Where Are They Now? The Cast of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been almost 25 years since Pee-Wee Herman’s bike was stolen, resulting in a cross-country adventure complete with escaped felons, ghosts, hobos, dinosaurs, and a major motion picture from Warner Bros.  Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure was one of Tim Burton’s first films, and wasn’t drenched with the faux-gothic Burton-ness that we’re familiar with today.  No, Pee-Wee is one of the most original and fun movies I’ve ever seen, and a lot of that can be attributed to its eccentric cast.  So what has the cast been up to since 1985?  Keep reading to find out.

Paul Reubens as Pee-Wee Herman

Obviously, Paul Reubens blew up after Pee-wee.  The movie’s huge success spawned a pretty terrible sequel, but Paul Reubens himself was still a hot commodity, getting his own Saturday morning show, Pee-wee’s Playhouse.  Paul stayed in character as Pee-wee just about all the time, so much so that most people didn’t really know who Paul Reubens was.  That was, of course, until 1991 when Paul was arrested for jerking off in a Florida adult theater.

After the initial embarrassment and shock wore off, though, Paul resumed his acting career and showed that he could play characters other than “man-children.”  After a brief role as the Penguin’s father in Batman Returns, he went on to play The Spleen in Mystery Men and, most impressively, Derek Foreal in Blow.  Indeed, Paul Reubens could survive in Hollywood without playing Pee-wee.

Since then, Paul has appeared mostly on television shows, such as 30 Rock, Pushing Daisies, and Everybody Loves Raymond, and it looks as though he’ll be reviving his role as Pee-wee for a new movie set for 2011.  He’s also set to play Pee-wee in a stage show at Club Nokia next month.  Paul has his own website – as Pee-wee – that you can see by clicking HERE.

Elizabeth Daily as Dottie

The girl with the incredibly sexy voice has put her talents to good use since her role as Dottie.  After roles in Loverboy and Dutch (in which she played a hooker), Daily focused primarily on voice acting.  She’s since voiced some pretty prevalent characters, such as Buttercup from The Powerpuff Girls, Tommy Pickles in Rugrats, and Babe the pig.  Daily also provided the voice for Mrs. Incredible in The Incredibles video game, and as Spider-Woman in the video game Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.

Daily also has a top ten 1987 song to her credit – “Mind Over Matter” – and appeared on Friends and Phoebe’s singing partner.

The talented Daily was married to produced Rick Salomon (of Paris Hilton sex tape fame) for about five years, and had two daughters with him.  Currently, it looks like Daily is focusing on music and has a lot going on between songwriting and appearing in musicals.  You can find out more on her website HERE.

Mark Holton as Francis Buxton

Mark Holton was so good as Francis, they could have made an entire movie just on that character.  Mark has a very distinct and recognizable look, and although most people know him as either Francis or Chubby from the Teen Wolf movies, he went on to land a major roles in Leprechaun. After those roles – as well as the one where he simply yells “Hey!  It’s Enrico Palazzo!” in The Naked Gun – Mark landed a role in Gacy in 2003, in which he starred as serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

Mostly, though, Mark makes guest appearances on television shows, and has appeared  on Seinfeld, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and NYPD Blue, just to name a few.

Mark currently lives in Brooklyn, but maintains a relationship with his hometown of Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

Diane Salinger as Simone

After her role as Simone, Diane Salinger mostly stuck to television.  Notably, though, she played the Penguin’s mother in Batman Returns, with Paul Reubens, as mentioned above, as her husband.  Must have been a Tim Burton thing.  She also appeared, like Mark Holton, on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Her most prominent role to date is probably that of Apollonia on Carnivale, but like Elizabeth Daily, she’s done quite a bit of voice acting, too, such as for Queen Bansheera from the Power Rangers.  Salinger has also appeared on episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Charmed, How I Met Your Mother, and The Young and the Restless.

Recently, Salinger appeared in the off-Broadway production of Standign on My Knees.

Judd Omen as Mickey

After Pee-wee, Judd Omen (who has maybe my favorite line in the entire movie – “I’ve got a bad temper.”) appeared in Howling II, but from that point on it’s been mostly guest television appearances.  Omen appeared on The Fall Guy, The A-Team, Matlock, MacGyver and even played a phantom on that stupid Nightmare on Elm Street spinoff Freddy’s Nightmares.  Omen hasn’t been in anything since 2005, when he starred in a movie called Take Out about a man who goes about eliminating chain restaurants.  Omen shaved his head for the role, and he looked pretty damn scary.

Alice Nunn as Large Marge

Following her iconic role as Large Marge, Alice Nunn played a Parole Board Officer in the Madonna movie Who’s That Girl, and later played Nurse Palmer inthe criminally underrated black comedy, Three O’clock High.  Sadly, Nunn died in West Hollywood in 1988 at 60 years old from an apparent heart attack.

Lou Cutell as Amazing Larry

Even though he’s only on screen for a few second and has no speaking lines, Lou Cutell’s appearance as Amazing Larry is a memorable moment in Pee-wee.  Lou has had plenty of work since, appearing in all sorts of movies and various television shows.  He most recently played an old Jewish man in Wedding Crashers in 2005, and had great appearances as Leo Funkhauser on Curb and Dr. Copperman on the episode of Seinfeld, a proctologist with a boat donning the words “Ass Man.”