Jonathan Brandis would be 50 today 💔
Posted by MellifluousManatee@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 184 comments
Posted by MellifluousManatee@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 184 comments
BishlovesSquish@reddit
It was him and Devon Sawa for me, I was so obsessed. He was taken way too soon, may he RIP.
SpellHausMagic@reddit
"Can I keep you?" Yes, yes, hot version of Casper, you can. Little old me swooned.
Mizc24@reddit
Love Devon Sawa too btw he's still with us. Brad Renfro is who passed in 2008.
lnc_5103@reddit
Devon Sawa for me too
IVShadowed@reddit
He would be fifty tomorrow too!
MCChrisWasMeanToMe@reddit
Do you think if he'd have lived he'd eventually have become a good actor?
JBridsworth@reddit
I remember him in The Neverending Story 2 and Sidekicks.
HYThrowaway1980@reddit
To this day, I think Sidekicks might be the only film I’ve ever watched starring Chuck Norris.
LojikSupreme@reddit
Lived in Houston for a year with my Dad, two weeks after going back to NY one of my friends called to let me know that Chuck Norris was about to film a movie at the H.S. I just left.
I still think it's cool that I can watch that movie and see a lot of my old classmates including one of the girls I had a crush on.
_1JackMove@reddit
You need to do yourself a favor and watch Way of the Dragon with he and Bruce Lee fighting to the death in it. Classic.
Emergency-Pack-5497@reddit
That's the main thing I wanted to see in Rome, the location of Bruce Lee and chuck Norris' fight to the death
_1JackMove@reddit
I'm with you friend. I'd have wanted to see the same lol.
HYThrowaway1980@reddit
Oh I’ve seen that. But he isn’t the star of the film, an his name isn’t on the poster. I’ve also seen his turn in Expendables 3 or whichever one it was.
WindTall5566@reddit
It was my first Chuck Norris movie.
No_Trainer_1258@reddit
That reminds me to watch Missing In Action againas I haven't seen those in about 30 years...
cherryberry0611@reddit
And Ladybugs
BodhingJay@reddit
And seaquest
gingersrule77@reddit
LOVED Seaquest
Electronic_Repeat_81@reddit
Have you seen the David Lynch version?
here’s the trailer
BlacksmithInformal80@reddit
Delta force
BadPunners@reddit
You're great. You're wonderful. Everyone likes you.
mid_tier_drone@reddit
yall wouldnt believe how hard im grinning every time i pull off the stupid takedown he used vs the bully (?) in sidekicks when grappling
DEIreboot@reddit
LojikSupreme@reddit
I didn't know he passed. Dang. 😔
somethingsoddhere@reddit
Part of wonders if he was groomed like the majority of celebrities in the Epstein files.
Sufficient_Turn_9209@reddit
Going as far back as Judy Garland and Shirley Temple reporting harassment from studio heads like Louis B. Mayer, to Jane Fonda's abuse and pressure to "appease men in the industry", to Corey Feldman and Todd Bridges, and more recently Quiet on Set revealing the abuse at Nickelodeon from late 90s to early 2000s. As if the pressure of being a child star wasn't enough to wreck their mental health, they also had to endure these disgusting power dynamics? I airways wonder why would any parent want this for their kids, knowing what we know?
IceXence@reddit
Often, the parents are abusers too. They pressured their children into those careers.
FluffySpell@reddit
There's a documentary on Netflix or Hulu (can't remember which) called "Bad Influence" all about a group of kid YouTubers and the shit that went down in the house. The answer is money. They do it for the money.
There was one woman in the documentary talking about how the parents lived in a guest house on the property and all the filming was done in the main house but the parents "weren't allowed" in the main house and they were so blinded by all that sweet sweet YouTube money they ignored SO many red flags.
karebearjedi@reddit
I know he tried to tell everyone about Rodney Dangerfield sitting in his dressing room butt ass naked and everyone laughed at him. He was definitely a victim, but likely not one of Epsteins. Most likely one of Weinsteins victims. I feel so badly for him. He deserved the world and just got abuse instead
littlespoon1@reddit
Wait, I feel like I haven't heard the dangerfield stories? He was a perv?
karebearjedi@reddit
He was a well known perv, but people looked the other way
karebearjedi@reddit
https://youtu.be/CwSh3bqq72c?si=07FXq0tHIc7nSdO9
Queasy_Dig_8294@reddit
Holy crap I had never heard that. Now I want to cry all over again if that is what he was out through.
blueeeyeddl@reddit
Tbh I assumed something like that happened to him given everything we’re learning about Hollywood and the way it treats child stars.
thisisstephen@reddit
Corey Feldman told us about the abuse of 80s child stars years ago.
cherryberry0611@reddit
I’ve thought that too
Nonametousehere1@reddit
I've had the same thought,too...
Embarrassed_Dig_986@reddit
He is technically 50
al_brownie@reddit
I had a giant poster of his face from one of the teen magazines.
amoreenero@reddit
I had such a crush on him! Gone way too soon. 😔😔😔
nyXhcinPDX@reddit
TIL he's been dead for 23 years. RIP
go_west_til_you_cant@reddit
My #1 crush back in the day. Rest in peace.
JessBx05@reddit
Seaquest DSV was my #1 tv show in year 7 because of him.
Dreaming_of_Rlyeh@reddit
It was Grade 10 for me. I didn't realise he died in '03. My memory was always that he died in the late '90s, not long after DSV ended.
MSmtnMomma@reddit
He died on my birthday. If I had one birthday wish come true.
greenwhiteredblack@reddit
No disrespect to space colonization, but this show had me coming for this type of future more. I mean at least we have a few hotels, which is much more than anything we've done in space, but imagine if someone with Musk's wealth was into oceanography in the past 30 years where we could be. Under the sea probably
Just-a-Guy-4242@reddit
Titan…
LadyLoki5@reddit
Yesss! I used to watch it every week with my mom, I had no idea what was happening in the show most of the time lol just made dreamy heart eyes at him 😄
Simple-Chemistry-878@reddit
Yessss. Definitely. My mom teased me about it constantly.
SmallRocks@reddit
Woah! That’s a show I haven’t heard of in ages! I wonder how it holds up.
karebearjedi@reddit
Season 1 kinda holds up because they tried to base it on science. The rest.... well I can see now why it got canceled.
weeeeelaaaaaah@reddit
Oh come on! The later seasons were awesome! Although I'll never figure out why they renamed it "Sealab 2021'...
karebearjedi@reddit
Lolol fair I'll just always be salty over how they treated Roy Schneider. He dared to complain about the direction of the show so they hired Ironside as the new captain and made Bridger the bad guy out of spite.
balding_git@reddit
they’re all enjoyable for their own reasons but ya s1 is the best.
michael ironside and the deluise brothers make the rest worth watching but it goes a bit weird. still fun to watch!
TheVenetianMask@reddit
Last I checked the CGI stuff hadn't aged well at all.
Leading-Summer-4724@reddit
Yeah I weirdly didn’t know he’d passed so young until I went to re-watch the show on streaming. Got a gut punch from IMDB when I looked him up to see how he was doing.
Aggressive-Oil-4125@reddit
Yes!!!!
kinetic_cheese@reddit
Same! I would have normally had zero interest in a marine-based sci-fi show, but I watched every week religiously because of Jonathan.
WittyWitWitt@reddit
Oh I remember this on a Saturday afternoon.
It didn't last long though did it?
marla_hooch_spacecat@reddit
Same!
Simple-Chemistry-878@reddit
Same. Was so sad when I heard what happened...
HeyPrettyLadyMaam@reddit
Same. I watched Ladybugs so much I ruined 2 vhs tape😂. He was the most beautiful boy I had ever seen 😭 I was so in love with him.
thelaceserpent@reddit
I tried rewatching it again after my sister died (I was going through a watch all our favorite movies phase) and omg did it not age well 🙈
CharlieEvans81@reddit
Oh, it absolutely did not. The 90's were so wild.
CharlieEvans81@reddit
Ladybugs is the reason why I played soccer in high school! I love this movie.
MellifluousManatee@reddit (OP)
Mine too. As someone with depression, it still hits so hard.
dystopika@reddit
He was a fellow bicentennial kid. I've always struggled with depression and hearing about people who've taken their own lives always hits a little harder. Especially people around my age.
DEIreboot@reddit
EclipseCaste@reddit
100%. Poor love
SparklyTree_1754@reddit
Same!
Tenaciousgreen@reddit
Same!
Additional_Egg7024@reddit
Same first crush I can recall
Tiny-Reading5982@reddit
"Fall into darkness" with Tatiana Ali and eve from days of our lives was my favorite movie with him. He was such a cutie 😢
wasabinski@reddit
Patrick Ball (Dr Langdon in The Pitt) looks a lot like him
Tiny-Reading5982@reddit
Omg I see it now
Starscream147@reddit
Big time.
I thought I saw a ghost first time I saw him.
americanadvocate702@reddit
The clip of him on Connan O'Brian outing the creepy elite is wild. He says Rodney would come out in a robe with nothing underneath constantly
AmIYourNeighbor@reddit
So wait, he was “outing the creepy elite” AND committed s••cide? Given what we know now, that seems suspicious.
youshantnome@reddit
There’s a really dark blind item about him on set of one of his last movies. I think he was cut out of it and it was supposed to be his comeback. The story of the blind item was that other actors in that set were sleeping with underage girls in the country they were shooting in. Jonathan spoke up about that not being right and was then ostracized by the rest of the cast.
Tiny-Reading5982@reddit
Yes "harts war". Then he was supposed to be in a new series and I don't think it got picked up. His career kind of sounds like it would've gone the way of mark-paul gosselaar. Great actor, great looking but every show gets canceled soon after it starts.
Starwaverraver@reddit
He looked so different in later life, I wouldn't have recognised him
AsparagusOverall8454@reddit
He does not look well in that picture.
Tiny-Reading5982@reddit
I wonder if he started drinking?
absentlyric@reddit
He reminds me a lot of Nick Stahl, he probably would look similar to him today.
DrAsthma@reddit
Damn. There's a name I haven't heard in a long time. There for awhile Nick Stahl seemed to be a ticket to a good flick. If you've never seen in the bedroom, it's amazing.
ShortBrownAndUgly@reddit
Wow. His hair was kind of this visual calling card I think
MintTealGecko@reddit
oh wow. Why is it that milestones hit harder? Much love to the bicentennial babies.
Yesterday I learned an attractive struggling actor acquaintance took his own life over the weekend. I had thought of checking in on him at Easter but didn't. It's busy season at work and we weren't actually close. I was listening to a family member tell a story that was really close to something that had happened to the actor and realized it had been a couple years since we'd had a real conversation.
My younger naïve self was angry in 2003 like someone definitely should have helped Jonathan like it was that easy... Take QPR training if you can, reach out when you can, be as kind as you can, and be kindest to yourself... mental illness is a tough beast to battle.
sapphireskiesx@reddit
The only person I ever sent fan mail to. 🤍
bedheaderbug@reddit
Loved ladybugs in 6th grade! May he RIP
LuxyontheMoon@reddit
He talked about Rodney Dangerfield refusing to wear clothes on that set.
GarblingCumfarts@reddit
That was pretty much common knowledge about Rodney on set. Dude just wanted to wear a robe and nothing under. The dude gave no fucks. The dude did not abide.
vonnegutflora@reddit
Give no fucks on your own time, not in the workplace where there are children.
GarblingCumfarts@reddit
You think he was going around flashing people his shit or something?
Calm down.
vonnegutflora@reddit
That exactly the accusation that Jonathan Brandis made dude, but no one listed.
Maybe you shouldn't be so quick to defend someone who is total cool with putting himself in a manner of dress that has the potential to expose his cock and balls to children (at worst) or co-workers (at best), GarblingCumfarts.
bedheaderbug@reddit
Ew
Old-Package-4792@reddit
No respect!
DEIreboot@reddit
Positivity perfect pass play Penny Pester!
ragonastik39@reddit
Bummer.
No_Flamingo9331@reddit
I remember so clearly when his photo came up in the “who died this year” at some awards show - my jaw must have hit the floor. God I loved him. Made me so sad that he must have been in such pain.
Joecamoe@reddit
His ace dead
nanneryeeter@reddit
I didn't even know he was sick.
Sevenswansaswimming8@reddit
I freaking was on love with him. I remember crying when he passed away. I used to write fanatics about seaquest.
CatManDo206@reddit
Can I ask how did he die?
redlikedirt@reddit
He hanged himself outside his apartment in LA
CatManDo206@reddit
Yikes didn't know that I remember him as a kid in these movies
nuskit@reddit
My weird flex? He was my first kiss. It was during the filming of Seaquest. I was living overseas when he passed, and was pretty sad. I'm glad he's in a better place now. At least I hope it's better than where he was before.
NikiTeslasPigeonWife@reddit
His story is so sad. He was a great actor with a lot of potential. Not only was he beautiful, his soul was, too. 😔
Rivas-al-Yehuda@reddit
I just rewatched Sidekicks a couple days ago!
Mysterious_Fennel459@reddit
I thought that was Rider Strong.
Sad_Palpitation6844@reddit
Hard loss
dlgirl81@reddit
💔
punky100@reddit
I just started watching Sea Quest DSV and every time I see him it's a huge hit of nostalgia.
Happy birthday to him
Johnykbr@reddit
As I understand it, he had a decent role in Hart's War that he was hoping would revitalize his career after he spoke up on the casting couch nature of Hollywood then he found out at the premiere that his role had been completely cut so that you just see his face for a split second.
I've hated that movie ever since.
bascule@reddit
TIL: Jonathan Brandis has the exact same birthday as Glenn Howerton
aubreypizza@reddit
😭
CicaCariad@reddit
It and Never ending Story 2 for me 💔
EastCoastDizzle@reddit
I was a little young for him but remember him being all over Bop and Big Bopper magazines. Was sad to find out he passed. Ladybugs is a classic in my eyes.
osddelerious@reddit
He’s dead? He was great on the Star Trek submarine show
TheIdeaArchitect@reddit
Where do I know him from??
Imaginary-Desk1408@reddit
Rest in peace. Junior high school me covered every available spot of my bedroom walls with posters of him. Even had a giant poster on my ceiling above my bed. I adored him. I wish he knew how special he was to so many of us.
No_Trainer_1258@reddit
So he was 16 when in Ladybugs...
I wondered if Robby from Cobra Kai is related?
chypie2@reddit
we would've been married for like 30 years by now ugh
Shoulda_Ben_Aborted@reddit
The wedding would still be talked about to this day
JanieJane96@reddit
I had a big crush on him in high school, so my best friend got me a calender of him for Christmas. I had it hanging in my bedroom. When my mom saw it, she says, "What's that?" And I said, "It's my sexy man calendar!" LOL ❤️ RIP Jonathan ❤️
neonbrownkoopashell@reddit
He was from my neighbor town, I had no idea. Lived him in IT, NES2 and Ladybugs
Allrojin@reddit
I think about him all the time, it's so sad.
whereisbeezy@reddit
I think about him sometimes. He deserved better.
SeaQuest 🤎
Outside-Writing-8602@reddit
Wow I always thought he was my age but he’s like 9 years older that a wow for me but sooo sad he’s no longer with us
Adrasteia-One@reddit
I always admired him as a talented young actor. So tragic that he was gone at such a young age.
goodhumorman85@reddit
I just rewatched Sidekicks. Y’all it totally holds up! JB was a tremendous talent.
Defiant-Difference17@reddit
Had a subscription to Bop And Jonathan covered my walls. RIP
ObieUno@reddit
He’s dead? Wow, TIL
Pale_Row1166@reddit
It’s so wild how many of our teen and tween heartthrobs died in their 20s. I feel like this is not happening with Gen Z actors in their 20s. Hopefully whatever bad shit happened to all these guys is no longer as prevalent in the industry.
absentlyric@reddit
Weirdly enough, the majority of Gen Z suicides just so happen to be a lot of younger pornstars for some reason.
Makes me think the same exact things that happened to them were happening to actors back in the day.
Pale_Row1166@reddit
Terrible, I hope not
raven00x@reddit
Harvey Weinstein wants you to forget what he did.
BK_0000@reddit
He killed himself back in 2003.
Fine_Violinist5802@reddit
TIL. Another 27 club member 😔
basylica@reddit
Comitted suicide - sad day
karebearjedi@reddit
And now I'm crying.
Unlucky_Reception_30@reddit
Wait, who is this guy? I thought this was Shawn from Boy Meets World
angnicolemk@reddit
Who else wrote their name with the last name Brandis over and over again on their school notebooks? 💔
crapatthethriftstore@reddit
RIP to my number one teen crush
Next-War6365@reddit
Poor guy. Sad we didn't know about mental health back then like we do now
CharlieEvans81@reddit
My first celebrity crush! Had the honor of meeting him when I was 12. Super kind and a real sweetheart.
PoozersPop1971@reddit
Today I learned Jonathan Brandis passed away.
DrewDAMNIT@reddit
"There's no fate but what we make."
Own-Economy6208@reddit
I met him at the Philadelphia Car Show in like 1993? I remember I was wearing my hornets starter jacket and I came with my “boys” scrapbook and he was so friendly. He turned to the page for Matthew Lawrence and he said “just don’t let him take my place, okay?” in the most whimsical voice, playful but with a deep sadness to it. I can still hear it. Ugh I loved him so much.
Res_Novae17@reddit
I have this random early childhood memory of telling one of the girls in my church "Put your tongue back in your mouth" when he showed up on screen in SeaQuest.
PotentialPlum4945@reddit
He was in Puerto Vallarta Squeeze with Scott Glenn and Harvey Keitel. Keitel would later say that Brandis could really act.
Sufficient_Focus4174@reddit
Likely would’ve had an amazing life as well. People have to stop using permanent solutions for temporary problems. Such a sad waste.
ImprovementThat2403@reddit
Poor fella likely had bipolar disorder according to his father, untreated of course.
I don't know who neds to hear this, but if you're feeling down and like you want to take your own life, please don't and talk to someone about it.
I lost my little brother to suicide in 2021, if only I'd known how he was feeling I believe I could have helped him. Please don't suffer in silence.
AdDense7020@reddit
I was down bad for him. ❤️
Chicken_Water@reddit
Wild. I just turned on seaQuest randomly today.
CharismaticAlbino@reddit
Who are you watching it through?
Chicken_Water@reddit
It's on peacock here in the states
CharismaticAlbino@reddit
🤔, thank you!
Seattle_Lucky@reddit
I loved that show and was so bummed when it was cancelled.
ShortStoryIntros@reddit
nostalgia hit
Mango808Kamaboko@reddit
Ahh I loved him so much! My cousin and I would watch the IT miniseries (not appropriate for children omg), Ladybugs, Sidekicks, and Neverending Story Part II on repeat at our grandma's house every weekend. 😍
motorcity5150@reddit
Man when he passed and Brad renfro passed it set a tone of sadness in my life
EcstaticPlankton8621@reddit
Sidekick and Lady Bugs. Forgot he was in the first movie version of IT.
Loud-Routine9233@reddit
he's been gone almost longer than he was alive :-(
Juztaan@reddit
Mr Dumpling!
canadianvintage@reddit
You must always be ready
Juztaan@reddit
He confuses his opponents by smashing their faces with his fist!
ThinkFree@reddit
I remember renting Sidekicks because Chuck Norris was in it. Then years later he was in DSV.
smolstuffs@reddit
https://i.redd.it/xfjt8zpkhwug1.gif
USAF_Retired2017@reddit
My crush. His pic was all over my walls. RIP
EclipseCaste@reddit
My room only had posters of him 😌
VectorJones@reddit
Same actor Christopher Pettiet who died 26 years ago today. Always a shame when anyone that young passes.
bloodpriestt@reddit
Outside Providence
GretaGreen3@reddit
💔
Nonametousehere1@reddit
Aw man :(
XFrankXGrimesX@reddit
Getting most of the girls in my class watching a middling sci-fi show was a serious show of star power. I personally don't know any girls who watched Trek but just about any girl in class could talk Seaquest RIP
Pyrite13@reddit
First saw him in the original Stephen King’s It. I was a fan from then on. He and Brandon Lee are my personal biggest losses in the acting world.
Traditional_Isopod80@reddit
RIP My friend.
Neonlikebjork@reddit
RIP
Suns_In_420@reddit
I'll watch some SeaQuest in his honor.
PackageNorth8984@reddit
The 27 club is so sad.
JPPT1974@reddit
Sadly such an tragic club you never want to be belong.
Reasonable-Wave8093@reddit
💙💙💙
EternalMehFace@reddit
He was my absolute, all-time, biggest "tween" age crush, and really kinda my last one, before moving on to "adulthood" and unintentionally forgetting about him. I was sooo crushed when I heard what happened, and it still hurts. So missed. 😢
Additional_Egg7024@reddit
Rip