I have found through writing this blog that there a number of forgotten celebrities who have sacrificed their careers and happiness because they become addicted to alcohol or drugs. Recently I read that prescription drug addiction is on the rise in teens. Unfortunately, teens sometimes look to celebrities as role models. They see the glamor and the money and may even think that drug or alcohol abuse is acceptable as well.

Teens believe that prescription drugs are safer than street drugs and are easy to obtain. Please make sure that you dispose properly of all prescription drugs and keep track of what prescription drugs you have in your house. Expired drugs can become even more dangerous.

Olivia d’Abo

was born January 22, 1969 in England, the daughter of model Maggie London and Mike d’Abo of Manfred Mann fame. She played the hippie Karen Arnold in The Wonder Years. Her character was constantly at odds with her more conservative parents. d’Abo was only a regular on the show for four years (her character go married and moved to Alaska), but sometimes made appearances. She has had numerous supporting roles in films and was once given the Golden Raspberry Award for her work in Conan the Destroyer and Bolero.

In 2005, she appeared in the stage production of The Odd Couple with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane and she has also released a CD entitled Turku (she wrote most of the songs).

She has stayed so thin over the years and still looks great! I would love to get Free Diet advice from her!

Recently she appeared in four episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. She is currently married and has a son.

Trivia – she once dated Julian Lennon!

Samuel Fenton Cary was born February 18, 1814 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He became a lawyer in 1837, but stopped working as a lawyer to become a farmer in 1845. He devoted himself to work on temperance (the avoidance of alcoholic beverages) and anti-slavery projects. He wrote books and gave lectures on prohibition and slavery. In 1864 he supported Abraham Lincoln for President.

Cary later joined the Greenback Party and was nominated for Vice President of the United States on the ticket with Peter Cooper. The race was lost to Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876.

Cary lived out the reminder of his days supporting prohibition. He died in 1900 in College Hill, Ohio. Although he never owned any Cary NC Real Estate, the city was named in his honor.

Jason Hervey played the always obnoxious Wayne Arnold in The Wonder Years. He was every little brother’s worst nightmare! Hervey was born April 6, 1972 in Los Angeles, California. He started his acting career at the age of 4, appearing in more than 250 commercials. He had cameo appearances in a number of movies (Back to The Future, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Back To School, Monster Squad, Police Academy 2, Meatballs 2) before landing the role of Wayne.

He started producing when he was just 17 years old and produced the Saturday morning series The Wide World of Kids for 26 episodes. He has produced many other projects for television and pay-per-view and currently works for Bischoff-Hervey Productions.

He once got hit in the face by a man who said he was just like his older brother – very annoying!

Too bad a new Star Wars movie isn’t coming out because I just found a great place to get Star Wars Costumes! Don’t you remember all the news articles before a new movie would be released. All those people dressed up as Darth Vader or Chewbacca?

It used to be that you would have to hand make all your Star Wars costumes, but now you can get some that look like they are right off the movie set.

My 4 year old son has always wanted to dress up like Yoda. Well, you don’t have to just paint your face green and put on weird ears anymore. They actually have a full face mask and hands! Unbelievable! Maybe if they have a revival night at the movies I could come dressed as Princess Leia!

Danica McKellar played the beautiful Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years. Kevin forever had a crush on her – “do you like, like her?”

Danica was born January 3, 1975 in La Jolla, California. She is of Portuguese and Scottish descent. Both Danica and her sister Crystal were considered for the role of Winnie Cooper in 1988. After The Wonder Years was finished, Danica went on to graduate Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Mathematics from UCLA. She co-authored a scientific paper about a math theorem, which was dubbed the Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem. She also speaks fluent French.

She has had several guest appearance roles on television shows and a recurring role as Elsie Snuffin on the West Wing. Danica has her own website where you can keep up to date with her recent roles.

Trivia: An Australian Hip Hop Group has named themselves The Winnie Coopers after Danica’s role in The Wonder Years.

Remember the show? Lee Majors starred as the Six Million Dollar Man. It was very popular from 1973 to 1978. I always wondered what happened to Lee Majors. He turns up every once in a while. Well, now he is showing his face at Bionicon 2.0, also known as the Science Fiction Celebrity and Autograph Convention. The Convention will take place June 29 – July 1, 2007 in Los Angeles, California. Other stars of the Six Million Dollar Man will be there as well, including Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman) and Martin E. Brooks (Dr. Rudy Wellson). The show is also in negotiations with George Takei (Sulu from Star Trek) and Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk).

There will be plenty of opportunities for autographs and photo ops with the stars!

Josh Saviano played Kevin Arnold’s best friend, Paul Pfeiffer on The Wonder Years. The character of Paul provided all sorts of comic relief and the two characters were great together. Josh had done some acting prior to The Wonder Years and did one movie after.

Josh was born March 31, 1976 in New York City and was 17 when The Wonder Years ended. He went to Yale University and graduated with a degree in Political Science. He then attended Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in Manhattan and graduated with a law degree. He is currently an associate at a New York City law firm, Morrison, Cohen, Singer & Weinstein.

Interestingly, he often gets confused with Marilyn Manson. A DNA test should clear that up!

As I was flipping around the television the other night, I came across a re-run of the show The Wonder Years! I had forgotten how much I had enjoyed watching this show. It reminds me a lot of my childhood growing up.

The next few posts are going to be my tribute to The Wonder Years! When doing my research I noticed that none of the child actors had spent time in drug rehab (that must be a first). They have all seemed to find their own way in the world.

The Wonder Years ran for 115 episodes from 1988 until 1993. The show was all about a young Kevin Arnold and his experiences growing up in the 60s and 70s. What made the show interesting is that is was narrated by an adult Kevin (Daniel Stern) who was able to comment about how the experiences changed his life.

As I was listening to the radio yesterday, Paul Harvey was saying a little bit about Robert Todd Lincoln. Since I missed most of the piece, I started wondering, Whatever happened to Robert Todd Lincoln?

Robert Todd Lincoln was born August 1, 1843 and was the first son of Abraham Lincoln (16th President of the United States) and Mary Todd Lincoln. Robert Todd Lincoln was the only one of four sons of the Lincolns to die at an old age. Robert studied at Phillips Exeter Academy and then at Harvard University. He attended Harvard Law School for one year but did not graduate and instead joined the Union Army in 1865 as Captain and served on Ulysses S. Grant’s immediate staff. He was often publicly criticized for not entering the Army earlier, but that was his mother’s doing and not his own.

On the morning of President Lincoln’s assassination, Robert had breakfast with his father. His father told him:

Well, my son, you have returned safely from the front. The war is now closed, and we soon will live in peace with the brave man that have been fighting against us. I trust that the era of good feeling has returned with the war, and henceforth we shall live in peace. Now listen to me, Robert: you must lay aside your uniform, and return to college. I wish you to read law for three years, and at the end of that time I hope that we will be able to tell whether you will make a lawyer or not.

After his father’s death, Robert resigned from the Army and moved to Chicago with his mother. He finished law school and practiced law. He married Mary Harlan in 1868 and they had three children. Their only son died as a teenager and thus ended the direct descendants of Abraham Lincoln.

A major controversy in Robert’s life is when he had his mother committed to a mental hospital. He gained the support of family and friends to testify against her as he felt she was not spending the family fortune wisely. She was later released after three months and afterward there was always a strain in the relationship.

Robert became the Secretary of War for both President James Garfield and Chester Arthur. Later he was appointed as Minster to Great Britain. He was present at the assassinations of both Garfield and President William McKinley which often led him to reflect upon the assassination of his own father.

Robert died in 1926 at the age of 82. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.