There's a heartwarming story on Buzzfeed about Peter Billingsley (Ralphie in A Christmas Story) who is now all grown up and has a real job in movies, working behind the scenes in production. He still has the lamp.
How "A Christmas Story" Kept Peter Billingsley Normal
At age 12, he was the precocious lead in what is now one of the most beloved holiday movies of all time and could have wound up another doomed child star. Instead, 30 years later, he’s quietly reinvented himself as a steady and successful Hollywood player.
posted on December 19, 2013 at 12:27am EST Adam B. Vary BuzzFeed Staff
The director of A Christmas Story was Billingsley's mentor, and he talks bout his new role in Hollywood, and
his lasting relationship with the man who made that role possible, Bob Clark. “He is hands down the most influential person for my career,” he says, “in terms of advising me and always being there to help navigate the roads of going from [being an] actor to [moving] behind the scenes.”
Then there's this little parenthesis:
(Clark died in a car crash in 2007.)
Clark didn't just die in a car crash—he was killed by a drunk, unlicensed illegal alien driver in a GMC Yukon, driving in the wrong lane,in 2007.
But apparently that's the kind of thing we're not noticing this year. A 2011 letter to VDARE.com was called A Christmas Story Fan Discovers What Happened To Director Bob Clark.
The driver who killed was Hector Velazquez-Nava, a native of Mexico.
Velazquez-Nava was sentenced to six years in 2007, as a result of a plea bargain, which means he must be out.
At the time there was talk of deporting him when he got out, but I have no way of knowing if they did it.
See
Also recommended for Christmas Story fans, this, available on Amazon:
The Red Ryder boxed set: BB gun, BBs, targets—and safety glasses, so you don't put your eye out!
