During the late 1970s, I was way too old for Shane Sinutko (born 1965), but Brad, the kid I babysat for, was like totally in love with him. He didn't actually say so, but every time Shane was on tv, we had to watch, and he collected
Tiger Beat pinups of Shane as eagerly as I collected
Shaun Cassidy and
Leif Garrett.
And he was on tv a lot, reaching nearly the exposure of Moosie Drier. A starring role on
Code R (1977), guest shots on
Quincy, Family, Baretta, The White Shadow. A ton of movies, including
The Shaggy D.A. (1976),
Lassie: A New Beginning (1978),
Samurai (1979).
And nearly as many after school specials, weekend specials, and schoolbreak specials. Except Shane's tended to involve ample buddy-bonding and minimize or eliminate heterosexual interest:
Soup and Me (1978) and
Soup for President (1978), an adaptation of the children's book series about the irascible Soup (Christian Berrigan), who keeps dragging his best friend Rob (Shane Sinutko) into mischief.
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe (1978), about two buddies (Shane Sinutko, Eric Tazlitz) who try to get rid of a mischievous ghost.
My Mom's Having a Baby (1977) and
Where do Teenagers Come From? (1980), about sex education.
During the 1980s, Shane studied martial arts and played a couple of musclemen, such as Theseus in
Minotaur (1982), but then the acting roles dried up. The transition to adulthood was difficult: Shane didn't act for over a decade. During his late teens, he was literally stabbed in the back. He was homeless for awhile, and had to live under a house.
But then Shane re-invented himself with stunt work (he is Matt Damon's stunt double), and has returned to acting, playing cops on
The X-Files and
America's Most Wanted and a jarhead on
The Bourne Supremacy (2004).
Oh yeah, I almost forgot about Shane, but I remember his Afterschool Specials.. I thought he was a cutie and I remember he developed a nice body when he became a teenager (showcased to perfection in the tight clothes the teen 'zines were constantly photographing him in).
ReplyDeleteI remember him as a kid from 'My mom's having a baby' and 'Little House.' As a child--to me; he was the living embodiment of Long Island, New York (at the time.) Glad to see he picked himself up from his decline as a child actor. He should write a biography.
ReplyDeleteDunno if you ever actually saw it (it's available on Youtube) but SOUP AND ME had an eyebrow-raising scene where the girl bully catches our heroes skinny-dipping and destroys their clothes, leaving them to find their way home nude. The most surprising thing was a brief glimpse of the two boys running through the woods apparently completely naked.
ReplyDeleteHaving watched the scene on YouTube, I've come to suspect the boys were actually wearing tights but it's still pretty startling for 1978.
Never saw it. According to the IMDB, it was part of the "ABC Weekend Special" series, airing on a Saturday morning, February 4th, 1978. I was a senior in high school, and would have considered myself too old for Saturady morning tv.
DeleteIt was. That picture of Shane and the other boy is from the episode. There was a follow-up, 'Soup For President,' no nudity but funnier than the first one.
DeleteI'm a little younger than you. I was twelve when I first saw it and I hold both it and Little Lulu responsible for my skinny-dipping fetish...
That run through the woods, apparently naked came as quite a shock considering the times. Shane was an exceptionally good looking boy. Wish there were more films, nothing on IMDB caught my eye. Hopefully I did not overlook anything.
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