It's fun to look back at what stars were doing just as they were emerging into the spotlight. Some gave clear indications of the success that they would later have. Others were more subtly coming on the Hollywood scene. Believe it or not, Michael J. Fox was once cast on a popular TV game show when he was gifted unknown. In fact, people around this exciting young newcomer saw his immense potential and cultivated it. Fox, now 64, would go on to the beloved sitcom Family Ties and the smash hit film classic Back to the Future.
Videos by Wide Open Country
A Producer Recalled How Fox Came To Be on the Show
David Michaels held many behind-the-scenes roles on three iterations of the game show $25,000 Pyramid. Michaels was a recent guest on The Game Show Starring Bradley Clarke. He spoke about the show's celeb stars.
This is how the selection and booking of famous people would be handled, according to Michaels. "The publicist would call me because I would basically book the celebrities with Ann Marie, and then we would bring them in and play the game with them."
One publicist stood out in Michaels' mind. "And one publicist who I absolutely loved and trusted, her name was Nanci Ryder. She just passed away in the last year, horrible because she got ALS and that's a horrible disease and it was a slow decline, but at her height, she was one of the great Hollywood publicists."
A Publicist Approached Michaels About Fox
Ryder was very keen on Michael J. Fox. She contacted David Michaels about him. He told Bradley Clarke, "She said, 'I need you to take a chance and just trust me, because I'm going to send you somebody who is going to become a huge star and you're going to have him first.' And I'm just thinking in my head, 'Well, fine, if he's good and all that, but I'm going to have to convince Bob [Stewart] of this.' And she sent him in and it was Michael J. Fox."
He Did Great on the Show
Fox turned out to be a terrific contestant. Publicist Nanci Ryder's optimistic instincts about him were correct. Michaels said, "He only did the show a couple of times at the beginning, but he was amazing. He was an amazing player. We stayed in touch a lot through those years. I have a picture of the first time he was on the show, him and me, and we look like children."
