Lillo Brancato

Lillo Brancato is a former child star best known for his role as Calogero Anello in the successful 1993 movie, A Bronx Tale. Brancato went from being on the fast track for movie stardom in the early 1990s to being a real-life crackhead and eventually ended up sentenced to a 10-year sentence in prison for his participation in a 2005 burglary gone horribly wrong that resulted in a dead police officer.



Brancato was born on August 19, 1976 in Bogota Columbia. When he was four months old, he was adopted by a New York City family. Brancato was discovered by a talent scout while swimming at a beach - the scout noticed Brancato's resemblance to Robert De Niro. Brancato was a fan of De Niro's and impressed the scout with an impression of Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver. Brancato's performance won him the role of De Niro's son in the 1993 movie, A Bronx Tale.

In A Bronx Tale, Brancato played Calogero Anello, a boy growing up in the Bronx in a working-class family. Calogero's father was Lorenzo Anello (played by Robert De Niro), an honest bus driver who tried to raise his son to be an honest and hard-working young man. As a young boy, Calogero witnessed a man being shot and killed by the neighborhood mob boss, Sonny LoSpecchio (played by Chazz Palminteri). When Calogero lied to the police when questioned about what he saw in the incident, Sonny took Calogero under his wing and tried to teach him to be "street smart."




Brancato received positive reviews for his role in A Bronx Tale. I thought his character was kind of annoying, although I will admit that Brancato did act with a certain degree of passion, which is probably somewhat unusual for a rookie actor. After A Bronx Tale, Brancato had a substantial role in the moderately successful 1994 army comedy drama, Renaissance Man, where he played an army cadet.

Toward the late 1990s, Brancato's acting roles became more sparse, although he did secure small roles in the hit movies Crimson Tide and Enemy of the State. Brancato followed up with a recurring role on The Sopranos in 2000, where he played Matt Bevilaqua, a small time mobster.

After 2000, Brancato struggled to find work, securing only a few minor roles such as a role in an episode of NYPD Blue and in the horrible 2002 Eddie Murphy comedy, The Adventures of Pluto Nash.

Brancato was hiding a secret and perhaps this was the reason for his lack of acting roles. His secret was a drug addiction that was overtaking his life. Brancato has claimed that he was first introduced to marijuana on the rowdy A Bronx Tale set. After A Bronx Tale, Brancato moved up to harder drugs such as crack cocaine and eventually became addicted to crack and heroin. Brancato also acquired a taste for prescription drugs.

On June 10, 2005, Brancato was arrested in Yonkers, New York, and charged with misdemeanor criminal possession of a controlled substance. Police reportedly pulled Brancato over for having a rear brake light out and found he had an expired registration and no other papers for the vehicle. Police searched Brancato's vehicle and discovered four bags of heroin in a cigarette box in Brancato's car.

On December 10, 2005 Brancato participated in a burglary that would change his life forever. Brancato and an accomplice, 48-year-old Steven Armento, the father of Brancato's girlfriend, attempted to burglarize a vacant house in the Bronx area of New York City. Brancato and Armento were confronted by Daniel Enchautegui, an off-duty police officer who lived in the house next door, who heard glass break. Enchautegui called for backup and then all hell broke loose - Armento allegedly shot Enchautegui and Enchautegui returned fired, getting off eights rounds before he died, hitting Brancato twice and Armento six times times.

Armento and Brancato were quickly arrested for murder. Armento was convicted of first-degree murder on October 30, 2008, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Brancato was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree attempted burglary. Brancato was found not guilty of the murder charge, but was convicted of the first-degree attempted burglary charge and sentenced on January 9, 2009 to 10 years in prison.

Lillo Brancato has gone from being a promising young actor to a convicted felon in a mere 15 years. Brancato probably dreamed of excitement of winning an academy award as a youth, but now he deals with the horror of possibly being a fellow prisoner's bitch in prison. For this and the reasons above, Lillo Brancato is one washed-up celebrity!

*** Update - August 21, 2013 ***

I recently discovered this 20/20 news report about Lillo Brancato and his troubles. This news report includes a jailhouse interview with Brancato:



*** Update - January 6, 2014 ***

Lillo Brancato was released from prison on December 31, 2013.  Actor Chazz Palminteri has absolutely no sympathy for Brancato's plight and recently told the NY Daily News, "Don't call me - and I won't ever call you."  Palminteri, a strong advocate for the police department, apparently told Brancato to stay away from drugs years ago and is disappointed that Brancato did not heed his advice...

Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry is a famous singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was one of the pioneers of rock and roll music and had a string of hits between the mid-1950s and the early-1970s. Although renowned for his musical abilities, Berry has tarnished his reputation over the years via frequent brushes with the law and deviant sexual behaviors.


I. Early Life

Berry was born on October 18, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri. He grew up in a middle-class family which encouraged him to pursue his musical interests at a young age. Berry made his first public performance while a high school student at Sumner high school.

Berry encountered his first brush with the law during his senior year in high school, in 1944, when he was arrested and convicted of armed robbery after carjacking an automobile and going for a joyride with his friends to Kansas City, Missouri. Berry admitted in a 1987 autobiography, Chuck Berry: The Autobiography, that his car broke down on the shoulder of a highway and that he flagged down a passing motorist and stole the motorist's car at gunpoint. The carjacking victim called police at a pay phone and Berry was quickly captured and incarcerated at the Intermediate Reformatory School for Young Men at Algoa, until his 21st birthday in 1947.

II. Musical Success Early In Career

After getting out of prison, Berry married Themetta "Toddy" Suggs in 1948 and pursed various factory jobs and also considered a career in photography. Meanwhile, Berry began performing as a guitarist in his spare time for bands in St. Louis. By 1953, Berry was performing with the Johnnie Johnson Trio, a popular regional band that played at a club called The Cosmopolitan in East St. Louis, Illinois. Berry became known for his guitar riffs and grandstanding.

In 1955, Berry covered "Ida Red" (renamed "Maybellene") with several backup musicians. "Maybellene" was Berry's first hit, selling over a million copies and reaching #1 on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart and #5 on the Hot 100. In 1956, Berry had another hit with "Roll Over Beethoven," which reached #29 on the Billboard Top 100 chart. Berry followed with hits such as "Rock and Roll Music" in 1956. "Sweet Little Sixteen" (which hit #2 on the Hot 100) and "Johnny B. Goode" (which hit #8 on the Hot 100) in 1958.

However, in December 1959, Berry ran afoul of the law again after he invited a 14-year-old Apache waitress whom he met in Mexico to work as a hat check girl at his club. The girl was arrested on a prostitution charge after being fired from the job and Berry was arrested under the Mann Act. Berry was convicted, fined $5,000, and sentenced to five years in prison.

III. Musical Success Later in Career

Upon release from prison in 1963, he underwent a career resurgence as other bands such as the Beatles and Beach Boys covered some of his songs. Berry continued to release new albums and tour throughout the 1960s up to the 1970s. In 1972 he had his biggest hit, "My Ding-A-Ling," which he had initially recorded as a novelty track.

Berry's type of touring style, traveling the "oldies" circuit in the 1970s — where he was often paid in cash by local promoters — added ammunition to the Internal Revenue Service's accusations that Berry was a chronic income tax evader. Facing criminal sanction for the third time, Berry pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to four months imprisonment and 1,000 hours of community service involving various benefit concerts in 1979.

Berry continued to tour throughout the 1980s, giving 70-100 one-night performances a year. In the late 1980s, Berry owned a restaurant in Wentzville, Missouri, called The Southern Air. Berry currently performs about one Wednesday each month at Blueberry Hill, a restaurant and bar located in the St. Louis area. In 2008, Berry toured Europe, with stops in Sweden, Norway, Finland, England, the Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland and Spain.

IV. Berry's Deviant Sexual Fetishes

There is no disputing that Berry has been an exceptionally successful musician. However, it seems as though Berry's music has never been his "true calling" or driving influence. Instead, Berry seems to be motivated by his one true love in life - watching women take dumps.

In 1990 Berry was sued by several women who alleged that Berry installed a video camera in the ladies' bathrooms at two of his St. Louis restaurants. Berry probably installed the camera so that he could masturbate vigorously while watching video of women going to the bathroom at his restaurant. It's possible that Berry had microphones installed so that he could hear the sounds of women farting after eating the food at his restaurants... One wonders whether Berry would have eventually installed surveillance and microphones in the bathrooms at his local Taco Bell so that he could listen to the sounds of women (and possibly also men) spraying diarrhea after eating greasy tacos...






A class action settlement was eventually reached with 59 women on the complaint. It is estimated that the settlement cost Berry around $1.3 million plus legal fees.

There are rumors that the police raided Berry's house after the allegations of the bathroom videos surfaced. Supposedly the police found some nasty home videos at Berry's residence. One of the videos supposedly shows Berry giving a golden shower to a blonde woman. After soaking her in piss, Berry apparently tells her to open her eyes and mouth, and asks whether his urine is "nice and salty." The woman supposedly tells Berry that she loves him and then asks him for a kiss. Berry's response? He said that he wouldn't kiss her because, "it smells like piss." During the same scene, Berry also reportedly unleashes a long and very loud fart and then says, "You can smell my fart." It has been reported that Berry's fart was as loud as a fog horn on a cruise ship!

Berry showed that he can receive as well as give in the next scene, as the same woman is supposedly shown taking a dump on Berry's face.

V. Conclusion

Despite his successful music career, Berry has had several brushes with the law and the entire world now knows that he's a dirty old man with perverted sexual fetishes and apparently gets turned by a woman with a "turtlehead" sticking out. Accordingly, there can be no doubt that Chuck Berry is one washed up celebrity!


*** Update - July 4, 2011 ***
I discovered a link to a sound clip which was allegedly taken from Chuck Berry's sex video. This sound clip includes a sound allegedly of Chuck Berry ripping ass and then saying "Smell my fart." If this clip is legit, then I have to admit that Chuck Berry's fart does sound kind of like a fog horn!


*** Update - May 12, 2013 ***
I recently discovered this video on youtube which includes a two-hour loop of the alleged Chuck Berry fart:

 

*** Update - September 18, 2013 ***

The website for Vice magazine recently posted scans of several pages of a letter sent to Bob Guccione from an alleged federal DEA informant who came across Chuck Berry's infamous "toilet tapes."  According to the DEA informant, Berry enjoyed farting in a faces of his unsuspecting lovers while in the 69 position.  A scan of the first page of the letter is shown below (click on the image for a larger view).  The other pages may be seen on the Vice magazine's website. 

Tiffany Brissette

Tiffany Brissette is a former child star known for her role as Voice Input Child Identicant ("V.I.C.I.," pronounced "Vicki") the robot on the successful mid-1980s sitcom, Small Wonder. Brissette was born on December 26, 1974 in Paradise, California.

Brissette began her entertainment career in the late 1970s. Her mother was her biggest fan, entering her in many beauty pageants and talent competitions as a child. Such early exposure eventually led to television voice-over work and appearances in commercials for products such as the Care Bears, Florida Orange Juice, IBM, and Jell-O Puddin' Pops, to name just a few.

Brissette's first television role was in the made-for-TV move, A Woman Called Golda, where her voice was used, but she was not shown. She also had a minor voice role in the 1982 mini-series, Marco Polo. Brissette followed up with a minor role in the 1983 big screen movie, Heart Like a Wheel. In 1984 she appeared of several episodes of the hit sitcom, Webster. Her early roles led to her greatest success in 1985, when she landed a starring role on the hit sitcom, Small Wonder.

As previously mentioned in the profiles for Jerry Supiran and Emily Schulman, Small Wonder was a very usual show. Small Wonder was a hit in syndication and the show focused on the Lawson family. The parents of the Lawson family were Ted and Joan Lawson, played by Dick Christie and Marla Pennington, respectively. The son of the Lawson family was Jamie Lawson, played by Jerry Supiran. Ted Lawson worked as an engineer/inventor for United Robotronics, working on a robot for assisting handicapped children. Ted invented the V.I.C.I. robot, which was an android that looked like a 10-year-old girl. The Lawson family pretended that Vicki was the family's adopted daughter.





The show was generally focused on Vicki and her interactions with Jamie and other kids such as the annoying next door neighbor, Harriet Brindle (played by Emily Schulman). Even though Small Wonder was a weird show, I have to admit that I did watch it regularly during its initial run. I liked Brissette on the show - she was very cute and played a monotone robot with some skill. Granted, it probably was not that difficult to play a robot, but Brissette was good in her role and was undoubtedly the main draw of the show.

Brissette acted on Small Wonder until the show's cancellation in 1989. Unfortunately, Brissette's carrer practically ended with the cancellation of Small Wonder. Brissette made minor appearances on shows such as Teen Win, Lose or Draw and Parker Lewis Can't Lose between 1989 and 1991. She also appeared in a Debbie Gibson charity sci-fi play in 1991 with fellow sitcom actresses Josie Davis (from Charles in Charge) and Alyssa Milano (from Who's The Boss?), as shown in the picture below:

Unfortunately, Brissette has not managed to secure any acting roles since the early 1990s. I think it is a shame, as Brissette was a very attractive young woman and a decent actress, albeit for a sitcom. Brissette has apparently also shied away from publicity since the early 1990s as her acting roles dried up. I was, however, able to locate a few photos of her from the past decade. The picture on the left below was supposedly taken in 1999 - as shown, Brissette was still looking very good in her mid-20s. The picture on the right is of Brissette and her mother along with friends - this photo was supposedly taken in Hawaii in 2001.






In her personal life, Brissette has taken up running and is a good distance runner. On March 2, 1997, she participated in the Los Angeles Marathon and finished in 4:33:06. She placed 921st among 5,312 females, and 101st out of 545 in her age class. She placed 5,110th in an overall field of 15,899 entrants. In 2001, Brissette ran the Sunrise Stampede 10K race in a time of 46:52, which is a pace of 7:32/mile - for a female runner, that is a very good 10K time. Brissette is also supposedly the woman in the middle of the picture below on the right - this photo was apparently taken during fall 2002 at a charity marathon race.

Brissette has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Westmont College and currently lives in Boudler Colorado. She has worked as a nanny in the past and is studying to be a nurse. She is also an experimental dancer. In 2007 she appeared in a "Child Stars Revisited" video. Here are some pictures of Brissette that were taken in 2007:

As one can see from the pictures above, Brissette has changed quite a bit since her days on Small Wonder. She used to be absolutely adorable, but unfortunately her cuteness seems to have faded. She either had a really bad hair day when the pictures below were taken, or she has aged very poorly. For this and her effectively dead acting career, there can be no dispute that Tiffany Brissette is one washed-up celebrity!


*** Update - May 22, 2009 ***

I just discovered that Tiffany Brissette was interviewed on The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet in January 2009. She looks cute again, so maybe the 2007 photos were taken when she was having a bad day. During her appearance, Brissette mentioned that she currently lives in Boulder, Colorado and is still in nursing school. She also said that she enjoys skiing and biking. She is not yet married and does not have any children.


*** Update - May 31, 2012 *** 

Tiffany was interviewed by the New York Post after the story broke about Jerry Supiran being homeless and living under a bridge. Tiffany is apparently doing well - she mentioned that she voluntarily left acting herself to pursue a normal life after Small Wonder went off the air. She is still living in Boulder, Colarado and is now a nurse.

Tiffany Brissette seems to do well for herself. Accordingly, I no longer consider her to be washed up. I will, however, keep her profile up because I know that it is hard to find good information about her on the Internet and her fans like reading about her.

Margot Kidder

Margot Kidder is an actress best known for her role as "Lois Lane" in the hit movie Superman and its sequels. Kidder was born on October 17, 1948 in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

As a child Kidder's goal was to eventually become a movie star. However, she experienced constant mood swings, but wasn't sure why. She tried to commit suicide several times - the first time was at age 14 - but would quickly recover the days following such mood swings. Kidder's father was a mining engineer and her family move frequently - she attended 11 different schools over a 12-year period. In an effort to help her deal with her emotional problems, Kidder's parents sent her to a boarding school where she took part in school plays such as Romeo and Juliet.

After graduating from high school, Kidder moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. After struggling for a while, she eventually acquired a Canadian agent and appeared in some TV shows. During the late 1960s, Kidder was based in Toronto, and appeared in a number of TV drama series for the CBC, including guest appearances on Wojeck, Adventures in Rainbow Country, and an occasional role as a young reporter on McQueen.

In 1971, Kidder appeared as a barmaid in several episodes of Nichols, a comedy Western TV show starring James Garner. Kidder lived in a beach house in Los Angeles with fellow actress Jennifer Salt during the early 1970s. While living at the beach house, Kidder and Salt befriended several struggling filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, and Steven Spielberg. Kidder eventually became involved with De Palma and he later cast her in a leading role in his 1973 motion picture, Sisters.

Kidder also had small roles in minor movies and in TV shows such as Barnaby Jones, Baretta, Wide World Mystery, and Switch during the mid-1970s. In an apparent effort to raise her profile, Kidder also appeared nude in the March 1975 issue of Playboy.

Kidder's biggest break came in 1978 when she was cast as Lois Lane in the hugely successful Superman movie. Kidder's portrayal of Lois Lane as an ambitious yet vulnerable and emotionally lonely woman trying to succeed received rave reviews and made her a major movie star. Kidder reprised her role for Superman II, III, and IV. Despite her success, Kidder pissed off the Superman producers when she foolishly publicly criticized the decision to replace Richard Donner with Richard Lester as director of 1980's Superman II. As an apparently punishment, Kidder's role in Superman III was limited to a mere 5 minutes of the film.

Kidder followed up her success in Superman with an appearance in the 1979 hit horror flick, The Amityville Horror. She also appeared in many lesser roles in TV shows and in movies throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

In her personal life, Kidder has dated former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and director Brian De Palma, as discussed above. She has been married and divorced 3 times - to American novelist Thomas McGuane (with whom she had her only child, daughter Maggie, in 1976), to actor John Heard, and to French film director Philippe de Broca. None of her marriages lasted longer than a year. Since her divorce from De Broca in 1984, she has said that she prefers the companionship of her dogs.

Kidder's life had some unusual twists and turns during the 1990s. In 1990 Kidder was involved in a horrible car accident and went bankrupt when she was unable to work for two years. Kidder suffered horrible pain in her neck and took medication that left her mind "muddied."

In 1996 Kidder apparently suffered a nervous breakdown after a computer virus destroyed three years worth of files stored on her computer's hard drive. Kidder immediately began fearing that her ex-husband Thomas McGuane was trying to kill her. Kidder's paranoia caused her to leave her home and live on the street for a few days. After several days of living on the streets, Kidder was discovered hiding in a neighbor’s bushes. Kidder had cut her hair short with a safety razor in an effort to disguise herself and the neighbors mistook her for a homeless woman. Kidder claimed that during the previous days, she visited other men living in cardboard boxes and smoking crack pipes. One of the bums, named Charlie, looked after Kidder and gave her some food to eat. However, not all of the homeless men treated her well - another homeless man allegedly tried to rape Kidder, kicking her in the stomach, hitting her in the face and dislodging the caps on her front teeth.

Kidder was eventually discovered by police in Glendale, a suburb of Los Angeles, and taken to a hospital for observation. Kidder was diagnosed with manic depression and given treatment. Kidder recovered and has since appeared in minor roles on various TV shows over the past decade.

Kidder is well-known for her left-wing politics and was publicly derided during the first Persian Gulf War for criticizing the U.S.'s war efforts. Kidder's criticism earned her the nickname, "Baghdad Betty."

Margot Kidder rose from obscurity to become one of the best-known actresses on the late-1970s. However, mental illness and her loud, opinionated mouth quickly killed her career. Although she has had a steady stream of minor acting roles over the past 20+ years, Kidder is not even close to being a "Hollywood star" right now. Accordingly, there can be no doubt that Margot Kidder is one washed-up celebrity!

Zachery Ty Bryan

Zachery Ty Bryan is a former child star best known for his role as "Brad Taylor" for his role on the hit 1990s sitcom, Home Improvement.

Bryan was born on October 9, 1981 in Aurora, Colorado. He began his entertainment career appearing in print and television advertising. He later moved to California and was cast in 1991 in his break-through role as Brad Taylor on Home Improvement. Bryan was one of three child stars in the fictional Taylor family on Home Improvement. The other two were Jonathan Taylor Thomas (who played "Randy Taylor") and Taran Noah Smith (who played "Mark Taylor"). (Of the three child actors in the Taylor family, Bryan is the only one not hounded by homosexual rumors, despite what the picture on the lower right below might seem to imply.)





The Brad Taylor character was an athlethic-type kid who was also somewhat of a punk. He was also known for sporting a long mullet. During the first few seasons of Home Improvement, Brad and Randy would often gang up to make fun of their weirdo brother, Mark. Brad would also frequently act before thinking things through, causing him to often end up in trouble.

Home Improvement was a massive hit during its run from 1991-1998 and made Bryan a star and somewhat of a heartthrob. His role led to some subsequent roles in motion pictures, including roles in First Kid (1996), The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999), and The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006). His most memorable movie scene is perhaps one from First Kid in which Sinbad fired an enormous spitball at him:



Although he has managed to act in a number of small roles ever since Home Improvement went off the air, it is clear that the demand for Bryan has diminished substantially over the years. Wearing see-through shirts such as the one shown below certainly cannot be helping his career prospects.

Bryan's personal life is apparently somewhat hectic. In April 2008 he was staying at a Choice Hotel in San Diego when he allegedly went across the street to grab a Gatorade. When he returned, the hotel employees refused to let Bryan go upstairs to his room because the room was not reserved in his name. The hotel employees appear to have been under the assumption that Bryan was some kind of homeless vagrant when he returned to the hotel.

Bryan claims that hotel employees refused to let Bryan call up to the room to speak with his wife. This refusal apparently caused Bryan to fly off into a rage. In response to Bryan's behavior, a hotel employee whipped out a taser gun and tased Bryan in his neck. Bryan is currently suing Choice Hotels for $25,000 as a result of this embarrassing incident.

Although Bryan has appeared on a hit sitcom, became the "Spitball Kid" in a major motion picture, and has acted in several additional roles over the years, the fact that hotel employees automatically assumed that he was a homeless vagrant speaks volumes. Accordingly, there can be no doubt that Zackary Ty Bryan is one washed up celebrity!