Rare And Nostalgic Photos Of The Brat Pack
If you came of age watching movies in the 1980s, you probably idolized the Brat Pack. These young Hollywood friends worked, partied, and hung out together in real life, becoming the kind of group that every teen wished they belonged to. Except that wasn’t quite the case. In fact, the reality may have been very different to what everyone imagined.
Core members
To most people, the Brat Pack consisted of Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Rob Lowe, and Andrew McCarthy. Most of them starred together in two defining 1980s teen movies — St. Elmo’s Fire and The Breakfast Club — and many of them made other films together. For a time, they were the princes and princesses of Hollywood.
Charmed lives
In 1999 Melissa Gilbert — Lowe’s girlfriend at the height of the Brat Pack’s fame — told People magazine, “We went to each other’s birthday parties, premieres, everywhere.” Jay Roach — the director who later worked with Lowe on the Austin Powers movies — had an outsider’s view on the group. He said, “They seemed charmed in the way the Rat Pack seemed charmed.”
Unwanted label
Ah yes, the Rat Pack. This was, of course, the group of Las Vegas singers in the 1950s and 1960s led by Frank Sinatra. Journalist David Blum, who coined the term “Brat Pack,” was obviously inspired by Sinatra’s crew. But despite the term being fondly remembered today, it may surprise you to know it was originally created to criticize the young actors — and they’ve always hated it.
Class acts
Both The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire were released in 1985 and are considered the nexus point of the Brat Pack. But there were a few movies in the years leading up to ’85 that first saw certain members work together. For instance, Lowe starred with McCarthy in 1983’s Class, as well as Sheedy in Oxford Blues in ’84.
