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7 forgotten teen idols of the Seventies
Do you remember Wild, Brophy and the other Baio?
The young Boomers had icons like the Beatles, Elvis and the Mousketeers to pin on their bedroom walls. In the Seventies, a new wave of feathered-hair heartthrobs arrived for a young generation.
Spearheaded by the Bradys, the Partridges and the Jacksons, there suddenly seemed to be so many more child stars in the 1970s. Most of television had catered to adults in the prior years. Even The Flintstones began as a primetime series with a cigarette sponsor. But in this groovy new decade, young protagonists proliferated.
There were the young stars of many Krofft Brothers productions. The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries soared on the Tiger Beat-fueled popularity of Shaun Cassidy and Pamela Sue Martin. The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie kept countless tutors employed for its sprawling teen casts. John Travolta, Scott Baio, Kristy McNichol, Leif Garrett and the Osmonds became household names.
But not everyone could be Donny and Marie, who continue to appear on television to this day. Here are seven more obscure male teen idols from the 1970s.
1. Jimmy Baio
Yes, there were multiple Baios. The cousin of the Chachi actor, Jimmy landed his first big role at the age of 13 on Joe and Sons. The sitcom cast the Brooklyn-born kid as a Italian-American son in Hoboken — not too far from home. He is perhaps best known for his time on Soap, on which he played Billy Tate, the youngest child of Jessica (Katherine Helmond). In the early 1980s, after a couple of appearances in The Facts of Life, Jimmy's roles seemed to dry up.
Image: The Everett Collection
2. Clark Brandon
Teen rags like Tiger Beat needed little provocation to publish pin-ups of hyped new faces. The 1977 CBS series The Fitzpatricks lasted a mere 13 episodes. The casting agents did their job. Set in Flint, Michigan, the blue-collar drama paired Jimmy McNichol and Clark Brandon as brothers. Tiger Beat slapped him on the cover with the headline, "Clark: Will He Be Taken From You?" (Poster inside.) In 1981, he scored a lead role in Mr. Merlin. That lasted just 22 episodes.
Image: The Everett Collection
3. Kevin Brophy
Call him the Midwestern Tarzan of the Seventies. Brophy played the title character in Lucan, a series about a boy raised by wolves in Minnesota. The brief series ran on ABC just as Clark Brandon was starring in The Fitzpatricks. Brophy continued to pop up on television for a couple decades, up to a guest spot on JAG in 1996.
Image: The Everett Collection
4. Tony DeFranco
Beneath the Brady Kids and the Partridge Family on the fame ladder, you had the Cowsills. Another rung down sat the DeFranco Family, a Canadian clan consisting of five siblings born within 10 years of each other. The youngest, Tony DeFranco, was 13 when the family band's "Heartbeat - It's a Lovebeat" reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973. The follow-up "Abra-ca-dabra" scraped the Top 40 shortly thereafter. But in three short years, the DeFranco Family was in that "only released in Japan" phase of its career.
Image: Philips Records
5. Rick Ely
Millennials will fondly recall a Liberty's Kids, a historical cartoon set in colonial and early America. Well, it was kind of a rip-off. The live-action series The Young Rebels did something quite similar back in 1970. The show centered around the young patriots of the fictional "Yankee Doodle Society" who participated in the Revolutionary War. Rick Ely starred, alongside a young Louis Gossett Jr. Concurrently, RCA Records pushed Ely as a pop star, releasing his eponymous debut album. It contained the single "Circle Game."
Image: The Everett Collection
6. Lance Kerwin
California kid Kerwin was once described as "probably America's leading boy actor of the late Seventies." He was everywhere, headlining the coming-of-age drama James at 15, as well as the TV-movie adaptation of Salem's Lot. By the early 1980s, he was already somewhat relegated to educational fare like The Boy Who Drank Too Much (which cast him as Scott Baio's buddy) and the afterschool special The Shooting.
Image: The Everett Collection
7. Jack Wild
And now we come to the Oscar nominee on our list. Jack Wild earned the Academy's recognition for his work as the Artful Dodger in Oliver! (1968). A lead gig in H.R. Pufnstuf followed. In the early 1970s, he shifted focus into a recording career, beginning with The Jack Wild Album for Capitol Records in 1970. Everything's Coming Up Roses and A Beautiful World followed. Everything was not so rosy and beautiful behind the scenes, as Wild struggled with personal issues and being typecast. In 1981, he was reportedly set to star alongside Suzi Quatro (Leather of Happy Days) in a British update of Bonnie and Clyde, but the idea was scrapped.
Image: Buddah Records
SEE MORE: Do you remember these obscure teen idols of the early '60s?
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Kevin Brophy was most recently seen in episodes of JAG and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He retired when a gentleman names Ray Fulk left him and his best friend, "The Powers of Matthew Star" lead Peter Barton, his entire estate.
Tony deFranco is a real estate agent, and still cute.
Jack Wild passed away from cancer in 2005.
Lance Kerwin now lives in Kaua'i, Hawaii with his wife and kids and works as a substance abuse councilor.
