There were three Jacoby boys in Hollywood during the Boomer generation, half-brothers (plus their two sisters). 1. Scott (born in 1956) was the serious actor, specializing in weird, quirky movies, such as Bad Ronald (1974), in which a boy hides in the crawlspaces of his house after his mother dies and terrorizes the new family that moves in (including the hunky Ted Eccles), or The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976), in which a handicapped boy befriends a girl (Jodie Foster) who lives all by herself after her father's death.
He played a teenager who discovers that his father is gay in That Certain Summer (1973). Hal Holbrook played his father, and Martin Sheen his father's lover.
His characters were always heterosexual, but the "quirky romance" still had queer resonances that appealed to gay teens.
Scott still acts occasionally, and he owns a recording studio in Hollywood.
2. Billy born in 1969, was the hunk. After a few horror films, he played girl-crazy teenagers who don't seem to own shirts in Just One of the Guys (1985) and Party Camp (1987). His characters were heterosexual, too, but -- odd for 1980s teen movies -- not homophobic.
He also played Blanche's grandson on The Golden Girls.
Billy was probably best known for his role as wannabe thug Mikey, who wore a leather jacket and skin-tight jeans on the tv series Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990-1993).
Today, as Billy Jayne, he is well-known in the business as a commercial director.
3. The baby of the family, Bobby (born in 1973), was the wise-guy. He started out in tear-jerker movies of the week, then moved into thrillers like Tremors (1990) and Night of the Demons 2 (1994). He was also busy in television, starring on Knots Landing (1980-85) and, as a young adult, on MTV's Undressed (2000-2001). Not a lot of beefcake shots, except on Undressed, which apparently existed solely to film attractive young people in their underwear.
Scott Jacoby starred in what was probably the first gay-themed movie on television, "That Certain Summer." It was about a teenager who discovers that his dad is gay.
ReplyDeleteBilly was the one I fixated on when I was a pre-teen and I think I must have seen 'Just one of the Guys' in the theatre 3 times just for him (a film that contains quite a bit of gay innuendo, although it's masked by the "it's really a girl, so it's OK" cover). I didn't even realize Billy had an older brother until a few years ago and just recently had the chance to watch 'Bad Ronald'. The film was strange, but everyone in it, including Scotty, was so good that it raised the film to something more than the sum of its parts. If Billy was the "comedian" then it appears Scotty was the dramatic "actor". After seeing 'Bad Ronald' I'd actually be interested in finding some of the other things he did back then (the fact that he and Billy looked almost exactly alike when they were kids/teens doesn't hurt either).
ReplyDeleteThe same kid who played young Dar in Beastmaster?
Delete'Bad Ronald' ought to be shown on some of the late-night movie channels. It's a great little cult film. Nowadays you can only see it on Youtube.
ReplyDelete"Bad Ronald" was a very effective made for tv thriller- it's out on DVD from Warner Archives. 'That Certain Summer" was a tv landmark for it's treatment of a gay story but I wonder how it's aged now. The Jacoby boys were cute
ReplyDeleteBilly Jacob at 12 was in the Movie "The
ReplyDeleteBeastmaster"......for the first 15min
Of it......he was also in "Working"
As a paperboy.......