Tim Burton’s most coherently successful movie remains his first, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. While Ed Wood is clearly the work of a more mature and superior actor, as well as remaining the only movie that even comes close to being as good as Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, it suffers from one flaw that keeps it from being quite as coherent as his debut film. Ed Wood really is just a great story that has nothing tremendously important to say about society, where’s Pee Wee’s Big Adventure is about, well, everything. We all know what happened to Paul Reubens following this movie, but what do you know about whatever happened to the rest of the cast of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure?
E.G. Daly-Dottie.
The bike shop employee who dared to love that rebellious lone wolf Pee Wee may well be the most recognizable voice in the cast, if not the most recognizable face. Daly, or Daily, depending on the spelling you believe, is known to kids and young adults and parents across America as the voice of Tommy Pickles on Rugrats. In fact, E.G. Daly has carved out quite a career for herself as one of the pre-eminent voiceover actors of her generation. (And unlike Cree Summer, Daly can actually make her not all sound exactly the same.) She was even the voice of Babe the pig in the sequel Babe: Pig in the City. The most tragic event in Daly’s life actually occurred before Pee Wee. She was dating actor Jon-Erik Hexum at the time he accidentally killed himself by shooting a prop gun filled with blanks at his temple. Oh, and the day she celebrates her own birth is September 11. Bummer.
Mark Holton-Francis.
You remember, Francis, don’t you? The big guy with the even bigger bathtub? Mark Holton has pretty much never stopped working, playing everything from an alien on Star Trek Deep Space Nine to a party guest on Seinfeld.
Diane Salinger-Simone.
The French waitress with the big but, Diane Salinger also played an alien on Deep Space Nine, but is probably more recognizable among those with HBO as Appollonia on Carnivale. She is also Queen Bansheera on Power Rangers.
Judd Omen-Mickey
Contrary to what many people think, the convict who gives Pee Wee a lift early after his bike is stolen was not played Jimmy Smits. (Although Smits did later appear on Pee Wee’s Playhouse.) Judd Omen, like almost all the actors who got an early boost from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, has a long and varied resume that includes not just CSI: Miami, but also L.A. Heat, Acapulco H.E.A.T, and Matlock. Interestingly enough, one can well imagine Jimmy Smits playing nearly every role that Omen played had Omen only had the good luck to land on L.A. Law.
Jan Hooks-Tina
Can you say adobe? Jan Hooks, of course, got her start on Tush, the lamented demented sketch comedy show from WTBS. She may well have been the funniest woman on the planet in the 1980s, if not now. (Well, second funniest, after my wife.) Following Pee Wee’s Big Adventure she was a regular on the second golden age of Saturday Night Live, the era that gave us Phil Hartman and my good friend Jon Lovitz as well. She also made the ill-fated decision to take on a role on Designing Women after all that nastiness surrounding Delta Burke, but managed to survive to appear as Jiminy Glick’s wife.
Lynne Marie Stewart-Nun in the movie within the movie.
Well, heck, who do you think played Miss Yvonne on Pee Wee’s Playhouse?
Jason Hervey-Bratty actor in the same
Hervey went on to much greater fame played the bratty older brother of Kevin Arnold in the 1980s/1990s sitcom The Wonder Years.
Jon Harris-Andy.. Andy!
The man who chased Pee Wee through the valley of giant dinosaurs is much better known to many of his fans as Silo Sam, a professional wrestler who once toured with Jesse Jackson on one of his runs for President.
Cassandra Peterson-Biker Babe
Oh come on! Surely you know this actress played Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, don’t you?
