Blast from the Past: The Boy Who Could Fly

Growing up, I was fortunate enough to have HBO. I have a thing about watching movies over and over...not sure if this is because HBO always played the same movies over and over when I was a kid or if I have OCD.

Anyhoo, one of the classics from my childhood was the 1986 film The Boy Who Could Fly. This is the basic premise: a young girl, played by Lucy Deakins, and her family move to a new neighborhood after her father dies. Her new neighbor, an odd young man named Eric Gibb, played by Jay Underwood, doesn't speak and is obsessed with flying. Eric's presence in Lucy and her family's life help them to mend.



There were quite a few big name stars in this movie, including Colleen Dewhurst, Fred Gwynne and Bonnie Bedelia. Also featured were Mindy Cohn, who was still on The Facts of Life, and a young Fred Savage, two year before his career took off with The Wonder Years.

I guess I always thought Lucy Deakins was destined for greatness. It seems she may have fallen off the map a bit, with her latest work being in Law and Order in 2002, where all bit actors go to die or jail for a long, long time.

Jay Underwood is still flying, but now it's with the Lord. After many years of playing small roles in a variety of tv shows, it seems Jay hit it big in 1999 when he played Sonny Bono in And The Beat Goes On: The Sonny and Cher Story. Who knew Jay was short enough to play Sonny?

It was a few years before playing Sonny that Jay "found the Lord," and in 2003, he decided to dedicate himself to becoming a youth pastor. Now located in Burbank, Jay is working on his seminary education and is slightly balding.

Possibly the biggest success story to come out of The Boy Who Could Fly is Fred Savage. Or maybe not...