Whatever happened to the cast of A Christmas Story?

Ralphie Parker.
Actor: Peter Billingsley.
Best line: The obscenity substitute: “Oooooh … fuuuuuudge!”
Bio: The fair-haired, bespectacled boy was Messy Marvin in the 1980s Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup commercials and went on to be a producer of the TV celebrity-talk series “Dinner for Five.” He also takes occasional acting roles, and played the helper-elf who manages Will Ferrell in “Elf.” His return to holiday moviemaking “felt good … just like riding a bike,” Billingsley said.

The Old Man
Actor: Darren McGavin.
Best line: Mispronouncing the word “fragile” on a big, wooden box: “Frah-JEE-Lay … It must be Italian!”
Bio: The veteran of stage, screen and television is best known as the supernatural investigator in TV’s “Kolchak: The Night Stalker,” and had a recurring role on “Murphy Brown” as Candice Bergen’s father. He played a bookie in “The Natural,” and was a drug dealer opposite Frank Sinatra in “The Man With the Golden Arm.” McGavin passed away in 2007.

Mother
Actor: Melinda Dillon.
Best line: The classic mother-BB gun block — “No, you’ll shoot your eye out.”
Bio: She has a long history of playing worried moms in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Harry and the Hendersons,” and “Magnolia.” She played a matriarch this year as Gran Chandler in “A Painted House,” the TV movie based on author John Grisham’s novel.

Randy, Ralphie’s little brother
Actor: Ian Petrella
Best line: After mother bundles him in a too-thick snowsuit: “I can’t put my arms down!”
Bio: Petrella quit acting after a small role in 1984’s “Crimes of Passion” and a brief guest role on the TV sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes” in 1986. He now lives in San Francisco, where he works in local theater as a puppeteer. As for “A Christmas Story,” he remembers the three days it took to film the dinner scene where he had to eat “like a piggie.” “That was a lot of mashed potatoes … I think I got sick afterward.”

Flick, Ralphie’s friend
Actor: Scott Schwartz.
Best line: With increasing panic — “Thtuck. Thtuck! THTUCK!! AAAaaaaii!!”
Bio: The kid who got his tongue stuck on a pole left mainstream acting for porn films in the late 1990s. “I did what I did,” he said of his X-rated past. “Now I’m married and gonna work on a family soon. Did I break any laws? Did I go to jail? Nothing.” He currently works with his father at Baseball Cards and Movie Collectibles Etc., in suburban Los Angeles. He said he’s still very proud of “A Christmas Story.” “People say, ‘If you could trade, would you make, like, “E.T.” or would you still make “A Christmas Story”?’ I’ll take ’A Christmas Story.”’

Schwarz
Actor: R.D. Robb.
Best line: “I TRIPLE dog-dare you!”
Bio: Robb has had small roles as Marcia’s boyfriend in the spoof “The Brady Bunch Movie” and the 1996 kiddie-flick “Matilda.” He directed a movie, 2001’s “Don’s Plumb,” that featured Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio. The stars agreed to appear in the improvised, black-and-white film as a favor, then balked when he tried to release it and successfully sued to block its distribution in the United States. Robb recently served as a producer on the upcoming sci-fi thriller “One Point O.”

Scot Farkus
Actor: Zack Ward.
Best line: Taunting Ralphie before getting his comeuppance, “Come on, crybaby, cry for me!”
Bio: Ward played the trouble-prone brother on the sitcom “Titus” and had roles in “Almost Famous,” “Freddy vs. Jason,” the upcoming “Resident Evil: Apocalypse.” Now full of pride over “A Christmas Story,” he once found it embarrassing when his career was struggling. “I hated it,” he said. “A fan would say, ‘We love you, we watch it every single year …’ And I’d have to say, ’Thanks … Would you like french fries or salad with your burger?”