In 1980 Jamie Lee Curtis was only a couple of years removed from her breakout role in Halloween, and to hear her tell it that role came to her completely by accident. Had it not been for her getting fired from her first major television role she wouldn’t have been free to work with John Carpenter. She told the New York Times, “My mother was protecting me from being a child in the movie business. Later, I got a part on the ABC sitcom Operation Petticoat. I was fired, and I was devastated. Had I not been fired, I wouldn’t have been available for Halloween. As my Jewish family would say, it was bashert — meant to be. I didn’t give it a second thought that it was a horror movie, and my mom had been in a horror movie.”
Christie Brinkley is one of the most well known supermodels on the planet. She’s appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated eight times – including three consecutive Sports Illustrated Swimsuit covers in 1979, 1980 and 1981. At that point in time no model had ever graced the cover of the swimsuit issue that many times. As one of the most in demand models of the era Brinkley toured the world and was photographed in some of the most exotic locations. She finally retired from the game in 2004 but we still love thinking about her timeless looks from the gnarliest decade.
Before she was a fixture of our television screens in the ‘90s Jane Leeves was a mainstay on the Benny Hill Show as one of “Hill’s Angels,” his all woman all the time comedy and dance troupe that appeared in many of the British funnyman’s televised sketches. Not one to rest on her laurels, Leeves quickly moved to the stage before transitioning to regular television work. Even though she didn’t get a lot of lines on the Benny Hill Show it’s obvious that she was able to learn a thing or two about comedy from her saucy British boss.
Tommy Lee and Heather Lockelear were one of the hottest couples of the 1980s. He was playing drums in Motley Crue and she was on TJ Hooker and Dynasty. Even though she was a goodie two shoes she couldn’t help fall for his boyish charms. According to Lee he almost blew his chance with Locklear because he confused her for another Heather. He explained, “I go ‘You’re on TV right now.’ And she’s quiet for a second and then she goes ‘Tommy, that’s Heather Thomas, that’s not me.’ … And I’m like, oh my God, I’m an idiot.”
Growing up in Barranquilla, Colombia Sofia Vergara never thought that she would be the highest paid actress on television. In the ‘80s acting wasn’t even on her radar, but after she was scouted for a Pepsi commercial at the age of 17 she realized that she was camera ready. Although, as she told Harper’s Bazaar she didn’t want to be an artist, just funny, “I never thought I could act, or acting was for me. I’ve never been artistic. I always knew I was funny; I was the class clown, but I never thought to make money out of it or to be professional.”
Cyndi Lauper burst onto the music scene in the 1980s as a brash young singer who just wanted to have fun. Before long she became the face of the MTV generation, a new wave princess who pop punk queen essentially forced her way into the mainstream. She says that when it came time to title her debut album “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” that it was just a joke. She told the Independent, “Somebody said it of me as a joke. I knew it was the kind of joke that would stick, but you know what? I didn’t care. I was like, fine, go with it.” The record went on to sell 22 million copies worldwide with four Top 5 singles.
If you were watching Fox at the tail end of the ‘80s then you couldn’t ignore Married With Children and its break out star Christina Applegate. As gorgeous as she is she also had amazing comedic timing. One thing that’s always stuck out from the show is the raucous response by the audience. Applegate says that was all natural and had nothing to do with an applause sign. She said, “This was all real. In fact, most of the time, we had to tell them to stop, because it would go on for too long … and it would actually start to kind of mess up the timing of the scenes. So we would actually have to ask the audiences to cool it. We didn’t have a laugh track, none of that. This was all, like, those 200 people, at a sporting event, basically.”
While she’s most famous for playing Daisy Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard Catherine Bach was all over our television sets in the ‘70s and ‘80s. All in all she appeared on almost 200 episodes of The Dukes of Hazzard and as multiple characters on The Love Boat while popping up on various programs. Bach has managed to stick around on television long after the rest of the Duke boys stopped acting – but does that really surprise you? She’s one of the most recognizable and lovable stars of the ‘80s, there’s no way that we’re going to let her get away.
Rebecca De Mornay turned heads in Risky Business, the 1983 comedy that made Tom Cruise a star. While De Mornay didn’t become as famous as Cruise she did establish herself as a sultry leading lady at the young age of 19. Visually arresting and with a voice that we can’t forget, De Mornay says that she won the part after less than a year of auditioning. She told the LA Times, “I had only been auditioning for six months–which is nothing–when I got the female lead in a feature film that went on to become a monster hit. got a nine-year ride on one film.”
Even though she’s the consummate California girl Heather Thomas was born in Greenwich, Connecticut. She ended up moving to SoCal with her family while she was still in school and graduated from Santa Monica High School in 1975. She studied at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television after high school and earned her degree before going off to make appearances in B.J. and the Bear before nailing the role of Jody Banks on The Fall Guy. The role made her a household name and she appeared in more than 100 episodes and five seasons of this Lee Majors series.