Figure 1.--Rickky's most important costumke role was Ceddie in the remake of the American classic, Little Lord Fauntleroy.
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Figure 1.--Rickky's most important costumke role was Ceddie in the remake of the American classic, Little Lord Fauntleroy. |
Rickie Schroeder is the sweet little blond boy who first drew everyone's attention in the remake of "The Champ" (1979). Many of his subsequent movies were disappointiong. They were laregely set in contemprary times and as a result along with his TV show give a good idea of the clothes and hair styles worn bu American boys in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The one exception was, of course, was the flawed but still quite good remake of Little Lord Fauntleroy.
As a younger boy he was so innocent and unself conscious. His parents tried to make sure he had a normal childhood. I think they were fairly strict on him and his siblings. He appeared several times on the "Johnny Carson Show", I think Johnny was rather taken with him. Ricky would bring books or other items, almost like show and tell in grade show.
Of course with his long blond hair, he was just made for "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (1980).
Ricky's moview include The Champ (1979), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980), The Earthling (1980), The Last Flight of Noah's Ark (1980), Hansel and Gretel (1982), Two Kinds of Love (1983), and Two Young the Hero (1988). His first young adult role was Lonesome Dove (1989).
Unfortunately nothing he ever did lived up to his performance in "Champ" I think what happens when these kids make a name for themselves is that movies are made for them that never have the quality of smaller roles in well made movies. Many remember Ricky's closing scene in The Champ as a mpving tear jeaker movie scene.
The British 1980 version of Little Lord Fauntleroy staring Ricky Schroeder is probably the best costume version up to the time. There was even an attempt to have a somewhat accurate hair style which certainly was not the casevin the Freddy Bartholomew version. Alec Guinness played his grandfather. All in all, it was an excellent TV remake of the 1936 classic film about the impoverished New York boy who inherits an enormous estate. The superb photography won an Emmy Award.
Some liked Earthling, but it wasn't one of my favorites, The actors were William Holden, and Ricky Schroeder. It's about a little boy, alone in Austrailia, and how an old man taught him about life. It's another tear jearker.
As he got older he became much more impressed with himself, especially after he began his very disappointing TV series, "Silver Spoons" (19 ). As a younger boy he was still quite nice and appeared in a few interesting costumes, Scout shorts and even a dress. At first he played with Jason Bateman, but the two apparently had a falling out after a few years. I remember the last appearance on the Carson show. He obviously upset Johnny, he tried to play a trick on him, substituting a raw egg for plastic ones he wanted Johnnie to juggle. Then he didn't want to leave when he was supposed to.
The costumes in Little Lord Fauntleroy could have been better, but it was still nice, what with lace collars, longish hair, and velvet suits. I wonder what Ricky thought about that.
He appeared in just the opposite role as a spoiled brat wearing jeans in "Something So Right." He turned in a very creditable performance, although I didn't care for the part.
He appeared several times on Johnny Carson, often bringing books or other props to enliven the interview and clearly was one of Johnny's favorites for his unspoiled enthusiasm.
He is trying to make the transition to adult roles, with a name change to "Rick". He has appeared in two TV roles, "Lonesome Dove" and "A Son's Promise". The later included quite a large number of brothers, who appeared in scruffy clothes.
Ricky (or Rick) as he now wants to be called appears to be successfully making the transition to adult roles. He is proving quite popular on Hill Street Blues. One of his female fans writes: "Six months ago, I not only never would've thought this was possible, but I also actually SWORE that it would never happen. However, I am here now to publicly announce that I WAS A FOOL. Ricky Schroeder is a total hunkazoid and he's a damn good actor ta boot! Earlier this year, as you are probably aware, Jimmy Smits' character on NYPD Blue was killed off and he was promptly replaced with an actor most of us really only
knew as "Little Ricky" from that show we all watched in grade school called "Silver Spoons." Well, I was pretty mad about the whole no-more-Jimmy-Smits thing
and hearing that he was being replaced by Ricky ("Call me Rick now, for god's sake") Shroeder did NOT make me feel a whole lot better. What's he going to do?
Ride that little train he had on Silver Spoons around the precinct and whine about how his arcade-style video game isn't working? Little rich snobby brat!! I watched it anyway, though. And despite the fact I desperately wanted to hate the Rickster, I FAILED MISERABLY. Not only did he grow up extremely nicely, but he's really talented! Go figure! After the first two or so episodes, I hardly remembered Jimmy Smits had been on the show at all! Ricky's character is mysterious and tough, not to mention darn cute. But, as we saw towards the end of the season, he's also incredibly well-mannered (he did apologize for smooching Diane, after all) and a little bit of a softy deep down inside. Sure, he's a tough guy, but he's also got a lot of sweetie potential."
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