson.  Yes, Otter from Animal House.

The sequel takes place 10 years after the original.  Matheson returns to his home town for a friend’s funeral.  Everyone thinks he is dead, but he is recognized at the funeral be his niece played by Sheedy.  Sheedy is unhappily married so her cheating husband decides to do the sequel thing and try to bury *her* alive.  Because it worked so well the first time.

Alley Sheedy - Macon County Jail - 1997
Alley Sheedy – Macon County Jail – 1997

Macon County Jail was a remake of the 1976 movie of the same name.  Sheedy played a woman who gets robbed by a hitch-hiker and sent to prison on trumped-up charges,  She ends up on the run from the law with help from a fellow prisoner played by David Carradine.

By now, you’re probably thinking that the rest of this article will be one long, slow slog through direct-to-video hell with the mandatory Brat Pack guest appearance on Psych.  You wouldn’t be entirely wrong.  There’s a lot of direct to video movies and a few Psych guest spots coming up.  But there was still one last glimmer of hope that Sheedy could reinvigorate her career.

Ally Sheedy - High Art - 1998
Ally Sheedy – High Art – 1998

For the first time in a long time, Sheedy briefly returned to relevance with her performance in the indie drama, High Art.

Radha Mitchell played an intern at a small magazine who gets involved with a photographer played by Sheedy.  Mitchell uses her relationship with Sheedy to advance her career.  She coaxes Sheedy out of retirement and Sheedy coaxes her into bed.  Their relationship becomes complicated by Sheedy’s drug problem and their mutual ambitions.

While promoting High Art, Sheedy discussed her career woes with the New York Times:

It’s been frustrating to the point of being just devastating.  I couldn’t get arrested. I’d go to an audition and it’d be like: ‘Surprise us. Shock us. Show us something new. We already know what you can do. Now show us something else. Prove yourself to us.’

Sheedy said she could relate to her character in High Art.  She called Lucy “the closest character I’ve ever played to myself. Lucy’s very slowed down; she was at the tail end of whatever success she had. She was burning out from the whirlwind that was around her just because of something she could do — photography. She wanted out.”

Rumors circulated that Sheedy’s on-screen lesbian experiences were not new to her.  The actress admits she “knew that world.”  According to Sheedy, her lesbian love scenes were a pleasant change of pace from the heterosexual variety:

It’s a lot easier for me to do a sex scene with a woman.  In High Art, I got to be the guy, the one with experience and confidence. In most movies, I’d lie there as an accessory, moaning at a man’s heightened masculine quality. Then there’s the tit shot.

Reviews for High Art were mostly positive.  Praise for Sheedy’s performance was unanimous.  She was nominated for several critics awards and won an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead.  High Art‘s widest release was a mere four theaters, so box office is largely irrelevant.  But Sheedy was finally getting good press for shedding her Brat Packer image.

Ally Sheedy - High Art 1998
Ally Sheedy – High Art 1998

While High Art was generating good buzz, Sheedy was feeling hopeful:

All of this could change in two seconds, but right now I’m feeling like maybe I can go up for some independent films without having to fight my history. I can feel the resistance against me lessening. And it’s just a relief.

She was also very frank in her disdain for Hollywood:

L.A. was disgusting.  Everyone was wearing designer clothes and kissing asses at parties, where all the people were disgusting.  I hate bullshit. People are most themselves when they’re honest. And when you don’t want anything, you can be very honest.

Moore - Striptease
Demi Moore – Striptease – 1996

Some of that honesty was directed at Sheedy’s former bestie, Demi Moore.  A few years back, Moore helped Sheedy get into rehab to get over her drug addiction.  But since that time, the two former friends had drifted apart.  Sheedy attributes this to the lengths Moore was willing to go in order to be a movie star:

Demi was my very best friend for a long time.  It was upsetting to me when she began using the talent she has – and she’s a very underrated actress – to comply with requirements for a successful career. She had an adorable little figure and she changed it, made it the focal point and then sold it.

I don’t resent her success, but her choices were against all of my principles and all the political philosophies I was brought up with.  On a deep level, it offends me.

Ironically, Sheedy made these statements just as Moore was retreating from Hollywood herself.

Ally Sheedy - The Fury Within - 1998
Ally Sheedy – The Fury Within – 1998

Okay, so Sheedy has eschewed Hollywood stardom and its usual trappings and has been rewarded with high praise in the indie movie circuit.  What comes next?  A haunted house movie on the USA Network of course.  Sheedy played a wife and mother whose marriage is in trouble in The Fury Within.  Her troubled family needs to pull together to fend off a pesky poltergeist.

Ally Sheedy and Rosanna Arquette - Sugar Town - 1999
Ally Sheedy and Rosanna Arquette – Sugar Town – 1999

In 1999, Sheedy appeared in the rock and roll indie drama, Sugar Town.  Several rock stars including Duran Duran bassist John Taylor appeared in the movie alongside Beverly D’Angelo and Rosanna Arquette.  Sheedy portrayed a neurotic film production designer who has hired a conniving housekeeper with musical ambitions.  Arquette played Sheedy’s best friend, an older actress struggling to get some good parts,

Ally Sheedy - The Autumn Heart - 1999
Ally Sheedy – The Autumn Heart – 1999

In The Autumn Heart, Sheedy played one of three sisters who go looking for their long-lost brother in the 1970’s after their mother (played by Tyne Daly) suffers a heart attack.  When they find their brother, they discover that their father went on to become a wealthy man and their brother is attending Harvard.  The Autumn Heart premiered at Sundance where it failed to win over critics.

Ally Sheedy - I'll Take You There - 1999
Ally Sheedy – I’ll Take You There – 1999

Sheedy continued her string of indie movies in the comedy-drama, I’ll Take You There.  She played a woman who goes on a bad blind date and doesn’t handle the rejection very well.  Instead, she becomes obsessed with the guy who wasn’t interested in seeing her again.  So she kidnaps him and forces him to accompany her on a series of robberies.  I’ll Take You There was screened at the Telluride Film Festival where it didn’t make much of an impact.

Ally Sheedy - Hedwig and the Angry Inch - 1999
Ally Sheedy – Hedwig and the Angry Inch – 1999

On stage, Sheedy took over the lead role in the Off Broadway musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch.  The play is about a rock band fronted by a transgender lead singer.  Sheedy was the first female to tackle the lead role.  It did not go well.

The first sign of trouble came when Sheedy had to postpone her debut in order to go to Telluride to promote I’ll Take You There.  But there were signs that the delay wasn’t entirely related to her other commitments.  Sheedy told the New York Times that she was in over her head:

I feel like going out of my mind. I don’t know whose idea this was. I can’t dance, can’t sing, and I can’t act. I’m waiting for them to fire me.

Donovan Leitch was brought in as Sheedy’s understudy and was scheduled to make weekly appearances to allow the actress to rest her voice.  But Leitch ended up appearing in Sheedy’s place on a regular basis.  During the show’s previews, Leitch appeared in more performances than Sheedy.  According to Leitch:

They came to me to do a couple of nights a week to take the pressure off her.  The first week, I ended up doing all the shows.  Back-to-back shows are hard, especially without a singing background.  She just wasn’t there yet, rehearsalwise.

Sheedy’s performance received mixed reviews and she ended up leaving the show two months before her contract expired.  One crew member on the show told the New York Post:

She was completely out there.  She wasn’t sticking to the script, and she was doing all sorts of weird stuff on stage.

“Weird stuff” reportedly included having a mute character sing one of her songs for her and refusing to do a scene unless another actress kissed her on stage.  Sources told the New York Post that the show’s executives were fed up with Sheedy dropping songs and ad-libbing to the extent that audiences could no longer follow the show.  After two months of performances, the producers suggested that Sheedy end her run a month early.  Instead, she decided to quit right then and there.

Officially, the reason for Sheedy’s departure was ” exhaustion and a great desire to spend the holidays with her family.”

Sheedy - Oz - 2001
Sheedy – Oz – 2001

In 2001, Sheedy returned to Tv with a guest appearance on the HBO series, Oz.  Sheedy played a TV news producer who has come to inspect the prison in preparation for a news segment that is preparing to shoot there.

Ally Sheedy - The Warden - 2001
Ally Sheedy – The Warden – 2001

Later that year, Sheedy continued the prison theme in the TV movie, The Warden.  Sheedy played an assistant warden at a women’s prison who is brought to an all-male maximum security prison to assist with an investigation into a murdered inmate.  She quickly discovers that her superiors are more interested in a cover-up than an honest investigation into the inmate’s death.

Ally Sheedy - The Interrogation of Michael Crowe - 2002
Ally Sheedy – The Interrogation of Michael Crowe – 2002

In 2002, Sheedy continued working in indie movies like Happy Here and Now, TV shows like Once and Again and TV movies like The Interrogation of Michael Crowe (pictured).  In the TV movie, Sheedy played the parent of a murdered twelve-year-old who is separated from her family.  The police then force a confession from the murdered girl’s brother.

Ally Sheedy - The Dead Zone - 2003
Ally Sheedy – The Dead Zone – 2003

In 2003, Sheedy had a guest spot on Anthony Michael Hall’s TV show, The Dead Zone.  The show was based on the David Cronenberg movie which was adapted from Stephen King’s novel about a man who wakes from a coma with psychic abilities.  In this episode, Hall reunites with two old high school friends one of which is waiting on a heart transplant.  He starts to have visions of the other friend, Sheedy, becoming the donor.

Ally Sheedy and Ralph Macchio - A Good Night to Die - 2003
Ally Sheedy and Ralph Macchio – A Good Night to Die – 2003

A Good Night to Die is about a bunch of hitmen all targeting the same man.  Gary Stretch played an assassin trying to save his former protege played by Michael Rapaport.  Ralph Macchio and Sheedy played a brother-and-sister hit squad.  And just to make sure everyone knows this is a Pulp Fiction wannabe, Debbie Harry and Frank Whaley show up too.

Ally Sheedy - Shelter Island - 2003
Ally Sheedy – Shelter Island – 2003

In Shelter Island, Sheedy played a former golf pro turned motivational speaker.  She lives with her girlfriend played by Patsy Kensit.  After they are attacked on the street, they decide to retreat to their vacation home on Shelter Island.  Stephen Baldwin played a mysterious stranger who arrives during a storm and Chris Penn appeared as the island’s creepy sheriff.

Ally Sheedy - Noise - 2004
Ally Sheedy – Noise – 2004

Sheedy played the neighbor from hell in the 2004 thriller, Noise.  Trish Goff starred as a young divorced woman who moves into her own place only to discover that her upstairs neighbor is extremely loud.  Despite repeated requests, Sheedy keeps Goff up all night long.  The lack of sleep only exacerbates Goff’s problems with addiction and she slowly loses her grip on reality.

Ally Sheedy - Shooting Livien - 2004
Ally Sheedy – Shooting Livien – 2005

In 2005, Sheedy appeared in another direct-to-video psychological thriller.  Shooting Livien was about a New York rock band on the cusp of hitting it big.  But their lead singer, played by Jason Behr, struggles with an identity crisis.  Sheedy played the band’s manager who does her best to keep the group from falling apart.

Ally Sheedy - The Veteran - 2006
Ally Sheedy – The Veteran – 2006

Next, Sheedy appeared in the made for TV movie, The Veteran.  Bobby Hosea played a Vietnam vet who is now a US senator.  When he returns to Vietnam 30 years later, he is visited by Michael Ironsides who claims to have served with him in the war.  Sheedy played an agent from the Vietnam Veterans Action Committee who is listening in on their conversation.

Ally Sheedy - CSI - 2007
Ally Sheedy – CSI – 2007

There comes a point in almost every WTHH entry when the subject starts popping up on TV procedural dramas.  This is that point.  Sheedy had a guest spot on an episode of CSI titled Leapin’ Lizards.  In the episode, the suspects in a murder are liked to a cult that believes that lizard-like aliens have been mating with humans.

Ally Sheedy - The Junior Defenders - 2007
Ally Sheedy – The Junior Defenders – 2007

The Junior Defenders was an ultra low-budget comedy about a fan who kidnaps the cast of his favorite 70’s superhero show in order to force them to appear in new episodes.  How low-budget was The Junior Defenders?  Second billing went to Brian O’Halloran.  Raise your hand if you didn’t know O’Halloran had an acting career outside of Kevin Smith movies.  Probably not surprisingly, the movie includes a “special appearance” by Smith as well.  Hopefully Sheedy was actually forced to participate at gunpoint.  The writer and director of The Junior Defenders, Keith Spiegel, also wrote and directed the 1997 movie, Groupies, which also featured an appearance by Sheedy.

Ally Sheedy - Steam - 2007
Ally Sheedy – Steam – 2007

Next, Sheedy starred in the drama Steam.  It told the story of three women whose only connection to one another is that they all happen to use the same steam room.  Sheedy played a single mom who begins dating her son’s coach.  Ruby Dee costarred as an older woman who is also starting a new relationship.

Ally Sheedy - Harold - 2008
Ally Sheedy – Harold – 2008

The 2008 comedy, Harold, starred Spencer Breslin as a 13-year-old kid who suffers from male pattern baldness.  Sheedy played his mom who moves him to a new school where he is teased and bullied because he looks like a pint-sized middle-aged man.  Cuba Gooding Jr. (who also served as one of the movie’s producers), played a janitor who befriends Harold.

Ally Sheedy - Kyle XY - 2008-2009
Ally Sheedy – Kyle XY – 2008-2009

Sheedy had a recurring role in the second and third seasons of the ABC Family science-fiction show, Kyle XY.  Jaimie Alexander (best known as Lady Sif in the Thor movies) was a regular on the show.  Sheedy played her long-lost mom in four episodes.

Ally Sheedy - Psych - 2009-2013
Ally Sheedy – Psych – 2009-2013

The comic crime series, Psych, is known for stunt-casting members of the Brat Pack.  Sheedy made her debut on the show playing a serial killer named Mr. Yang in 2009.  She returned to the show in its fourth and seventh seasons for a total of four episodes.

Ally Sheedy - Life During Wartime - 2009
Ally Sheedy – Life During Wartime – 2009

Todd Solondz’s Life During Wartime was a sequel of sorts to his controversial 1998 film, Happiness.  It features many of the same characters played by different actors.  Sheedy played a successful screenwriter who was played by Lara Flynn Boyle in the first movie.  Allison Janney and Shirley Henderson play her sisters.  Solondz didn’t tell his cast that the move was a sequel.  Sheedy said she was surprised:

I didn’t actually know it was a sequel until after we shot the movie. Todd never brought it up. He didn’t feel like it was necessary to talk about that, and I’m glad because I feel like I had a lot of freedom. Otherwise I might have been a little more self-conscious.

Ally Sheedy - Citizen Jane - 2009
Ally Sheedy – Citizen Jane – 2009

Are there any other boxes we need to check off in the late career phase?  Oh right.  Hallmark Channel movie with a side of Meat Loaf.  Check and check.  In Citizen Jane, played a widow who has spent the last six years cohabitating with Young Indiana Jones himself, Sean Patrick Flanery.  After her 88-year-old aunt is brutally murdered, Sheedy hires a detective played by the Bat Out of Hell to find out who did it.  Sheedy is horrified when Meatloaf points the finger at her boyfriend.

Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Matthew Broderick and Judd Nelson - Oscars Tribute to John Hughes - 2010
Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Matthew Broderick and Judd Nelson – Oscars Tribute to John Hughes – 2010

In 2010, a few months after his death, the Oscars paid tribute to John Hughes.  Several of the actors Hughes helped launch to stardom gathered on stage to say a few words.  Hughes’ biggest stars, Broderick and Ringwald, introduced a movie clip featuring memorable moments from several of Hughes’ movies.

John Cryer, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Macaulay Culkin, and Sheedy were also in attendance.

Ally Sheedy - Welcome to Riley's - 2010
Ally Sheedy – Welcome to Riley’s – 2010

Later that year, Sheedy appeared in the indie drama, Welcome to Rileys.  James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo played a couple struggling with the loss of a child.  When Leo withdrawals her affection, Gandolfini begins an affair with a local waitress.  After his mistress dies, Gandolfini walks into a strip club where he meets a 16-year-old stripper played by Kristen Stewart.  He ends up paying her to crash on her couch while he gets his head together.  Sheedy played Leo’s sister.

Ally Sheedy - Ten Stories Tall - 2010
Ally Sheedy – Ten Stories Tall – 2010

In Ten Stories Tall, two families deal with the death of a matriarch and the terminal illness of another family.  They try to mend fences before it’s too late.  Just watching the trailer bummed me out.  It may have bummed out Sheedy too because she took a few years off around this time.  She popped up on Psych in 2011, but that was about it until 2013.

Ally Sheedy - Full Circle - 2011
Ally Sheedy – Full Circle – 2013

Sheedy returned to TV with two episodes of playwright Neil LaBute’s dramatic series, Full Circle.  The show, which aired exclusively on DirecTV, followed the lives of eleven characters.  Stacy Keach, Eric McCormack, Terry O’Quinn, Calista Flockhart, Patrick Fugit, Rita Wilson, Julian McMahaon, David Boreanaz and Kate Walsh all made appearances.

Ally Sheedy - Client Seduction - 2014
Ally Sheedy – Client Seduction – 2014

In 2014, Sheedy starred in the TV movie, Client Seduction (also known as Not With My Daughter).  Sheedy played a lawyer who is sick of defending rich people who think they are above the law.  So she takes on a homeless person she believes is innocent.  She comes to find out that not only is her client possibly guilty, he’s begun dating her daughter.

Ally Sheedy - The Long Shrift - 2014
Ally Sheedy – The Long Shrift – 2014

Sheedy returned to the Off-Broadway stage scene in The Long Shrift.  The play marked James Franco’s theatrical directorial debut.  Sheedy said returning was a bit intimidating following the embarrassing circumstances of her exit from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

I think I’m better at this now, but there have been times in the past when I’ve had a very difficult time separating myself from a role that I’m playing.  So I felt pretty nutty when I was playing Hedwig. I have gotten pretty used to hearing from people that I’m crazy. I’m not. But I have certainly not been on my best behavior when I probably should have been.

I’ve been working for such a long time, since I was very, very young, and there was a whole lot of growing pains that I’ve done in a public way. I look back and think: ‘Why did you do that? Won’t be doing that again.’ Some acting out that perhaps people get to do when they’re younger happened, unfortunately, when I was a little bit older and should not have been acting out anymore.

So, what the hell happened?

Obviously, the Brat Pack backlash was a big factor.  Sheedy rightly points out that the term and the baggage that came with it set unrealistic expectations that hurt a lot of once promising careers:

Being classified as ‘The Brat Pack’ ended up being a problem for most of us. There was pressure to break out and become a success individually. It held true for everyone. We all felt we had to prove ourselves as actors and be in successful films on our own. Things turned somewhat negative. It was depressing. Sometimes there are strange consequences for being successful in this society.

Additionally, Sheedy had some personal issues she was working through.  That’s understandable.  She was young.  Everyone’s working through things when they’re young.  But as Sheedy says, she acted out publicly and arguably long after one is expected to outgrow that sort of thing.  Throughout her career, Sheedy spoke frankly about the expectations Hollywood places on actresses and she was very vocal in rejecting them.  While sticking to your principles is certainly noble, loudly criticizing the industry can cost you roles.

As we have seen with a lot of Brat Packers so far, Sheedy didn’t let a bad hand take her out of the game.  She has continued to work through difficult times and that’s something to be commended.

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RB
RB
8 years ago

Applause, applause! This is an article I’ve been looking forward to for some time now! As usual, chock full of interesting career info, previously unknown facts and signature Lebeau style humor, sometimes subtle, sometimes right there looking at you. 🙂 War Games is on my top ten permanent list. It was just so breathtakingly well done. At any time, I could drop anything and watch it again. It was one of those life changing movies for me in a lot of ways, way beyond simply becoming a lifelong Matthew Broderick fan as well. Everything about the movie was captivating. Reading… Read more »

RB
RB
8 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Good point on “Right place at the right time.” Really, the same could be said of WarGames, as well. (And I did love those extra tidbits, thanks). You have to understand that in 1983, typing on a screen (instead of a typewriter) and getting a response from the computer, which doesn’t make anyone blink today…… even though in the early 80s the PC was beginning to take hold, it was still quite novel then. Computer hacks and Cold War backdrop… it was pretty heady stuff. BTW the actor who played the professor, John Wood, was dynamite. If you find Elmo… Read more »

Amy
Amy
5 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

After I watched St. Elmo’s Fire 3yrs ago, yup, my thoughts about the characters were the exact same as yours. I thought to myself “All this hype! This movie is an overrated, melodramatic waste of celluloid.” And yet, I still wanted to keep watching… As terrible as the characters are, I still wanted to see how it ended. Its sad to say, it would have been better if Demi Moore’s character died. Sorry. But I think I enjoyed it more than “Less Than Zero”, such I thought head equally detestable characters. Though, neither of these movies rivals the nasty and… Read more »

brokencandy
brokencandy
8 years ago

I don’t think her decline is really anything remarkable or unexpected. Actually, it’s the other way around: Hollywood is brutal and fickle and unfaithful, and making it to the top of the pack- or even the middle, for that matter- and staying there is remarkable and unexpected. I think she got to where she was partly because of good connections, partly because she was a reasonably good actress with a girl-next-door attractiveness that gave her some flexibility- it was equally plausible to cast her as the love interest or the nerd. However, she got older and aged like a normal… Read more »

brokencandy
brokencandy
8 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Yeah. As you can see, Jennifer Jason Leigh was a peer who did similar work and was also more normal-person-pretty than a Hollywood bombshell, and things worked out really well for her. However, Leigh is a top notch actress who made much better choices. You try out a genre or medium and character type and bomb it, you don’t get another chance, and yet a success, like Ally had with ‘High Art’ and Patrick Swayze had with ‘To Wong Foo…’ doesn’t guarantee that there’s more where that came from, for some reason. What a person comes away with reading you… Read more »

Amy
Amy
5 years ago
Reply to  brokencandy

It’s obvious you didn’t read anything Lebeau site to you as a response or his article well, bc you summed at the end of your comment by saying what he ashtray edits and yet implying her is shallow in his arrangement. You’re a joke.

RB
RB
8 years ago

I’ve been thinking about that last comment, Lebeau. It’s a very good observation you make – that the characters in St. Elmo’s Fire are not all that sympathetic, and the movie is dated – can’t dispute that. If i watched it all the way through today, would the movie be more irritating than likeable? Hard to say. I knew a lot of loveable assholes in the 80s who were just like the characters in the movie. Thing is they were such real people, you knew who you were dealing with and life was like being part of a comedy ensemble,… Read more »

Katt
Katt
8 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I first saw St. Elmo’s Fire on cable in the late 80’s (when I was in my late teens) and absolutely fell in love with it. Looking back, it may have had a lot to do with the sound track and the fact that it was filmed in autumn with all the leaves changing. But I think I also identified with the whole “trying to find yourself” thing at that age. But watching it again recently as a forty-something year-old, it’s one of those movies that just hasn’t stood the test of time for me. Most of the characters seem… Read more »

Leo
Leo
8 years ago

Nostalgia Critic: Short Circuit 1 & 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi8gxaguMPY

Yandorio
Yandorio
8 years ago

Wow. What happened to her? you don’t say.
I was in a redneck bar (Tin Nickel or something) in Ocala FLA around 2004
and the girl I was talking to invited her friend over.
Looked exactly like Ally Sheedy and she smiled and she had
that Ally Sheedy crooked front tooth too, but denied everything. Any chance Ally
ended up in Ocala?

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

The Mother Brain Files Underrated Actors Special: Ally Sheedy http://cosblog.cosmelentertainment.com/2010/12/05/the-mother-brain-files-underrated-actors-special-ally-sheedy/ Ally Sheedy was born in the Big Apple in 1962. Her mother was not only a talented writer and press agent but she was also heavily involved with both the civil rights and women’s rights movements of the 1960s. Sheedy’s father was an advertising executive. At an early age, Sheedy studied and performed with the American Ballet Theatre. Dancing was a huge passion for her and she had planned to pursue it as an adult; however, puberty and the sensitivity of her weight ended that dream. By age 12, Sheedy… Read more »

anono99
8 years ago

I generally enjoy the articles, however I usually find myself weary after reading them. I feel the content could be dramatically reduced; I don’t feel the plot summaries add much value. I understand the page layout may not be in your control, but the multiple images and youtube clips make navigating through the various pages a chore.

Your occasional jabs seem cruel and unsubstantiated, and aren’t even necessarily directed at the subject of the article.
Leo
Leo
7 years ago

Just in case you forgot, Sheedy’s birthday will be on Monday the 13th as she turns 54!

Catherine
Catherine
7 years ago

Why the heck do sites I had been to & I saw a news story( in 2009 ) say that Ally Sheedy died??

Desi Arnaz
Desi Arnaz
7 years ago

HI Lebeau, among her long list of movies, I only watch “Maid to Order”.. That’s remind me of what ever happened to Beverly D’Angelo who played the godmother.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Re: Maid to Order (1987) Starring Ally Sheedy and Beverly D’Angelo
http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/1135382-Maid-to-Order-(1987)-Starring-Ally-Sheedy-and-Beverly-D-Angelo?p=29532060&viewfull=1#post29532060
She went from the iconic and legendary Breakfast Club to this.

Gio Soprano
Gio Soprano
6 years ago

Source please, otherwise if I’m dealing with a nutjob I suggest you slip on a banana peel.

https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.js

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

https://twitter.com/entylawyer/status/950233559364657152
James Franco will be at multiple parties tonight and asked dozens of questions by reporters. Not one will ask him about @allysheedy1 or her Tweets. No one will ask him about the underage girls. No one will ask him about his acting school partner or why they suddenly had to close

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

What Did James Franco Do to Ally Sheedy? https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/what-did-james-franco-do-to-ally-sheedy.1385404/ At the Golden Globes tonight, James Franco won the award for best actor in a musical or comedy for his work in The Disaster Artist. Tommy Wiseau was very excited about this, but one of Franco’s old collaborators was not. Ally Sheedy, the Brat Pack actress best known for films like The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire, tweeted tonight that Franco had something to do with her leaving the entertainment industry. She also referenced her fellow ’80s star Christian Slater in a tweet with the hashtag #MeToo. Why is a… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

What prominent celebrity disappeared from the limelight gracefully and with very little notice? https://www.quora.com/What-prominent-celebrity-disappeared-from-the-limelight-gracefully-and-with-very-little-notice/answer/Peter-Wade-5 Several factors impacted the downfall of Sheedy’s sensational career, including an addiction to sleeping pills, an eating disorder, the box office flop Maid to Order (1987), and Sheedy’s unwillingness to conform to the “girl-next-door” roles that made her famous no matter how lucrative the offer. She bravely refused to suck up to directors and be typecast in Hollywood and denounced the movie industry for its sexualization of females. Sheedy took the roles she wanted to take, which were not big at the box office, nor did… Read more »

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