WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Debbie Allen as Lydia Grant: Debbie, 72, played the no-nonsense dance tutor who famously said at the start of each episode: “You’ve got big dreams? You want fame? Well, fame costs. And right here is where you start paying … in sweat.”
She later focused on off-camera work before her role as Dr Catherine Avery Fox on
Grey’s Anatomy, which she also produces. Her sister Phylicia Rashad played the Cosby Show’s Claire Huxtable. Debbie has three children with basketballer Norm Nixon.
Erica Gimpel as Coco Hernandez: Erica just left a New York performing arts school when she landed the part of the bubbly all-rounder. Erica, 58, was not in Fame’s film version but later appeared in ER, Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS, True Blood, and Chicago Med. She is private about her personal life.
Gene Anthony Ray as Leroy Johnson: Gene skipped classes at a performing arts school to audition for Fame and landed the part of Leroy, a handful in class but a dancing sensation. Like his character, Gene had a turbulent personal life. His mum was a drug dealer and he was fired from Fame when he was arrested for being part of a narcotics ring. He battled drug and alcohol addiction, which left him homeless at times, and was diagnosed with HIV in 1996. He died from a stroke in 2003 aged 41.
Lori Singer as Julie Miller: Lori was a talented cellist, just like her character, and was accepted to the Juilliard Performing Arts School in New York aged 14.
She filmed two series of Fame before she left to play Kevin Bacon’s girlfriend in 1984 smash hit Footloose, beating Madonna to the role. Lori, 64, went on to star in films with Tom Hanks and Sean Penn before stepping out of the limelight in 1998, following a divorce. She now lives in New York with son and still plays cello.
Albert Hague as Benjamin Shorofsky: Albert Hague was
an award-winning composer for Broadway musicals when Fame producers approached him to play the adorable and respectable music teacher.
He later had small parts in TV shows such as Murder She Wrote before he and his wife Renee Hague ran workshops for people who could not go to music college. Albert passed away from cancer in 2001 aged 81.
Carol Mayo Jenkins as Elizabeth Sherwood: Carol, 83, played the firm-but-fair English teacher. She had trained at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama and was one of the founders of the Drama Centre London.
Small screen acting roles in Matlock and Max Headroom followed Fame before Carol retired from acting in 1995, preferring to concentrate on theatre work.
She founded the Interact Theatre Company in Tennessee and teaches at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.