80s movie pin-up, 62, looks unrecognisable 39 years after smash hit movies and new career
IN the mid-80s a formidable group of emerging talent was, perhaps unfairly, dubbed The Brat Pack.
Despite Charli XCX rebranding the term Brat into a positive this year, it had adverse repercussions for one actress.
GettyAlly Sheedy now works as a university lecturer as well as an actress[/caption]
GettyShe features in the new documentary Brat, looking at the emergence of The Brat Pack in the 80s[/caption]
AlamyAlly played gothic high schooler Allison, seen here sitting on the floor, in The Breakfast Club[/caption]
The Breakfast Club’s Ally Sheedy struggled to break free from the cloak that was put around her four decades ago.
The label – a play on the famous Rat Pack nickname given to 50s and 60s crooners such as Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole – came about after a bunch of young up-and-comers appeared alongside one another in multiple coming-of-age movies including St Elmo’s Fire and Oxford Blues.
Ally’s peers included Demi Moore, Robert Downey Jr, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, and Rob Lowe, among others.
Now 62, mum-of-one Ally looks unrecognisable as she splits her time between acting and working as a professor in the theatre department at the City University of New York.
She recently spoke out about her class and how she deals with students who might not be as committed to the course as they should.
She said: “There’s so much to get out of this class, it’s really great.
“If you don’t avail yourself of what’s here, then that’s on you.
“If I can see a particular kid who’s on their phone all the time, I’m not going to say anything. It’s just you’re missing out.”
At the height of her, Ally didn’t feel particularly concerned about the Brat Pack moniker – and why would she, as one of the industry’s hottest new stars.
She told Vanity Fair in 2022: “Movies and working in film and TV and all that— it was this all-consuming love affair in my 20s. This is what I want to do….
“So I understand myself in my 20s, and I also understand how dangerous it can be to simply decide this is my path—period, end of story, nothing else matters.
“But that’s in your 20s. You’re passionate.”
However, that attitude began to change as she became increasingly pigeon-holed and was urged to change her style in order to compete for more prominent roles.
The shallow nature of Hollywood irked her and she had no desire to transform herself into a stereotypical “pretty girl” to land roles.
It was something she had enough difficulty doing during a pivotal scene in The Breakfast Club when her goth character, Allison, is given a glam makeover that then makes her more attractive to boys.
She told The Independent in 2020: “I never liked the makeover.
“Listen, it was Hollywood in the Eighties. They wanted to take the ugly duckling and make her into a swan.
“As far as I was concerned, that wasn’t what I was doing with that character, but that was what they wanted.”
I thought it was a little gossipy and undermining, and I didn’t know that it was going to stick the way that it did.
Ally Sheedy on the Brat Pack name
Ally lamented the misogynistic culture within Hollywood at the time and the pressure on women to conform to the standards set out by the “white men’s club” in charge.
She said: “Acting started to just feel more and more to me like something that I didn’t want my life to necessarily be about.”
And she slammed the Brat Pack name admitting: “The ladies weren’t there.
“We weren’t hanging out as one big group.
“I thought it was a little gossipy and undermining, and I didn’t know that it was going to stick the way that it did.
“It was uncomfortable for quite a long time.”
Despite her disillusionment, Ally has remained in the industry, though she has been more selective with her roles and the people she works with.
In 1998, the romantic comedy High Art renewed interest in her acting career.
Ally played alluring, party-loving photographer Lucy, who lives with her heroin-addict girlfriend in the flat above aspiring high fashion snapper Syd.
After a chance meeting, Lucy and Syd’s lives start to become complicatedly entwined both professionally and romantically.
Ally has gone on record as calling it her favourite role, loving every aspect of it from the direction to the script and filmography.
The actress appeared in X-Men Apocalypse in 2016 and starred as Carol Fink in TV series Single Drunk Female in 2023.
Ally starred alongside a robot in 1986 film Short CircuitRex
St Elmo’s Fire had a stellar cast of emerging talent in the mid 80sRex
Welcome to Billionaire Club Co LLC, your gateway to a brand-new social media experience! Sign up today and dive into over 10,000 fresh daily articles and videos curated just for your enjoyment. Enjoy the ad free experience, unlimited content interactions, and get that coveted blue check verification—all for just $1 a month!
Account Frozen
Your account is frozen. You can still view content but cannot interact with it.
Please go to your settings to update your account status.
Open Profile Settings