In the past, I wrote articles on my favorite sports films and there have been classics. But what about films focused on young people and children? The film The sand came to mind the other day, which brings me to this article asking me the question “where are they now?” With that, I chose four films that succeeded, but the themes were focused on a young child or a pre-adolescent. This is part I of the four films that will be examined.
This series of articles will identify the actors who have played in these films and where they are today. From The sand was already mentioned, we will start there.
The sand
This film was based on the year 1962 and even if I was only three years old at the time, the daily life of this group of children was followed and a large part of their activity shown in the film is exactly the way I spent my days to my youth in Pittsburgh. The cast was a colorful and funny distribution of actors who made this film an instant success.
The story was focused on how one of the children, Scotty Smalls, flies a Ruth babe dedicated the baseball of this stepfather and uses it in the baseball games that he and his friends played everything without knowing who was Babe Ruth. The ball is struck in the courtyard of a neighbor where they think they are a vicious dog hangs on the ball and children must find a way to recover it.
Here is the main cast of characters with their real name and their name of film in parentheses.
Art Lafleur (the baby)
This actor was well established in Hollywood appearing in many films from 1978 to 2017. More interesting about Lafleur is however that The sand was not his only sports film in which he played a role. Domaine des Rêves.
In the film Mr. BaseballThe role of Lafleur was that of a coach for New York Yankees. Four years after his last role as an actor, Art Lafleur died after suffering from complications from Parkinson’s disease on November 12, 2021, at the age of 78.
Tom Guiry (Scotty Smalls)
One of the main characters in the film was Smalls. As with his group of friends, in the film, this pre-adolescent (Guiry was in fact 12 years at the time of filming) created the script for the film by taking a ball of his stepfather, then losing it in the courtyard of a neighbor triggering a hilarious set of events by trying to recover the ball.
Originally from New Jersey, at 43, he remains an actor but has not appeared on the film since 2021 when he played in the film The unforgettable. Guiry has also played pieces on television, including stays with Law and order, CSI Miami, elementaryAnd Chicago Justice.
Mike Vitar (Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez)
The real star of the film is Vitar who among the group of young baseball players is the only one to have a real talent. In fact, at the end of the film, we see Benny The Jet Rodriguez playing for Los Angeles Dodgers and steals the base of the house. In his personal life, the career as an actor of Vitar was short -lived. After the release in 1993 of The sandVitar appeared only in five other films and before The sand Three other films. He did a cameo Sandlot 2 which was released in 2005 and was also in D3: powerful ducks.
In 1997, Vitar officially retired to act and became an EMT in Torrance, in California, after which he became a firefighter that he remains in service to date. One of the three growing children, Vitar’s older brother Pablo played the role of Benny Rodriguez’s older character when he was considered a member of the Dodgers. Tragically, Pablo Vitar died of colon cancer in 2008. He had previously been a police officer in Los Angeles. Vitar also has a sister, Elizabeth.
Patrick Renna (Hamilton ‘Ham’ Porter)
Admittedly, the funniest character in this film, the Grassouillée Renna has never lost its image. To date, he looked as he did in 1993, just older. Originally from Boston, Renna has gone from action to production. He and his wife Jasmine have two children and a third on the way this year. Renna has its own website on Patrickrenna.com where Hambino goods can be purchased.
In The sandThe character of Renna was a clumsy and fun child who remembers having tried to reproduce the infamous of Babe Ruth pointing towards the central field predicting a circuit that Ruth made famous in the World Series when he seemed to do exactly. Point and Homer. In truth, Renna was a little baseball player in the League. When you throw for The sand Was made, Renna was in her very first hearing. He was the last character to be thrown into the film. Renna appeared in a range of films, television shows and even clips.
Chauncey Leopardi (Michael ‘Squins’ Palelodys)
You have to love the character of Leopardi especially for his scene with Wendy Peffercorn at the swimming pool when he simulated a drowning just so that the lifeguard can give him a mouth for the mouth so that he can kiss him on the lips. Always deceiving with his glasses, the Sligints represented Nerds everywhere but in the right direction.
Like Mike Vitar, Leopardi chose not to have an acting career and rather launched in business for himself and has a family. Squintts was married to his wife Jennifer for 13 years before divorce, but both also have three children. His last appearance in the cinema came in 2018 and he also appeared in several advertisements. The Leopardi film curriculum vitae is much longer than that of Vitar, but it will remain in memories for its silly glasses and its representation of Slurts Pledys.
Marley Shelton (Wendy Peffercorn)
Female attraction for boys The sand was the character of Marley Shelton. The squinels were determined to steal kisses at the oldest Peffercorn and, as mentioned above, had to simulate a drowning just to achieve it. With a film career that started two years ago The sand In 1991, Shelton, 51, is still acting with his latest role to come the film Shout (2022) as Sheriff Judy Hicks. She also appeared in the television series Tracker Last year.
With two children from her husband Beau Flynn whom she married in 2001, Shelton is from Los Angeles. She is the sister of three other girls, Parents Carol and Father Christopher. Her younger sister Samantha is a professional singer and an actress.
Denis Leary (bill). We have never obtained the surname of Smalls stepfather and if we said, I missed it. Leary did not play a big role but appeared as a brooding and calm character. Leary has had an extraordinarily long film career with many major films. He is also an actor and has been married to Ann Lembeck since 1989, because the couple also has two children. If you have never seen the film Evening of judgment It is a must with Leary playing the villain in a main role.
Leary is a fervent supporter of the Massachusetts firefighters and his first film was Long walk forever, A short film released in 1987. Other films include Demolition man, natural born killers, recovery dayAnd two films that should be released next year, Ice Age 6And Oh what a pleasure.
Karen Allen (mother of Smalls)
Another cinema veteran, probably not the major part of its notoriety Raiders of the lost arch which was created in 1981. Like Leary, Allen did not play a major role in this film. Karen Allen studied at the very prestigious Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. Allen made his first appearance in the comedy Smash Animal house As Katy in 1978, giving him the opportunity to collaborate with John Belushi.
A year later in 1979, she played a big role in Vagabonds which has become a classic cult. His latest film came a year ago with the release of Instinctive. Allen is also a veteran of television films and shows with appearances on programs like Nodes, Alfred Hitchock presentsAnd Law and order. In October, Allen will be 74 years old.
James Earl Jones (M. Mertle)
James Earl Jones is one of the great actors of our time. With an incredible voice that was identifiable when you hear it, Jones started playing in 1953 and played in films until 2021. He died on September 9, 2024, at the age of 93 in Pawling, New York. Originally from Arkabutla, Mississippi, Jones married twice with a child.
In The sandJones played the neighbor in front of the children’s baseball playground and the owner of the beast while the children called him who held the infamous Babe Ruth Ruth hostage from the Autographical Baseball while the group of young people tried to find a way to capture it. At the end of the film, the gang discovered that Mr. Mertle was a retired professional baseball player who played against Babe Ruth.
In his film career, James Earl Jones won an Oscar, three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, One Grammy, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and three times have won a Tony Award. Among all these honors, he was nominated 26 times.
The remaining actors composing the group of friends playing baseball in the film were:
- Marty York (Alan ‘Yeah-Yeah’ McClennan)
- Brandon Quintin Adams (Kenny Dennez)
- Grant Gelt (Bertram Grover Weeks)
- Shane Obedzinski (Tommy ‘Repeat’ Timmons)
- Victor Dimattia (Timmy Timmons)
If you are curious to know the dog in the film, named Hercules, it was loaned by its owner, but in some scenes, a puppet was used to play this part of the film. Two men were put to work inside the oversized puppet to make the dog real.
The real name of the dog was Gunner and if you want to know his complete story about his real owners and what has become of him, you can find this story here. As you will read in this article, the dog died in his sleep 13 years after having followed his birth.
25 years after the release in 1993 of The sandMuch of the distribution met in 2018 in a short YouTube segment that you can look at on this link.
. In part II, I will come back to another classic, Bad news wear.
