Have You Seen Rick Moranis?

Last weekend my family and I sat down to watch some evening telly, and on popped classic 80s movie Ghostbusters (1984). I saw Rick Moranis' endearing, childlike face and wondered what the hell happened to him? The last thing I knew was that he was in every big movie of the 80s and early 90s, then suddenly he fell off the Hollywood cliff side into cinematic oblivion. Have you wondered the same recently? Well wonder no more.... At Celluloid Film we like to get the big scoops and we've managed to track him down- glimpsing the great man putting his rubbish out at his Manhattan residence! The legend lives on! Seriously though, what happened?

Turn your heads back to the 80s. Imagine the stonewashed denim, the hair, the makeup, the shoulder pads... and that was just the men. Flick your quiff from your eyes, park the Quattro and go and see Rick Moranis in Honey I Shrunk the Kids, or the aforementioned Ghostbusters. Moranis broke into the industry through SCTV, delighting viewers with his impressions of Woody Allen, David Brinkley and George Carlin. He created a sketch called Great White North featuring the characters Bob and Doug McKenzie, who grew so popular CBC scheduled 90 minute programmes for the USA in 1981. This led to his first major film role in Strange Brew (1983). He went from strength to strength, generally playing his signature helpless, likeable nerd role notably in Ghostbusters, Spaceballs and the Honey I... franchise.

Things seemingly couldn't go wrong for Moranis. Happily married, two kids, major Hollywood film star. In 1991 tragedy struck. His wife Anne was diagnosed with breast cancer and died. Moranis carried on working, making The Flintstones (1994) as a barely recognisable Barney Rubble, mainly because he wore a blonde wig and was without his trademark glasses. By 1996-97 Mornais has since admitted that he began to step back from the film industry. "I'm a single parent and I found it too difficult raising my kids and travelling making movies at the same time. So I took a little break, which turned into a big break. I found that I didn't really miss it".

Rick Moranis officially retired from showbusiness in 1997. He has since been credited with voice over roles on Brother Bear, and has released a musical record called the Agoraphobic Cowboy. However, it doesn't seem the legend from the 80s will make a major comeback any time soon. Ah well, we'll have to be satisfied with his classic movies from the 80s. I'll put my feet up and relive my childhood...