NO BALONEY! A pre-"Growing Pains" Kirk Cameron & Tracey Gold in a 1982 commercial

[nobaloney]

Check this YouTube clip out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iInFwAxRD0M

In case you don't recognize it, this 1982 McDonald's commercial features a pre-"Growing Pains" Kirk Cameron, aged 12, & Tracey Gold, also aged 12, in a McDonald's commercial, with 2 older actors playing their folks.

For those in doubt about this fact, I'll give you as complete a biography of the entire life and career of Kirk Cameron as possible, unless otherwise noted courtesy of Kirk's "E! True Hollywood Story" episode.

Growing up in a family of 4 (including a little sister, Candace) in the 1970s, Kirk Cameron describes himself, in his memoir "Still Growing," as a devout Atheist for most of his life before turning his life to God and Jesus Christ.

Born on October 12, 1969, Kirk was raised in Los Angeles, California, the eldest child of middle-school teacher Rob Cameron and his recent high-school graduate wife, Barbara Bausmith, a New Jersey-born homemaker.

Kirk's parents met c. 1968, when Rob was a rising middle-school teacher and gym coach and Barbara was a 17-year-old recent high-school grad; before the year ended, Rob and Barbara learned they were expecting their 1st baby, and 5 months into the pregnancy, on June 22, 1969, at the request of both their parents, Rob and Barbara were married.

Kirk arrived on Earth 3 1/2 months later; by 1974, they were expecting again; this time, a little girl, Candace, arrived on April 6, 1975.

In 1979, at the urging of her friend Fran Rich (whose 10-year-old son, Adam, was a year older than Kirk and ironically shared Kirk's birthday, had just finished his 2nd season on the 1970s dramedy "Eight is Enough"), Barbara took 9-year-old Kirk and 4-year-old Candace to auditions.

That same year, Kirk auditioned for a Count Chocula commercial--and walked away with the job. By age 12, small roles on commercial TV programs followed, including an episode of the hit "Mary Tyler Moore Show" spin-off "Lou Grant" and an episode of a short-lived 1982 sitcom adaptation of Disney's "Herbie, the Love Bug."

In early 1983, 13-year-old Kirk landed his first regular series role on a short-lived hour-long drama series for the ABC Television Network called "Two Marriages," where he appeared opposite fellow future teen idol C. Thomas "Tommy" Howell.

In Fall 1984, just shy of his 15th birthday, Kirk auditioned for the part of the eldest teenage son, Michael Aaron "Mike" Seaver, on a situation comedy pilot titled "Growing Pains," based on the true story of the show's creator, Neal Marlens, who based it on his teenage years over a decade earlier in Long Island, New York, where Neal's Mom was a psychiatrist and Neal's Dad was the manager of the local newspaper, New York Newsday. The series had the roles reversed, with the Father a Psychiatrist and the Mother a Newspaper Reporter. 15-year-old Tracey Gold (born Tracey Fisher May 16, 1969 in New York City, New York, the older sister of Melissa "Missy" Gold of TV's "Benson,", whose given last name was also Fisher) auditioned for the part of teenage daughter Carol Ann Seaver--and initially didn't earn the part, only having earned the part after the original pilot was taped in March 1985 and 15-year-old Elizabeth Ward was let go from the show, with all of her scenes replaced that summer with Tracey.

Also cast after auditioning were 38-year-old Alan Thicke (born Alan Jeffrey on March 1, 1947 in Kirkland Lake, Canada, whose biological father, Bill Jeffrey, left the family when Alan was very young--and whose parents were divorced by his 6th birthday; his mother, Mary, married an old flame, Dr. Brian Thicke, a residing physician, who gave him a little brother, Todd, now a writer on the hit ABC Television Network game show "America's Funniest Home Videos"); 32-year-old Joanna Kerns (born Joanna DeVarona on February 12, 1953 in San Francisco, California); and 9-year-old Jeremy Miller (born on October 21, 1975 in West Covina, California).

"Growing Pains" debuted on the ABC Television Network on September 24, 1985, and although ratings were poor in its rookie season, by the time Neal quit the show in January 1986, and producers Dan Guntzelman, Mike Sullivan, and Steve Marshall were hired to retool the show, ratings climbed to #17.

That summer, viewers who missed the rookie season began tuning in, and the following Fall, 16-year-old Kirk Cameron earned a permanent place in the Teen Idol Hall of Fame, earning 10,000 letters a week from girls his age, in addition to $10,000 for every episode taped at Warner Bros. Studios.

Soon after cementing his teen idol status, and ironically after turning 17 that October, Kirk's parents, Rob and Barbara, sat him and Candace down and told them both they were getting divorced; ironically, that July, 11-year-old Candace had just been cast on a situation comedy pilot for the ABC Television Network called "Full House," which was picked up for Fall 1987.

The following Summer, during a break from filming "Like Father, Like Son," where he appeared opposite British actor Dudley Moore (born April 19, 1935 in Dagenham, England; died March 27, 2002 in Plainfield, New Jersey after a bout with pneumonia following a 1999 diagnosis of Progressive Supranuclea Palsy) and fellow teen heartthrob Sean Astin (born Sean Patrick Duke on February 25, 1971 in Santa Monica, California, the son of Patty Duke and John Astin, whose biological father was NOT John Astin NOR Desi Arnaz, Jr., contrary to public belief, but rather Michael Tell, a man Patty was briefly married to before meeting and marrying John Astin), Kirk's then-girlfriend, actress Leanna Creel (born August 27, 1970 in Los Angeles, California, whose father was a local pastor), persuaded Kirk to attend her local Church.

Soon after, per his memoir "Still Growing," Kirk, aged 17, asked himself, "If there's a God, I need to know," and from that day on, turned his life to Christ.

"Full House" would debut on the ABC Television Network on September 22, 1987, with 12-year-old Candace portraying eldest teen daughter D.J. Tanner.

6 months after Kirk's fateful encounter with Jesus, his & Candace's parents, Rob and Barbara, reconciled and eventually remarried.

Soon after his 17-year-old character Mike Seaver graduated from the fictional Thomas E. Dewey High School, 18-year-old Kirk Cameron graduated in real life from Chatsworth High School (where Candace would eventually graduate from in 1993, at age 18), and soon after used the money he earned from "Growing Pains" to buy his first apartment in Simi Valley, California, which, by his own admission in the memoir "Still Growing," burned down not long after he moved out the following year.

In 1989, just shy of turning 20, Kirk met and fell in love with aspiring model/actress Nancy Mueller (born in Buffalo, New York on December 4, 1964 and known professionally as Chelsea Noble), who was cast as Kate MacDonald, a potential college love interest of Mike--a role that quickly transferred onscreen; 2 years later, on July 20, 1991, 21-year-old Kirk and 26-year-old Nancy married in a private ceremony in Nancy's hometown of Buffalo, New York with only immediate family members in attendance--a move that peeved their colleagues on "Growing Pains" because they weren't even told about it.

Earlier that year, just after being engaged to Nancy, 21-year-old Kirk called the President of the ABC Television Network, calling Guntzelman, Sullivan and Marshall "pornographers" (sadly, in Marshall's case, correct, as he pled guilty in 2010 to possession of child porn, earning 7 years in prison).

Soon after that fateful call, ABC execs canceled "Growing Pains," deciding that the 7th season, which would begin airing on September 18, 1991 on 2 consecutive Wednesday nights before moving from its long-time Tuesday-night lineup after "Who's the Boss?" to Saturday nights at 8 p.m., would be its last.

Knowing ABC's decision, new executive producer Dan Wilcox hired a 16-year-old actor and recent high-school dropout named Leonardo DiCaprio (born in Los Angeles, California on November 11, 1974) as Luke Brower, a 15-year-old homeless teenager taken in by the Seaver family; new writers and directors were hired that season as well, replacing the original team.

Despite the network's cancellation, "Growing Pains" finished its 7th and final season at #27 out of 102 prime-time network TV shows in the Nielsen ratings (per The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows).

22-year-old Kirk continued acting in film and TV for 8 more years (including a short-lived 1995 self-titled sitcom, "Kirk," conceived by fellow former teen idol Scott Baio of TV's "Happy Days" and "Charles in Charge" fame) until the year 2000, when, at age 30, after filming the first "Growing Pains" reunion movie (along with the first "Left Behind" movie, released the following year), Kirk found a new calling, per Jesus, as an evangelical preacher.

By this time, his 25-year-old sister Candace was (and still is after 15 years as of 2011) married to now-retired pro hockey player Val Bure and the mother of his 2 children--with a 3rd born in 2002--and was a stay-at-home mom, having retired from acting after a series of made-for-TV movies (one of which, "Sharon's Secret," featured a scene of her in the shower Naked).

Though Candace eventually returned to acting in 2010 per Christian-themed films and the ABC Family series "Make It or Break It," except for 2 "Left Behind" sequels and the 2008 hit Christian film "Fireproof," along with a 2nd "Growing Pains" reunion movie, "Return of the Seavers," aired in 2004, Kirk, who will turn 42 on October 12, has remained retired from acting.

Candace, who turned 36 last April 6, and Val reside near Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (per Kirk's official website), while Kirk, age 41, and Nancy, age 46, reside in Los Angeles, California with their 6 kids--4 adopted, 2 biological.

[Marvo301]

I had no idea Kirk and Tracey had worked together prior to Growing Pains. Nice find!

[old grouch]

'Who are these strange people who are pretending to be our parents??? And where's Ben???'

[ThomasE]

Originally Posted by old grouch

'Who are these strange people who are pretending to be our parents??? And where's Ben???'

LOL. That is funny!


Show me that smile again...

[Family Ties Forever!]

Originally Posted by nobaloney

Check this YouTube clip out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iInFwAxRD0M
In case you don't recognize it, this 1982 McDonald's commercial features a pre-"Growing Pains" Kirk Cameron, aged 12, & Tracey Gold, also aged 12, in a McDonald's commercial, with 2 older actors playing their folks.

I barely recognized them. Cool.

Originally Posted by nobaloney

his Mom was a psychiatrist and his Dad was the manager of the local newspaper

That's backwards. The father was a psychiatrist and the mother was a news reporter.

[dlemond]

The actor who plays the dad in the commercial is very familiar.
Either from TV, movies or other commercials- he's been around.

Someone help me out here.

[704Hauser]

Originally Posted by nobaloney

Check this YouTube clip out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iInFwAxRD0M

In case you don't recognize it, this 1982 McDonald's commercial features a pre-"Growing Pains" Kirk Cameron, aged 12, & Tracey Gold, also aged 12, in a McDonald's commercial, with 2 older actors playing their folks.

For those in doubt about this fact, I'll give you as complete a biography of the entire life and career of Kirk Cameron as possible, unless otherwise noted courtesy of Kirk's "E! True Hollywood Story" episode.

Growing up in a family of 4 (including a little sister, Candace) in the 1970s, Kirk Cameron describes himself, in his memoir "Still Growing," as a devout Atheist for most of his life before turning his life to God and Jesus Christ.

Born on October 12, 1969, Kirk was raised in Los Angeles, California, the eldest child of retired middle-school teacher Rob Cameron and his recent high-school graduate wife, Barbara Bausmith, a New Jersey-born homemaker.

Kirk's parents met c. 1968, when Rob was a rising middle-school teacher and gym coach and Barbara was a 17-year-old recent high-school grad; before the year ended, Rob and Barbara learned they were expecting their 1st baby, and 5 months into the pregnancy, on June 22, 1969, at the request of both their parents, Rob and Barbara were married.

Kirk arrived on Earth 3 1/2 months later; by 1974, they were expecting again; this time, a little girl, Candace, arrived on April 6, 1975.

In 1979, at the urging of her friend Fran Rich (whose 10-year-old son, Adam, was a year older than Kirk and ironically shared Kirk's birthday, had just finished his 2nd season on the 1970s dramedy "Eight is Enough"), Barbara took 9-year-old Kirk and 4-year-old Candace to auditions.

That same year, Kirk auditioned for a Count Chocula commercial--and walked away with the job. By age 12, small roles on commercial TV programs followed, including an episode of the hit "Mary Tyler Moore Show" spin-off "Lou Grant" and an episode of a short-lived 1982 sitcom adaptation of Disney's "Herbie, the Love Bug."

In early 1983, 13-year-old Kirk landed his first regular series role on a short-lived hour-long drama series for the ABC Television Network called "Two Marriages," where he appeared opposite fellow future teen idol C. Thomas "Tommy" Howell.

In Fall 1984, just shy of his 15th birthday, Kirk auditioned for the part of the eldest teenage son, Michael Aaron "Mike" Seaver, on a situation comedy pilot titled "Growing Pains," based on the true story of the show's creator, Neal Marlens, who based it on his teenage years over a decade earlier in Long Island, New York, where his Mom was a psychiatrist and his Dad was the manager of the local newspaper, New York Newsday. 15-year-old Tracey Gold (born Tracey Fisher May 16, 1969 in New York City, New York, the older sister of Melissa "Missy" Gold of TV's "Benson,", whose given last name was also Fisher) auditioned for the part of teenage daughter Carol Ann Seaver--and initially didn't earn the part, only having earned the part after the original pilot was taped in March 1985 and 15-year-old Elizabeth Ward was let go from the show, with all of her scenes replaced that summer with Tracey.

Also cast after auditioning were 38-year-old Alan Thicke (born Alan Jeffrey on March 1, 1947 in Kirkland Lake, Canada, whose biological father, Bill Jeffrey, left the family when Alan was very young--and whose parents were divorced by his 6th birthday; his mother, Mary, married an old flame, Dr. Brian Thicke, a residing physician, who gave him a little brother, Todd, now a writer on the hit ABC Television Network game show "America's Funniest Home Videos"); 32-year-old Joanna Kerns (born Joanna DeVarona on February 12, 1953 in San Francisco, California); and 9-year-old Jeremy Miller (born on October 21, 1975 in West Covina, California).

"Growing Pains" debuted on the ABC Television Network on September 24, 1985, and although ratings were poor in its rookie season, by the time Neal quit the show in January 1986, and producers Dan Guntzelman, Mike Sullivan, and Steve Marshall were hired to retool the show, ratings climbed to #17.

That summer, viewers who missed the rookie season began tuning in, and the following Fall, 16-year-old Kirk Cameron earned a permanent place in the Teen Idol Hall of Fame, earning 10,000 letters a week from girls his age, in addition to $10,000 for every episode taped at Warner Bros. Studios.

Soon after cementing his teen idol status, and ironically after turning 17 that October, Kirk's parents, Rob and Barbara, sat him and Candace down and told them both they were getting divorced; ironically, that July, 11-year-old Candace had just been cast on a situation comedy pilot for the ABC Television Network called "Full House," which was picked up for Fall 1987.

The following Summer, during a break from filming "Like Father, Like Son," where he appeared opposite British actor Dudley Moore (born April 19, 1935 in Dagenham, England; died March 27, 2002 in Los Angeles, California after a bout with pneumonia following a 1999 diagnosis of Progressive Supranuclea Palsy) and fellow teen heartthrob Sean Astin (born Sean Patrick Duke on February 25, 1971 in Santa Monica, California, the son of Patty Duke and John Astin, whose biological father was NOT John Astin NOR Desi Arnaz, Jr., contrary to public belief, but rather Michael Tell, a man Patty was briefly married to before meeting and marrying John Astin), Kirk's then-girlfriend, actress Leanna Creel (born August 27, 1970 in Los Angeles, California, whose father was a local pastor), persuaded Kirk to attend her local Church.

Soon after, per his memoir "Still Growing," Kirk, aged 17, asked himself, "If there's a God, I need to know," and from that day on, turned his life to Christ.

"Full House" would debut on the ABC Television Network on September 22, 1987, with 12-year-old Candace portraying eldest teen daughter D.J. Tanner.

6 months after Kirk's fateful encounter with Jesus, his & Candace's parents, Rob and Barbara, reconciled and eventually remarried.

Soon after his 17-year-old character Mike Seaver graduated from the fictional Thomas E. Dewey High School, 18-year-old Kirk Cameron graduated in real life from Chatsworth High School (where Candace would eventually graduate from in 1993, at age 18), and soon after used the money he earned from "Growing Pains" to buy his first apartment in Simi Valley, California, which, by his own admission in the memoir "Still Growing," burned down not long after he moved out the following year.

In 1989, just shy of turning 20, Kirk met and fell in love with aspiring model/actress Nancy Mueller (born in Buffalo, New York on December 4, 1964 and known professionally as Chelsea Noble), who was cast as Kate MacDonald, a potential college love interest of Mike--a role that quickly transferred onscreen; 2 years later, on July 20, 1991, 21-year-old Kirk and 26-year-old Nancy married in a private ceremony in Nancy's hometown of Buffalo, New York with only immediate family members in attendance--a move that peeved their colleagues on "Growing Pains" because they weren't even told about it.

Earlier that year, just after being engaged to Nancy, 21-year-old Kirk called the President of the ABC Television Network, calling Guntzelman, Sullivan and Marshall "pornographers" (sadly, in Marshall's case, correct, as he pled guilty in 2010 to possession of child porn, earning 7 years in prison).

Soon after that fateful call, ABC execs canceled "Growing Pains," deciding that the 7th season, which would begin airing on September 18, 1991 on 2 consecutive Wednesday nights before moving from its long-time Tuesday-night lineup after "Who's the Boss?" to Saturday nights at 8 p.m., would be its last.

Knowing ABC's decision, new executive producer Dan Wilcox hired a 16-year-old actor and recent high-school dropout named Leonardo DiCaprio (born in Los Angeles, California on November 11, 1974) as Luke Brower, a 15-year-old homeless teenager taken in by the Seaver family; new writers and directors were hired that season as well, replacing the original team.

Despite the network's cancellation, "Growing Pains" finished its 7th and final season at #27 out of 102 prime-time network TV shows in the Nielsen ratings (per The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows).

22-year-old Kirk continued acting in film and TV for 8 more years (including a short-lived 1995 self-titled sitcom, "Kirk," conceived by fellow former teen idol Scott Baio of TV's "Happy Days" and "Charles in Charge" fame) until the year 2000, when, at age 30, after filming the first "Growing Pains" reunion movie (along with the first "Left Behind" movie, released the following year), Kirk found a new calling, per Jesus, as an evangelical preacher.

By this time, his 25-year-old sister Candace was (and still is after 15 years as of 2011) married to now-retired pro hockey player Val Bure and the mother of his 2 children--with a 3rd born in 2002--and was a stay-at-home mom, having retired from acting after a series of made-for-TV movies (one of which, "Sharon's Secret," featured a scene of her in the shower Naked).

Though Candace eventually returned to acting in 2010 per Christian-themed films and the ABC Family series "Make It or Break It," except for 2 "Left Behind" sequels and the 2008 hit Christian film "Fireproof," along with a 2nd "Growing Pains" reunion movie, "Return of the Seavers," aired in 2004, Kirk, who will turn 42 on October 12, has remained retired from acting.

Candace, who turned 36 last April 6, and Val reside near Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (per Kirk's official website), while Kirk, age 41, and Nancy, age 46, reside in Los Angeles, California with their 6 kids--4 adopted, 2 biological.

I thought Kirk and Candace were born in 1970 and 1976 respectively, not 1969 and 1975? All other sources (IMDb, Wikipedia, reelz.com, official Facebook pages and so forth) say 1970 and 1976.

Interesting read though, thank you so much for posting!

[UMfan77]

That was a cool find! Thanks!