In 1984, little Bastian Bux watched as the unforgettable heroes from The NeverEnding
Story battled against the Nothing to save a kingdom from certain doom.
The fantasy family film still resonates, but what's become of its actors?
Here's what the cast of The NeverEnding Story looks like today.
Barret Oliver
Former child star Barrett Oliver got his big Hollywood break by playing our heroic reader
Bastian Bux in The NeverEnding Story.
"It's only a story!
It's not real!
It's only a story!"
He went on to claim starring roles in Tim Burton's 1984 short film Frankenweenie, 1985's
family sci-fi film D.A.R.Y.L., and Ron Howard's Cocoon.
In 1985, Oliver told Starlog,
"I don't regret that I decided to become an actor.
Besides, if I don't like it at any time, I can stop."
And in 1989, he did just that.
Oliver is now a photographic historian who literally wrote the book on the Woodburytype
printing process of the 19th century.
He briefly returned to the front of the camera in 2007, when he starred in a short documentary
about his craft, called "In the Usual Manner."
Noah Hathaway
Atreyu was something of a comeback kid in The NeverEnding Story — he endured the depressing
death of his horse and still managed to battle back existential forces of destruction.
His real-life counterpart, Noah Hathaway, seems to share that resilience: the actor
has returned to Hollywood after nearly 20 years away from the spotlight.
Before The NeverEnding Story, Hathaway's credits included 1978's Battlestar Galactica, as well
as appearances on many popular shows like Mork & Mindy, CHiPs, and Laverne & Shirley.
He quit the business after starring in 1986's Troll because, as he told The News Tribune,
he "just wanted to drop off the radar and be a regular human being" for a while.
After his career as a child star, Hathaway worked in finance and tattoo artistry, and
decided to return to showbusiness in 2012 when he landed a role in Sushi Girl and began
writing his own screenplays.
Tami Stronach
The Childlike Empress had no screen experience to speak of when she nabbed the iconic role
in The NeverEnding Story.
Tami Stronach explained to Slashfilm that she was accidentally spotted by a casting
agent who arrived for lunch early.
Stronach almost completely disappeared from the screen to focus on professional dancing,
which she employed in a 2008 foreign language TV musical where she played a dancing doll.
Now she runs her own company in New York, and her decision to pursue a mostly non-Hollywood
life was intentional, saying,
"I love dancing and acting equally, and when we were thrown a lot of these odd scripts,
we just looked at each other and said, 'We're not going to play this game right.'
I made a decision that I would throw myself into dance and that if I really missed acting,
I would return to it as an adult...
So that's what I did and I ended up dancing for 20 years professionally in New York."
She did end up frequenting the stage for several years and helped develop the Paper Canoe Theater
Company, once she started to miss the acting business.
Deep Roy
The actor who played Teeny Weeny has had a long and fruitful career in show business.
The Kenya-born Deep Roy might actually be better known for his parts in other TV and
film roles, like Mr. Sin in Doctor Who, Mr. Soggybottom in Big Fish, the Oompa Loompas
in Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or Keenser in the Star Trek films.
"Achoo!"
Although Roy was almost a decade into his career before he starred in The NeverEnding
Story, it was one of his first big film roles.
He's pretty much been acting consistently since 1976, and unlike his co-stars, he shows
no signs of stopping.
Tilo Prückner
German actor Tilo Prückner would hardly be recognizable to those who saw him in The NeverEnding
Story, since so much makeup work went into becoming his character, the Night Hob.
However, Prückner has been acting in films and television for decades and has over 200
credits to his name, starting all the way back in the late '60s.
Most of his work has been in Europe — and The NeverEnding Story was no exception, as
it was filmed primarily in director Wolfgang Petersen's native West Germany.
Gerald McRaney
The role of Bastian's dad in The NeverEnding Story was brief, but actor Gerald McRaney
has enjoyed a lot more screen time in his subsequent projects.
He'd developed a great small-screen résumé before landing the small supporting role in
the movie, and he's since continued to thrive on television.
Most notably, he starred in Simon & Simon for eight seasons before becoming the titular
father character in the 1989 sitcom Major Dad.
He also enjoyed regular roles on Deadwood, Jericho, House of Cards, and in 2016, appeared
as a part of the ensemble cast of the NBC drama This Is Us.
Alan Oppenheimer
"My little friends."
The voice actor responsible for most of The NeverEnding Story's most memorable non-human
characters, including The Rockbiter, Falkor, and G'mork, was Alan Oppenheimer, who's had
an illustrious career in front of the mic and the camera.
His screen appearance credits include an Emmy-nominated guest role on Murphy Brown, but his voice
credits are practically...neverending.
He's perhaps best known for his work on Filmation's version of the Ghostbusters, and Transformers…
"Yeeeaaaa.
Alright knights let's go blam zingem!"
...and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
"Silence you fool, I've had it with your whining and bumbling!"
Even with all those amazing credits, he'll always be ol' Falkor to us…
"Wwwaaahhhhh!!"
Thanks for watching!
If you’re looking for another channel exploring cool topics in unusual and super entertaining
ways, then go check out WISECRACK.
They’re a collective of comedians, academics, filmmakers, and artists who are super curious
about the world around us.
WISECRACK releases addictive new videos every week.
Click here to visit their channel page and subscribe.
One of our favorites is their video about the Hidden Meaning in Disney's Frozen.
So go subscribe to WISECRACK and tell them Looper sent you...