The movie Fame had its premiere on this day in 1980. The story of a group of students at New York’s School of the Performing Arts was a hit around the world, and it’s theme tune went to the top of the charts.
The film would go on to inspire a television series that ran for six seasons and a 2009 remake that didn’t have the same impact of the original.
In 2023 the original film was selected to be included in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
The film was directed by Alan Parker and written by Christopher Gore. Parker would go on to direct many well known movies including Evita, Angela’s Ashes, The Commitments, and Mississippi Burning.
Fame focuses on the lives of students at the New York School of Performing Arts, and presents some memorable characters among both the student body and the faculty.
Based on a real life school, which today has been renamed the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, the movie is filled with ambition, struggle and challenges in the world of acting, song and dance.
The gritty take on life in NYC in thew late 1970’s has a lot to say about class, sexuality, ethnicity and the good old American Dream. The film featured actor Paul McCrane as Montgomery MacNeil, a drama student who is struggling with his homosexuality.
McCrane would go on to appearing in the long running television series E.R. as Dr Robert ‘Rocket’ Romano, and he’s currently appearing in TV drama All Rise. When the TV series Fame was launched in 1982 P.R. Paul took over the role of Montgomery, but the character’s homosexuality was erased.
The film also make a star out dancer Gene Anthony Ray who played Leroy Johnson. Ray reprises the role in the subsequent TV series.
Ray was fired from his role in the TV series in 1984 after he had missed work more than a hundred times, and his mother was arrested for being part of a drug ring. Previously Ray’s mother was allegedly caught selling drugs on the set of the film back in 1980.
Aside from his most famous role in Fame, Ray also appeared in the Weather Girls’ video for their mega-hit It’s Raining Men and appeared as Man Friday in a Robinson Crusoe film opposite Michael York.
Later in life there were time that Ray was reported as living on the streets. He was diagnosed as HIV positive in 1995 and in 2003 suffered a stroke, passing away a few months later. Ray never discussed his sexuality and in his obituary it was described that ‘he always flamboyantly brushed aside any questions’.
Irene Cara who played singer Coco Hernandez scored a massive hit singing the now iconic theme song which saw the students rushing out of school to dance on the streets. Erica Gimpel to over the role for the TV series, while Cara went on to have further chart success.
Just a few years later Cara scored a second iconic tune when she sang What a Feeling! the lead song from the movie Flashdance. The song won her an Oscar for Best Original Song and a Grammy award. She scored more hits with Why Me and Breakdance. Irene Cara died in 2022 at the age of 63.
Director Alan Parker passed away in 2020 at the age of 76. Sadly writer Christopher Gore passed away in 1988 aged 43, at the time of his passing his death was attributed to cancer, but we now know he was one of the many people lost to HIV/AIDS.
Quite a few notable people appear in the film including actor Boyd Gaines, Law and Order star Richard Belzer, actor Meg Tilly and fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi.
The TV version of Fame was not so successful in the USA but was very popular in other territories including Australia and the United Kingdom. A teenage Janet Jackson joined the cast for the show’s fourth season.
‘Six Degrees of Separation’ made its debut on stage in 1990
John Guare’s play Six Degrees of Separation made its off-Broadway debut on this day in 1990, opening at the Lincoln Center in New York.
It transferred to Broadway in November and ran for 485 performances, closing on 5th January 1992.
The play tells the story of upper-class couple Fran and Ouisa Kitteredge, who are art dealers living in an expensive apartment overlooking Central Park. One night their dinner soiree is interrupted by a young black man who arrives at their door.
Paul has a slight stab wound and his mugged in the park, he explains that he is a friend of their college aged children. He explains he is the son of actor Sidney Poitier and is in town to meet his father the following day, he shares that his father will be directing a film version of the musical Cats.
They insist the young man stays the night in their guest bedroom, but in the morning, they discover a male sex worker Paul ventured out to meet after they went to bed is also in the house.
They call the police, but Paul and his companion quickly leave. They later learn that the actor Sidney Poitier only has daughters, and their children have no idea who their mysterious overnight guest was.
The interaction kicks off a series of events that leaves the couple questioning their lives and motivations, and themes of acceptance of sexuality runs through the piece.
The role of Ouisa drew acclaimed performance from actor Stockard Channing, who played the part in the play both in New York and London, and then the subsequent film adaptation. She was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her film role.
The role of Paul was originally played by James McDaniel in the Off-Broadway production, he would go on to star in the TV series NYPD Blue. When the show moved to Broadway Courtney B. Vance took over the part, and Adrian Lester played it in the West End.
In the film adaptation from Australian director Fred Schepisi the role of Paul was played by Will Smith.
Taking on a gay role was considered a brave move back in 1992 when the film came out and many people advised the young actor against accepting the part. Smith’s performance was seen as a significant step in his career that allowed people to see him as a serious actor.
Also appearing in the film adaptation is Donald Sutherland, Ian McKellen, Mary Beth Hurt, Heather Graham, Bruce Davison, Richard Masur, Anthony Michael Hall, and Anthony Rapp.
The play had a Broadway revival in 2017 with Alison Janney playing the role of Ouisa Kitteridge. Janney starred alongside Stockard Channing in seven seasons of TV’s The West Wing.
The story is based on a real-life event. In the late 1980s con-man David Hampton convinced many people he was the son of Sidney Pointier, including Inger McCabe Elliot and her husband Osborne Elliot, who allowed Hampton to spend a night at their apartment, only to discover him in bed with another man in the morning. They told the story to their friend, writer John Guare, and it inspired his play.
This post was first published in 2021 and has been updated.
