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Thelonious Bernard was a talented young actor, who stared alongside Laurence Oliver in A Little Romance before the age of 18, then made a few French films before disapering in the early 80s. The web is filled with people asking where he is, no one seems to know. Any information would be welcome.
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You know, in 1978 he was nominated along with 4 others for a Young Artist Award, in the category Best Juvenile Actor - Motion Picture (Along with Rick Schroeder for The Champ, who didn't win!)
Anyway, there is another kid named Jeremy Levy who also never worked again after the movie he was nominated for. 2 of the 5 kids nominated never worked again. I'd say it was the curse of the award, but that's just me.
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I remember that movie! It was great! Lawrence Olivier I usually think is such an old ham but in this case his old-hamminess was perfect for the part!
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Kayla, Thelonious Bernard actualy made two more films, both in French and both before he turned 18. I guess we will never know what happened after he turned 20, he has never aparently shown up in one of those "where are they now" columns. and all you can find on the web is his filmography a stills.
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Kayla, Thelonious Bernard actualy made two more films, both in French and both before he turned 18. I guess we will never know what happened after he turned 20, he has never aparently shown up in one of those "where are they now" columns. and all you can find on the web is his filmography a stills. Tatiana, Laurance (as he spelt his name, no idea why) was a great stage actor, the best actualy, even if that doesn't carry over into his films.
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I was looking at the IMDB page for "The neverending story" and I was surprised to learn that just about nobody from that movie is listed for anything past 1989.
The little empress girl (who I was madly in love with) never did another movie before or since.
Bastion did some work until 1989.
Most surprising to me was that the actor who played Atreyu didn't go anywhere either.
I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised, since it looks like it was an almost exclusively German production.
Wolfgang Peterson, of course, went on to direct: Outbreak, Air Force One, The Perfect Storm, Troy, and is currently signed on to direct Ender's Game .
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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Wow! I actually know who Thelonious Bernard is - I'm a big fan of A Little Romance and always made my roommates watch it and then tease them about how Thelonious Bernard is my dream man. I had no idea he disappeared, though.
Maybe he didn't disappear at all.... maybe he's got a secret identity just to escape the curse of fame.
Hmmm.... *eyes all the French Hatrackers suspiciously*
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According to somebody who claims to be his cousin, he hated making films and his now a dentist in Nantes.
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I believe Atreyu had been Boxey in Battlestar Galactica.
The kid who played Bastion was actually just about the biggest child actor of his day. He was in both Cocoon movies, Frankenweenie, and DARYL.
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I looked up info on him about a month ago. Somewhere on IMDB, a forum or something, there was a post by someone who claimed to be his cousin saying that Thelonious just didn't like acting, so after his couple of little movies he just returned to civilian life, and is a happily married dentist somewhere in France.
I adored him in A Little Romance!
[Edit to say I thought I'd read all the posts in this thread before I posted this -- oops. I think I should just change my screenname to "oops" since it's what I say far too often on this forum, somehow. Uprooted and Oops do both have two o's and a p. Not that that actually means anything.]
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He was definitely a sweetheart in ALR. We should all go get our teeth cleaned in Nantes, just to make sure he's okay.
Pelegius, I think Olivier was just on the wrong side of the method-acting divide. Before method acting began, actors were supposed to be "acting". Think Gone With the Wind, "Fiddle dee dee". They were rather declamatory and affected, but that's just how acting was supposed to be then.
Then when Brando and those people came along with their method acting, it was just a huge break with tradition. Suddenly it was like real life. Brando wasn't "acting" in On the Waterfront, he just "was". It was electrifying at the time.
And maybe you're right that the difference is stage vs. film. Stage acting has to be more obvious to carry to the last row of the theater. In movies, you see closeups, and any tiny nuance, a raised eyebrow, is clearly visible to the audience, so stage type acting looks waaaaay overdone.
Olivier was a great old ham, but he was an old ham. Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Dear Thelonious Bernard fans, I have been a fan since the movie came out. In fact, it is still my favorite movie. I saw it in the theatre when it was released. The movie really hit me because Thelonious and Diane were about my age at that time. In fact, Thelonious is only one moth older than I am.
While it is true that I fell head over heals for Diane, it was clear to me, even back then, that Thelonious was an excellent actor. He certainly outshone Diane.
So, for years, I dug as deeply as I could to find out more about Thelonious Bernard online. And, I *did* find out more. I just want to let you know what I remember. But, I am also a little hisitant because I don't want to comprimise his privacy...as much as I would love to meet him and to have him do a sequel with Diane Lane.
1) His real name is not Thelonious Bernard. Actually, even the spelling of this stage name might be wrong. Anyway, his real name is an italian name. And, I think that Bernard might have been derived from, either, his first or last real name. But, what I know for sure is that his real last name is italian...not Bernard.
2) He probably did become a dentist. But, that was very early on in his career. Afterwards, he became a college professor in or near Nantes. Some of his professional writings and studies were, at minimum, listed online.
It could be that this information allowed fans to start visiting him and disrupting his day-to-day life. So, it was all taken down from the internet.
3) Someone said that a cousin of Thelonious' said that he didn't like to make movies. I don't think that is true. What is more likely is that Thelonious did not want to continue to sell his soul. Thelonious comes from a very conservative region of France. From interviews with Diane Lane, it is clear that something negative happened. I am not sure if it was between Diane and Thelonious or between Thelonious and those involved in the liberal film industry. What is clear is that Diane is very uncomfortable opening up about Thelonious Bernanrd. It seems that she might have been instructed NOT to speak publicly about him. In fact, interviewers might even be instructed not to ask things about Thelonious. The most natural questions would be things like, "Have you kept in touch with Thelonious?", "Do you know where Thelonious is these days?", or "Have you ever considered doing a sequel to ALR?". But, if those questions are asked, she gives very short replies.
I still dream of seeing the two of them together in a sequel or at least in a picture. But, Thelonious probably knows that the media could twist a still picture opportunity into a sordid affair. And, that would definitely negatively affect what might be an illustrious professional career in academia.
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I'm assuming Miles IS Pelegius. Thus the resurrection of this thread for 2005. Probably forgot the Pelegius password...
Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Hahaha! You guys are too funny! It must sound odd. But, it's true. There was a period during which more detailed information about Thelonious Bernard was available online. I am kicking myself because I thought I had saved it all on my computer. But, I can't find it. It's frustrating to keep reading that he is a dentist living in Nantes with his family. By this point, his children are probably in college or even married with their own families. Who knows. What I do know is that I love that movie. I believe in the power of innocent love. And, I still hope to be able to live out the climactic scene under the bridge of sighs with my future wife one day.
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I don't have any hard evidence, but a number of things point to this guy as the former "Thelonius Bernard."
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Lawrence Olivier I usually think is such an old ham but in this case his old-hamminess was perfect for the part! ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
