RIP - Amanda Peterson from 'Can't Buy Me Love' Dead at 43

Not another death from tainted heroin, I hope. It's an epidemic!

[quote] "She had some illness and a sleep apnea problem that may have contributed," her father told TMZ on Monday, July 6.

Could this be her?

There will be a moment of silence in her memory on the African Culture channel.

Often wondered why she didn't continue acting.

She played Sarah Jessica Parker niece on the critically acclaimed Emmy Award winning drama A Year In The Life.

The theme music still gives me chills.

Opening below

I never heard of that show "A Year in the Life"... was it good? Seems to have good ratings at IMDB.

Dammit OP, you beat me to it!

R5 it was an 80s version of "Family"

Drama about an extended Seattle Family

The show was SUPERB

LOVE that film! Just bought the DVD on Amazon for $6.00.

HAS PATRICK ISSUED A STATEMENT?

She also played one of the orphans in the unfortunate 1982 film "Annie." She really should have had the lead.

I loved CBML too.

I liked Amanda too. She had acting talent and the all-american blonde look many go gaga over. There were rumors online several years ago that she got hooked on meth at one point. Some photos (linked below) of her around that time with her daughter showed her looking kinda rough, so maybe it was true.

Anyway, RIP Amanda.

Year in the Life was one of the best drama series ever on television.

The theme song was also one of the greatest. Gor-jus!

Amanda was prodigiously talented in it. This is one of my favorite scenes from the show; it gives you a sense of how impeccable the writing was. Wendy Phillips absolutely kicked ass.

Wendy Phillips deserved an Emmy nomination for her role

The problem with A Year In The Life was the timing.

They premiered as a series the same year as thirtysomething.

thirtysomething got more acclaim than Year in the Life.

Wish Year in the Life was on DVD

Best version of the theme song at link. Beautiful!

Sorry to link to a compilation; it should begin automatically at 2:40:

I wanted to look like her so much back then.

Not true, R13. Year in the Life was far more acclaimed than Thirtysomething, which was derided in many corners as "white people whining."

Brandon Tartikoff later said his greatest career regret was canceling YITL after one season.

[quote] Year in the Life was far more acclaimed than Thirtysomething,

yes but thirtysomething won the big prize that year, the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series

Year in the Life wasn't even nominated.

No nominations for directing or writing, which thirtysomething did get.

But year did win Richard Kiley a Best Actor Emmy

In his acceptance speech he called NBC a corporate myopia that killed a fine show.

There were rumors on her IMDB page that she was seriously troubled and had run-ins with drugs, etc.

In memory of Amanda

I was just thinking about A Year in the Life. I loved it. If I recall correctly, it started as a TV movie and did well so it went to series. Sad about Amanda, so young to just die suddenly like that. More to the story I'm sure.

[quote]HAS PATRICK ISSUED A STATEMENT?

Someone posted that Patrick was "Devastated"...according to sources.

I'm shocked to hear this, I loved her in "Can't Buy Me Love". :(

Never heard of AYITL (SJP looks amazing in that intro - her hair and makeup are on point. She didn't look that good in GJWTHF).

As for Amanda looking "kinda rough" in the photo of her and her kid: Wrong. She looks [bold]quite[/bold] rough! Dying at 43 is extremely unusual unless drugs, alcohol, serious medical or mental illness, or foul play are involved. I wonder if she was overweight, as sleep apnea is rare (albeit, not impossible) in people of normative weight.

The way this year is going for me, I'll be losing my hair next.

some illness and a sleep apnea problem = drugs

That's sad.

RIP Cindy Mancini...

One site said she had two kids but lost custody of one. That sounds like fallout from a drug problem.

Her life would make for an interesting article. I hope some writer undertakes it.

Yes, would like to hear more on Amanda.

"Can't buy me Love" was a great 80's movie. I seent it maybe 15 times as a kid.

She was very cute and believable in CBML. I was always surprised I never saw her in much else. She kind of had an Elizabeth Shue thing going but Shue's career was never really consistent either.

[quote]She kind of had an Elizabeth Shue thing going but Shue's career was never really consistent either.

You're absolutely right on that statement.

The scene where Amanda embarrasses Patrick Dempsey on New Year's Eve was brilliant and realistic. Amanda was a really talented actress, too bad we didn't get to see more of her work, she seemed to quit too soon.

Count me as another huge fan of AYITL which was a miniseries first the a TV drama that ran a year. It was so good and had so many good actors like Richard Kiley, Peterson, Trey Ames, David Oliver, Morgan Stevens... Now Kiley, Peterson and Oliver are all gone.

Someone claimed on the IMDB that Amanda suffered from Bipolor disorder through most of her adult life, and tried to self medicate.

Her mother talked to Entertainment Tonight - She insists her death wasn't related:

[quote]Amanda Peterson, who starred opposite Patrick Dempsey in the 1987 romantic comedy Can't Buy Me Love, was found dead at her Colorado home over the weekend, her mother Sylvia confirmed to ET.

Peterson allegedly passed away on Friday, though her body was not discovered in her Greeley, Colorado home until Sunday. Peterson’s death is still under investigation.

Peterson became a star after playing Dempsey’s romantic counterpart Cindy Mancini in the hit ‘80s makeover movie, but left the industry just a few years later. She had been living in Colorado for several years.

Peterson’s mother told ET that a basic toxicology test had been conducted on her daughter, but that the family was waiting on further reports to see if Peterson had any other medical conditions that may have contributed to or caused her death. She added that "this was not, in any way, a drug thing."

The rest of Peterson's family will be traveling to Colorado on Tuesday.

Found this comment made a few years ago:

[quote]Amanda Peterson walked away because she was being pestered for sex by her agent and an unknown movie director from LA. She chose to walk away as that way the people harassing her couldn't blackmail her as she was no longer famous. Sue me if you want, I'm not from America but I keep in touch with her still and that's all I'm prepared to say.

RIP.

I loved that movie. Sad to hear she had a troubled life.

David Oliver was beautiful. A Year in the Life was a great show. Another good one from around that time was Two Marriages.

Sad. She was so cute.

I loved A Year in the Life.

Nothing on it in the LA Times that I can find --

Loved the scenes in CBML where Ronald sneaks Cindy into the planetarium and he asks her if she can scale the wall and she just kind of smirks "Of course, I can."

Sorry, it's been awhile. I don't think it's a planetarium .....they're just stargazing.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Uh oh, her teeth in that last photoshoot are diagnostic of la droga.

[quote] In his acceptance speech he called NBC a corporate myopia that killed a fine show.

It might have run longer if GE had not bought out RCA and gotten NBC with it and had Grant Tinker kept his job there. They could have tried the same tactic that worked with [italic]Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere[/italic] and [italic]Cheers[/italic]. But no, they were spoiled by the instantaneous success of [italic]The Cosby Show, Miami Vice[/italic] and [italic]The Golden Girls[/italic] and decided that if a show didn't become an instant hit, it would be gone. NBC has never recovered from GE's disastrous ownership, and all that fascistic "Must-See TV" BS started to fall apart after [italic]Seinfeld[/italic], one of the last Tartikoff-era shows to catch on. The 1980s shows deserved their success; the 1990s shows were just lucky.

So we are all in agreement that Brandon Tartikoff is to blame for Amanda Peterson's death?

BASTARD!

[quote] So we are all in agreement that Brandon Tartikoff is to blame for Amanda Peterson's death?

No, but when he was at Paramount he butchered and buried [italic]Steppin' Out[/italic] and turned the studio into an SNL movie spinoff factory.

Her TV brother on "Year in the Life" Trey Ames was such an outstanding young actor as well.

He to would leave the business, and he is now

Get ready for this

An RAS which stands for Registered Addictions Specialist

Bachelors of Science in Psychology and is a Certified Addictions Treatment Counselor

To bad he couldn't help Amanda, as they probably lost touch

RIP Amanda.

PETERSON, PHYLLIS arrested:05/03/12 at 20:31 Arresting Agency: GREELEY POLICE DEPARTMENT Booking Number: 4366 DOB: 07/08/71 Gender: Female Custody Status Arrested for: 5404-DRIVING UNDER INFL DUI / Bail: $0.00 Arrested for: 3550-NARCOTIC EQUIP - POSSESS / Bail: $0.00

I was a freaking A Year in the Life fanatic. I had the only TV in my fraternity house back then and I let every body use it EXCEPT on Wednesday nights when A Year in the Life and St. Elsewhere were on.

My heart jumped when Northern Exposure had Chris and Maurice watching an episode.

I remember seeing her in a really seedy direct-to-video movie with Christopher Atkins she made not that long after Can't Buy Me Love came out. I know good roles are hard to come around, but it seemed like the kind of job someone desperate and a little troubled would take.

I'm guessing child star sexual abuse, combined with an underlying mental illness, and substance abuse issues. The sad Hollywood formula for destruction.

"I'm guessing child star sexual abuse, combined with an underlying mental illness, and substance abuse issues. The sad Hollywood formula for destruction."

Please, child stars are not more likely to be abused than regular kids. I love how people on the datalounge assume someone was molested with no evidence. She's just an actress who quit Hollywood when she couldn't get work anymore

r54, pedophiles are rampant in Hollywood. I had a crush on her back in the day. A pretty, fresh and approachable girl.

R52 = MARY! Your frat bros had to know which side your bread was buttered on.

Patrick Dempsey on Twitter:

[quote] In my memory, she will always be vibrant and young. Gone too soon. Sending my thoughts and prayers to Amanda's family.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

"pedophiles are rampant in Hollywood. "

There are no more pedophiles in Hollywood than there are anywhere else. You have no stats to back up your claims.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

The Daily Mail article is a hoot calling her a "bombshell". She was a cute girl next door type in her heyday. Jane Mansfield, Raquel Welch, Pamela Anderson etc. are the bombshell types. Do they not even know what that means?

R61, 8 agree, but I still crushed on her :)

The Dailymail article linked earlier calls her a "failed" actress and shows photos from her "tragic" last photo shoot (which she had to be talked into doing the photographer says). Disgusting. She was nominated and won awards as an actress and looks great at 40ish in the photos. The media gets me so pissed off anymore.

r63, I concur!!!

Her mug shots at the link.

Wow. I think her mother is in denial and whatever health problems she had would certainly have been exacerbated by her drug issues (if not caused by them directly).

I liked Year in the Life. Forgot about it. I always wanted her hair. AND, Another World alumni David Oliver was in it - he died from the AIDS.

I wish I hadn't looked at her mug shots.

Meth. Whore.

[quote]I wonder if she was overweight, as sleep apnea is rare (albeit, not impossible) in people of normative weight.

It actually isn't. Between central sleep apnea (which is brain based) and examples of obstructive sleep apnea where the obstruction is caused by an abnormality in the mouth/jaw/tongue area, plenty of people who aren't overweight suffer from it. Also, when I worked in medical records for a VA, we had a lot of veterans of normal weight who had sleep apnea, some of which was brought on by exposure to chemicals. It is possible she did have sleep apnea even though she wasn't overweight.

P.S. I love the tag Muriel added.

HAS ANYONE CHECKED ON DEBORAH FOREMAN??

Her mother certainly jumped into the press quickly once Amanda died. I say that in less than six months, she will be selling the sordid story of why Amanda abandoned her career as an actress, etc. Amanda Peterson appears to have been quite troubled, so you know there is more to the story. In one of the mug shots, it looks like she has two black eyes.

It's sad

Given her age, the fact that she didn't have custody of her kids and those booking photos....case closed I'm afraid. She was a genuine fresh faced pretty girl in CBML. Dempsey was a total geek. Yet look at their reversal of fortunes. Life is strange.

Those mug shots are sad. Sound like her mother is still in serious denial.

[quote] Her mother, Sylvia Peterson, tells Entertainment Tonight that her daughter struggled with drugs when she was younger, but had been clean for a long time and this "this was not, in any way, a drug thing."

She was on drugs as recently as 3 years ago., when she was arrested the last time. I'd be surprised if drugs weren't at least a contributing factor in her death. She had been on drugs for a long time, meth apparently and it does a lot of damage to your body.

R76 all I see is her mother trying to save face for her daughter in the press (as any decent parent would) - no evidence that she was in denial in real life.

It's a surprise in that she seemingly comes from a relatively normal stable family (long married parents, father a doctor); most fucked up child actors came from broken homes, or very dysfunctional ones, or most often had the pressure to be the breadwinner.

None of those seem to be the case here. So I wonder what caused her to snap and then just get worse and worse.

But I would guess that her troubles began and became well known in the business in the late 80s/early 90s, because she was working very steadily up until 1991, and then nothing (until that weird low budget movie). I highly doubt that was by choice.

That last mug shot is truly frightening. She was a cute enough teenager but the time she was actually really gorgeous was as a child - era Annie and Silver Spoons. Her face got a little long and horsey as she became a teen. And because this was 1987 she didn't have the big, no gums, perfectly white teeth that would be de rigeur today.

But all of this investigating by the rags makes me vaguely uncomfortable. After all, she's been a private citizen for over two decades. I mean, it's totally predicatable, and im predictably reading it, but something about it doesn't feel right.

If only I knew, who the fuck this was, I'd mourn too.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiif!

I swear, if I have to write one more sympathy card to one more co-star before the year is over…

R79 where is your official statement, Miss Quinn? Buddha says karma will get you for this.

[quote]Buddha says karma will get you for this.

R80, you're Sikh.

Denver Post article on Amanda. Some new tidbits, she was planning on attempting a comeback, started writing her autobiography, she had been on Social Security Disability for the past 3 years, her father confirmed her struggles with drugs, and when the police arrived to check on her the door was unlocked. I'm thinking she wasn't alone when she died, and whomever was there with her left in a hurry when they realized she was dead and didn't think to lock the door.

God. Who willingly lives in Greeley, Colorado?

Oh and according to her father, she had become "quite religious." Not sure how recently that happened though.

Her autobiography? Really?

Was Can't Buy Me Love successfull at the box office? Or only in re-runs/rentals etc.? It didn't seem to lead to any credits I'd recognise. Even doing Doogie Howser in 1990 seems like a comedown for someone so young who'd been starring in movies.

It made 31 million at the box office. I doubt it was an expensive movie to make, so it was at least a modest hit then.

Did a little more research and the budget was under 3 million.

She lived in Greeley because she was from Greeley. The Denver Post article says she missed a family dinner and officers were sent to check on her. Wonder why the family didn't just go to her residence? Boy, her mugshots are sad. She looks like a multi-substance abuser.

R82, thanks for the article.

Greeley is a hell hole. I was offered a faculty position at UNC. The smell of the air was rancid and students told me it was like that 24/7. It would be depressing to live there.

Poor woman.

The toxicology report is in.

MASSIVE overdose.

[quote]Peterson had a variety of prescription drugs in her system, including anti-anxiety medication, anti-psychotic medication, opiates and marijuana. One of the pain medications in her system was at six times the normal level.

R91 That's what I suspected from the beginning. Sad but not surprising.

r52, as you are undoubtedly aware, all three shows were from Brand-Falsey Productions, which also brought us my favorite show of all time, I’ll Fly Away, for two seasons. I only got to watch a few episodes of A Year in the Life, as I was television-less until 1988, but I sure liked the two or three episodes I saw. I was impressed in particular with Jayne Atkinson, David Oliver, and Wendy Phillips.

At the time, I assumed from the title it went off the air because it wasn't supposed to last longer than a year.

Psychologists and doctors can be wrong - lobotomies, electro shock, etc. They have had a bad history in "treatment" of homosexuals. Their tendency, then and now is toward supporting the hetero norm. They can do this by supporting trans, which essentially supports male/female stereotypes. Plus there is the profit motive - hormones, operations, etc etc. Between that and the aggressive trans lobby, most are either afraid to speak out, or have a profit motive not to speak out, or can rationalize it with old stereotypes.

It was an important part of gay liberation to get away from doctors - trans depend on them.

oops. wrong thread at R94 - I think that Hollywood hurts kids. She wanted to get away it seems yet had nowhere to go.

Gorgeous, ethereal, luminous at her peak. One of my favorite actresses. When she was good, she was good. She could sing too. Should have had the lead. So adorable there. What a tragedy on so many levels. So talented. She should have had and been so much more. She got caught up on the dark side at some point and just never recovered. No love. No light. No warmth given to her. Taken care of and looked after when she was young. So many child star actors. Damn. Love this movie. She still had it in Windrunner. I like that movie too. It's a good final film appearance for her. LOVE "a year in the life". Her other film appearances are a little shaky. I have yet to see 4 of them. Those men killed her. She was so beautiful they had to have it and destroy it. The light. I know. It happened to me in NYC. Lost. Young. Hanging with Drew Barrymore, Corey Haim and shit. Partying. Getting fucked up. Late 80s. They had no idea what they were into. Looking for real connections and love. Instead just getting used up. Addicted. Getting beat. Constant hurt and hurt. Everybody just wants to fuck you. It's terrible. I see why she left Hollywood. What you gonna do? Then it fucks with your head and you are forever changed. You turn to the dark side too and try to beat them at their own game. Try to fit in. But we don't. Gotta find the light again. It's fucking tough. Rest in Peace sweet girl. That movie will never be the same. Watched it last night and then found this thread today. I'm glad she started communicating with Jesus and GOD before she left. That's wassup. She good then. Restored. 🙏😇🌞🔥🔥🔥❤ I hope we meet up on the other side.

coronavirus???

R97 was Coronavirus first reported in 2015?

No, R97, bump bitch.

According to her imdb bio page her mother says she was raped by a 27 year old man when she was 15. She was 15 when she made Can't Buy Me Love. Was it someone from that movie?

[quote]When Amanda Peterson was 15 years old she suffered a traumatizing rape by a 27 year old man, which her family chose not to disclose until after her death.

What a coincidence that someone resurrected this thread. I was just thinking about this lady this week.