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Ahh, the bully. We don't see them on TV and in films as often as we used to. That's not because they're no longer around. They've just changed, and they're no longer as obvious. It's the bullying that's changed. Now, bullies are almost faceless creatures like internet trolls or Gossip Girl. There was a time when a kid getting jammed into a locker, given a wedgie, or having their head dunked in the toilet was a common occurrence; or at least that's what the movies and television taught us. In almost every film or show that focused on kids and teenagers, bullies were a constant threat. We always feared these psychopaths, but we also learned that behind every bully is a crippling social conflict. In the end, almost every bully got theirs. Whether they were beaten up, showed up, or made irrelevant, the bully characters never got to the end of their story without some comeuppance.
Even though we hated these characters with a passion, they were just doing their job. We wondered if there was a level of distrust that followed the actors who played iconic bullies around for the rest of the careers because of those iconic roles, so we decided to check on them. We wanted to see what ever happened to the big bullies from the screen. Sadly, some like Tommy Bond, who played one of the first onscreen bullies ever, Butch on The Little Rascals, and Kim Walker, who played Heather Chandler in Heathers, have passed away. We know that some of them went on to have huge careers, like Ben Affleck from Dazed and Confused or Rachel McAdams from Mean Girls. But what about the characters who didn't become household names? Where did they get to after they had terrorized our favorite protagonists?
Here is a little piece we call 'Where Are They Now? Children’s TV and Movie Bullies.'
Scut Farkus And Grover Dill – A Christmas Story
Scut Farkus and Grover Dill were the feared antagonists of A Christmas Story. Played to perfection by Zack Ward and Yano Anaya, respectively, these two bullies were terrifying. It made it worse that watching A Christmas Story was an annual tradition for many families, so you'd have to face these bullies year after year. Well, after this amazing little film, Ward would go on to put together a solid acting career. He rarely plays the star, but he's been in countless quality films and is memorable in many of them. Anaya did not take the same path. He would go on to act in a couple of other films, including a small role in Better off Dead, but that was it. Nowadays, Anaya is a personal trainer, which is kind of fitting. He always looked jacked for a little guy.
Mike Dexter – Can't Hardly Wait
Can't Hardly Wait was your typical '90s high school movie and Mike Dexter was the average bully. After he made a name for himself in that film, the actor, Peter Facinelli, made a very good career in the industry. He would nab roles in Riding in Cars with Boys and The Scorpion King. He would also get a recurring role in Six Feet Under. His biggest role to date, next to that of Mike Dexter, of course, came when he got the part of Dr. Carlisle Cullen in the Twilight franchise. If you were ever wondering why he looked so familiar under that baby powder and blonde hair, that's probably why.
The O'Doyle Family – Billy Madison
The O'Doyle Family in Billy Madison were a multi-generational bully machine. Every couple of grades, Billy would encounter a new member of the O'Doyle family, each one worse than the last. We'll go through each member and see what they're up to. The first O'Doyle Billy encounters is in grade one, the kid who throws the dodge ball at him. That's Conor Devitt, who would go on to act in Harriet the Spy and La Femme Nikita (again as a bully). After that, Devitt left acting. He now works in real estate and has no hair. The next one in line came in grade three, the O'Doyle who stuffs that kid in the garbage bin. That was actor Christian Matheson. Matheson would act in some great shows like Goosebumps and Eerie Indiana. We have no idea where he is today. The next, the O'Doyle who dumps yogurt or something on Billy's head in high school, is played by Colin Smith who still acts, just not very well or very often. The final O'Doyle is the one who puts cow dung in Billy's locker. This one was played by Sean Lett. Sean Lett never acted again. So, since we know next to nothing about three of the four actors, we decided to show you only Conor Devitt. Enjoy.
Chris Hargensen – Carrie
The actress who played Carrie's bully, Chris Hargensen, in Carrie, was Nancy Allen. She would go on to have a massive career in the film industry. Before she was throwing tampons as Sissy Spacek in the Stephen King-written and Brian De Palma-directed horror flick, Allen had barely acted at all. Carrie was her first big film. After that, however, Allen got a part in Spielberg's 1941. She then married De Palma, four years after he directed her in Carrie. That led to roles in many of his films, including Dressed to Kill and Home Movies. She then landed a role in a small film called RoboCop, which you might have heard of. With this on her resume, Allen pretty much solidified her status as a major actress. With age came a slowdown in her career. These days, Allen doesn't act. She is now a cancer activist in charge of the weSPARK Cancer Support Center.
Harley Keiner – Boy Meets World
When Cory Matthews first got to high school, he encountered Harley Keiner and friends and realized that high school was going to be a different ball game. Compared to some of the bullies on this list, Harley was more of a threatener than an actioner. Sure, he would shove the kids in the lockers, call Cory "Baboon," and influence them to do bad things, but he would rarely ever resort to physical violence. After that role, the actor, Danny McNulty, would struggle to find other acting work, but he would go on to reprise his role in Girl Meets World, getting a janitor position at the kids' school. It appears that McNulty has tried to make sure people don't look at his old character as a role model. He frequently speaks out against bullying and uses his Boy Meets World fame as a soapbox to help others. His bully friends, Frankie the Enforcer (Ethan Suplee) and Joey the Rat (Blake Sennett/Soper) would go on to have massive careers. Suplee would land big time gigs in American History X, Remember the Titans, and My Name is Earl. Soper got into music, becoming the lead guitarist in the popular band Rilo Kiley. He also formed the band The Elected.
Nellie Oleson – Little House On The Prairie
Ugh. Nellie Oleson is one of those little demon children. We're going to be honest, Little House on the Prairie was never our favorite show. It was just dreadfully boring. Still, the bully character, Nellie, played by Alison Arngrim, was one of the best at what she did. That also means that Nellie was one of the most annoying little brats on television history. Those facial expressions she would make were like nails on a chalkboard for so many. Arngrim would continue acting here and there, showing up on The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. She was also a frequent member of Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour. Arngrim speaks openly about what we would expect many of the bullies on this list suffered from. She has said that her bully image never left her no matter how hard she tried to erase it. People just couldn't shake the image they had of her, and they judged her in real life because of it. More recently, we've heard Jack Gleason, the actor who played Joffrey Lannister on Game of Thrones, talk about this phenomenon as well.
Bulk And Skull – Power Rangers
The bullies in the Power Rangers universe, Bulk and Skull, were disgusting. They were basically punks, but they seemed to always be doing something gross. Sure, they bullied the Rangers in school, but they were never able to physically intimidate any of the main cast. Jason Narvy, the actor who played Skull, has his PhD in theater studies, and he would go on to become an associate professor in the Theatre Department at Concordia University, Chicago. Paul Schrier, the actor behind Bulk, would stay on with the Power Rangers franchise longer than any other original cast member. He even came back in 2011 for Power Rangers Samurai. He's tried his hand at directing as well, with a resume that includes some Power Rangers Episodes and several episodes from the Hello Kitty animated series.
Libby Chessler – Sabrina The Teenage Witch
In addition to the physically threatening bully, another common trope in kid's television was the rich and verbally abusive bully. This is where Libby Chessler from Sabrina the Teenage Witch would fall. Played by Jenna Leigh Green, Libby would terrorize Sabrina and her friends with vicious words and name-calling. One of her favorite words was "Freak." But Libby took a lot of abuse as well. She was turned into a variety of things, including a pineapple and a goat, and Sabrina cast spells on her on the regular. Chessler is still acting today, landing spots in Bones, Castle, and Quantico. She also was in the Broadway production of Wicked, which is pretty impressive.
Dudley Dursley – Harry Potter
Dudley Dursely was Harry's douchey cousin in Harry Potter. We all know what he did and how ugly he was as a person, so let's just jump right past that. By the end of the Harry Potter franchise, the actor who played Dudley Dursley, Harry Melling, had lost so much weight and was so unrecognizable from his earlier years that he had to wear a fat suit for the part. These days, although he is probably healthier, Melling looks like a rabid werewolf. Since he left Potter behind, Melling has performed on stage and on the screen. His roles in Merlin and The Musketeers are probably his biggest since. He also just had a role in the film The Lost City of Z.
Eddie Haskell – Leave It To Beaver
Maybe you're too young to know the name Eddie Haskell, but you would know his character. You know, those slimy characters who act all proper and kind in front of parents and authority figures, but as soon as backs are turned, they show their true colors? Well, this is the character that Eddie Haskell made famous on Leave it to Beaver. Eddie would terrorize Wally whenever he got a chance but he was an angel to the parents. After the show ended, the actor behind Eddie Haskell, Ken Osmond, found it nearly impossible to find acting work because he was so typecast by the role. Instead of acting, Osmond became a Los Angeles police officer. He remained on the force for many years through to retirement. After that, at an age that he was unrecognizable as the former Eddie Haskell and could have moved past the typecast character, Osmond returned to the character of Eddie Haskell, reprising the role in the film Still the Beaver and the revival comedy series The New Leave It to Beaver.
Jay And Ice — Hocus Pocus
Ice and Jay were the bullies in Disney's Hocus Pocus. Like a couple of entries on this list, Hocus Pocus is a holiday film which means it's revisited often, which also means that these bullies get a lot of airtime in our lives. The actors who played Jay and Ice, Tobias Jelinek and Larry Bagby, respectively, both went on to have commendable careers. Jelinek did some theater but wouldn't return to the screen again for another four years after his first ever role in Hocus Pocus. He played one of the biker gang members in Batman & Robin. He also landed recurring roles in Southland, The Young and the Restless, Shameless, The Mindy Project, and, perhaps most famously, Stranger Things. His partner in crime in Hocus Pocus, Ice, played by Larry Bagby, made it to this list twice.
Larry Blaisdell – Buffy The Vampire Slayer
The fact that Larry Bagby, the actor who played both Larry Blaisdell on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Ice on Hocus Pocus, is on this list twice proves two things. One, Larry Bagby was typecast as a bully. That much is clear. And two, he played an amazing bully. For Bagby to play not one but two of the most iconic bullies in history is pretty remarkable. He played bullies in other roles too, but none were as big as Ice or Larry Blaisdell. On Buffy, Blaisdell was a big-time bully. He especially targeted Xander until Buffy picked him up and slammed him down. He also connected with Xander later on because he thought Xander was gay, like Blaisdell was. Classic miscommunication. After Buffy, Bagby would go on to star in films like Walk the Line and shows like The Young and the Restless.
Seth Devlin — Donnie Darko
Remember the two bullies from Donnie Darko? Well, you probably recognize one of the two quite well. That's Seth Rogen in his first major movie. The other is actor Alex Greenwald. The character is Seth Devlin. Devlin was a real piece of work. The term bully doesn't quite cut it. He was extremely violent and homicidal. Either way, the actor, Greenwald, became the lead singer of the band Phantom Planet. They are still best known for making the song "California," which you probably know as the theme song to The O.C. He never really acted again outside of a few commercials and music videos, but he is the spouse of a pretty famous actress, Brie Larson.
Biff Tannen – BTTF
Played by Thomas F. Wilson, the character of Biff Tannen might be the most famous bully in history. He really hammered home that abusive bully trope in each of the Back to the Future films. After his work on the Back the Future films, Wilson took on the role of Coach Ben Fredricks in Freaks and Geeks. He has also done extensive voice work in some of the biggest animated series. The other bullies in BTTF were Match (Billy Zane), Skinhead (Jeffrey Jay Cohen) and 3-D (Casey Siemaszko). Zane would go on to have a great career, appearing in Twin Peaks and Titanic to name a couple major projects. Both Cohen and Siemaszko would continue acting and did quite well with smaller roles in well-known projects.
Johnny Lawrence — The Karate Kid
Johnny Lawrence is the evildoer in The Karate Kid. Now, we all know that Johnny gets his in the end of the film, but before Daniel nearly kicked his head clean off his shoulders, Johnny was your typical bully. Truth be told, Daniel egged the guy on plenty, but Johnny was overly aggressive and violent. The actor who played Johnny, William Zabka, would go on to act in several comedies including National Lampoon's European Vacation. He had a great role in Hot Tub Time Machine, in which he was betting against the main characters on a football game. Like usual, Zabka played a bully-type role in that showing that he never could quite escape his past. He also directed a short film, Most, which was nominated for an Academy Award.
Sources: Wikipedia; IMDB;
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