A Christmas Story Director Bob Clark Initially Passed On Peter Billingsley Taking The Role Of Ralphie
As the holiday season descends upon us, engulfing everything in sight with a deluge of frost and good cheer, we've officially reached the time of year when it's socially acceptable to watch "A Christmas Story" again. The 1983 comedy, which follows a young boy's pursuit of a non-lethal firearm in 1940s Indiana, achieves the rare combination of being both Christmas-y enough for children and not so cloyingly sweet that it forces parents to reconsider their life choices.
The movie has maintained its popularity over the years, with TBS having aired a 24-hour marathon of the film every Christmas since 1997, a tradition that has long plagued people trying to find the Christmas Day NBA games. This year, the film received a long-awaited sequel (we're all agreeing to ignore some of the previous attempts), "A Christmas Story Christmas," which features the return of much of the original cast, including the first film's star, Peter Billingsley.
Billingsley's turn as Ralphie in "A Christmas Story" is almost certainly what he's most known for, but according to Caseen Gaines' 2013 book, "A Christmas Story: Behind the Scenes of a Holiday Classic," Billingsley was originally turned down for the role. As it turns out, director Bob Clark was hesitant to cast Billingsley because he was "too obvious" a choice, something that will likely come as all the greater a surprise to those unfamiliar with Billingley's early career outside of Clark's Yuletide classic.
The perfect Ralphie
As the book explains, Peter Billingsley was already quite the recognizable figure prior to "A Christmas Story" thanks to his commercial work. His most well-known commercials role was that of "Messy Marvin," an accident-prone young boy with a proclivity for Hershey's chocolate syrup. It's a part that Billingsley looks back on fondly, as he admitted to Bullz-Eye in 2010:
"You know, they were very kind. They would send me boxes of chocolate every year. I was on that short list of special clients, and every Christmas we'd get a big box full of Hershey's candy. Hershey's was great. I really enjoyed that."
In addition to his commercial star power, Billingsley was a rather seasoned actor for his age, referred to in Caseen Gaines' book as a "consummate professional" with a 150 IQ. Taking all that into account, on top of him being an adorable kid, he seemed like the perfect fit for the role of Ralphie.
But for Bob Clark, who already had some experience making Christmas movies (albeit a very different one), Billingsley's recognizability wasn't a positive thing. Perhaps not wanting people to watch his movie and point at the screen saying, "Hey, it's Messy Marvin," Clark launched a huge talent search to find the film's Ralphie, with over 8,000 kids auditioning. However, when none of them had the spark that Billingsley had, Clark came to a realization, saying out loud to himself, "I must be crazy. Peter is Ralphie."
To this day, for the many people who love "A Christmas Story," Peter remains Ralphie. And while "A Christmas Story Christmas" may fail to recapture the magic of the original film, nobody can deny the brilliance and lasting impact of "A Christmas Story." Peter Billingsley's legacy will, rightly, forever be attached to that movie.