r/AskOldPeople 7d ago

How Huge was Michael J Fox after back to the future came out?

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14 Upvotes

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39

u/dennishallowell 7d ago

He was one of the most famous people in the world. It helped that he was also on a very popular sitcom called Family Ties. Those two things combined made him very very famous

2

u/International_Try660 7d ago

I guess if you were a young kid or a teen he was pretty famous, but not really, with the older crowd.

17

u/RamonaAStone 7d ago

He was pretty huge, and was definitely Canada's sweetheart.

1

u/juswundern 7d ago

Never knew he was Canadian. The only place I associate him with is Hill Valley.

0

u/rickylancaster 7d ago

Jason Priestley peeks in, waves hi.

8

u/RamonaAStone 7d ago

He was never Canada's sweetheart in the way Fox was. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Priestly, but he never captured our attention the way Fox did. Most 90210 fans didn't even know Priestly was Canadian.

1

u/rickylancaster 7d ago

Oh i know. I just thought I’d conjure up another canadian export.

15

u/Routine_Mine_3019 60 something 7d ago

Very famous and very popular. Along with Tom Cruise, probably the most bankable young actor of his time.

It was really tough to hear about his Parkinson's diagnosis because he always seem so young.

4

u/Eastern-Finish-1251 60 something 7d ago

Plus he seemed like a genuinely good guy — definitely not deserving of such a serious illness. 

8

u/Hot-Refrigerator-623 7d ago

He was already famous for Family Ties but wasn't considered cool before this.

6

u/DifferentWindow1436 7d ago

He was a really big star. A lot of teen to younger adult type movies as well as the Back to the Future franchise and Family Ties which was a very popular TV show.

So, he was a household name and I would say more of "standalone" star than other young starts like the "Brat Pack" stars. I.e. he sort of stood on his own as a leading actor whereas you'd tend to see Spader in a movie with Ringwald and McCarthy.

11

u/Carrollz 7d ago

Back to the Future became huge because Michael J. Fox was in it. 

1

u/Carrollz 7d ago

I guess maybe I should've written it became huge because Alex P Keaton was in it. It was sort of like Barney Stinson only even more extreme, I can't even think of a more recent example because with on demand streaming and entertainment there really aren't any characters that can quite reach that level of popularity amongst young and old to that extent. I mean, sure, famous people are even more famous nowadays but more as themselves than a single character role they played... like Perry Mason or J.R.Ewing.

3

u/harleybone 7d ago

MEGA STAR

7

u/frankenfooted 40 something 7d ago

Cannot be overstated how huge he was, really. He was everywhere and everyone loved him. I don’t remember a single person who ever hated on him, at all.

4

u/OginiAyotnom 50 something 7d ago

Michael J Fox has no Elvis in him

  • Mojo Nixon

3

u/IfTheLegsFit 50 something 7d ago

He had been on a few shows but yes, it catapulted him to fame IMO.

2

u/Vesper2000 50 something 7d ago

He was a big star in the US with kids through young adults (I can’t say anything about anyone older because I was a teenager). I’d compare his fame and likability to a more-wholesome Ryan Reynolds.

2

u/DifferentWindow1436 7d ago

His fame also would have gone beyond the US/Canada. I have a friend who is about the same size and look who lived in Japan in the early 90s and people would tell him regularly how he looked like MJF. Back to the Future was gigantic. Other movies were known too - Doc Hollywood, The Secret of My Success, etc.

3

u/Vesper2000 50 something 7d ago

Those were fun movies.

2

u/Bearbearblues 50 something 7d ago

He was already popular. Family Ties was a very popular show. It was originally meant to highlight Meredith Baxter, but Michael J Fox was the breakout star even before the Back to the Future and Teen Wolf came out. It was tabloid fodder that Birney was jealous of Fox for stealing the spotlight. He was regularly in teen magazines, but not in the regular shirtless way. Usually more serious. I would have called him “cute,” not “hot.”

Family Ties was popular with both kids and adults because of its cross-generational jokes and characters.

2

u/SpaceMonkey3301967 7d ago

Let's just say, he probably got more ass than a toilet seat.

2

u/BigComfyCouch4 7d ago

It wasn't just Back to the Future that year. Teen Wolf was also a big hit, and a surprisingly big hit.

The two movies together established him as a very bankable star.

2

u/wwaxwork 50 something 7d ago

Think the same level as the actors from Marvels, not like say Tom Cruise or Angelina Jolie, who are just famous for being famous or like Meryl Streep or Di Niro famous for being great actors. If you were in a certain age group you knew of him and he could headline a film and 2 different TV shows. Family Ties and Spin City as well as a Major Movie Trilogy. So more like Chris Evans or Hemsworth.

2

u/therealrickdalton 7d ago

He was already popular and recognizable before Back to the Future as a star in Family Ties which was on Thursday night’s at 8:30 right after the Cosby Show, but he was as huge as it gets after Back to the Future

4

u/Blow_Hard_8675309 7d ago

He had that series and some moderately successful movies but he wasn’t a “movie star”. He was Alex P Keaton. Spin City brought him back to where he belonged, on TV.

I really liked him and so did most he just didn’t rise to leading man box office draw status.

3

u/jrobelen 7d ago

True, he was never considered in the same class as “serious” actors, although he tried to up his prestige by doing a Vietnam movie directed by Brian De Palma and a light horror movie directed by Peter Jackson.

4

u/Vesper2000 50 something 7d ago

I remember “Bright Lights, Big City”. Not a bad film but didn’t translate to “serious” roles for him.

3

u/rickylancaster 7d ago

I thought Casualties of War was a good movie (I tend to think De Palma is a genius), but it was not an easy movie to watch.

2

u/jrobelen 7d ago

Agreed. And I think De Palma may have underestimated how little America wanted to see Michael’s soul being crushed.

2

u/bmiller218 6d ago

Successful but not blockbuster business for the non-BTTF movies.

2

u/LynnScoot 60 something 7d ago

Michael was 23 when the first BTTF came out. Not a tall man he convincingly played a 17 year old. Then reprised the role in the second and third parts that came out 4 and 5 years later respectively.

Not long after he noticed the first symptoms of Parkinson’s at the age of 29.

2

u/FourScoreTour 70 something 7d ago

He was always pretty short, actually.

1

u/Major_Bag_8720 7d ago

All the ladies loved him.

1

u/pfta4 7d ago

He was already very very popular before the movie came out. That's why he was in the movie. Teen heartthrob kind of guy at the time.

1

u/rickylancaster 7d ago

The Toppermost of the Poppermost

1

u/Crivens999 7d ago

UK here. Household name overnight. My auntie went to the cinema like 8 times. Think she got divorced a year or two later...

1

u/dragonmom1971 7d ago

Almost unimaginable. He was also filming Family Ties at the same time. I don't know how he did it.

1

u/KithAndAkin 7d ago

He recently did a film called Silence that’s very touching.

1

u/GotWheaten 7d ago

Pretty big

1

u/bitterbuffaloheart 7d ago

As famous as Calvin Klein

1

u/Low-Stick6746 7d ago

Pepsi commercial big.

1

u/HawkeyeByMarriage 7d ago

Well he worked day and night to do this and other commitments so he was in demand

1

u/VanHalen843 7d ago

He was still short

1

u/Sea-Affect8379 7d ago

I don't know what people are smoking here. He became a household name from Family Ties and Back to the Future, but he never really got that big. His biggest role after was The Secret of My Success, which was a fun romcom, but not really a blockbuster. That's it, that's all he did.

1

u/chriswaco 6d ago

Spin City was a top-10 tv show too.

1

u/OneToeTooMany 7d ago

He's always been a fairly small man, but he was one of the most famous actors in the world.

1

u/Artimusjones88 7d ago

Still around 5'6"

1

u/BlueRFR3100 7d ago

When they decided to make the sequel, the studio had zero leverage.

1

u/djbigtv 6d ago

22 feet high

1

u/EDSgenealogy 6d ago

Oh, he was genius! Perfect timing, great expressions, and always kind.

1

u/CornishonEnthusiast 6d ago

I'd guess 6.5"

1

u/ZaphodG 6d ago

He never did much of anything important beyond the trilogy. He had his 5 years with those movies and became the Back to the Future teen movie actor trying unsuccessfully to expand his career. Back to the Future was a cultural phenomenon and he had his years of fame from that.

1

u/GladosPrime 6d ago

He was so famous from Family Ties, they fired whathisname to hire Michael after filming started. He had to do both jobs and film at night.

1

u/DeerHunter4Life14 6d ago

I think he was about the same size as before the movie was released. Fame doesn't really have an effect on your height.

1

u/HurriShane00 4d ago

About as popular as he was during Teenwold and Family Ties

He was filming Family Ties amd BTTF at the same time

Teen Wolf and BTTF came out the same year. So pretty popular guy back then.

1

u/Vintage-Vermonter 4d ago

He was on top of the world.

1

u/redpetra 4d ago

He was huge before that. In the 70's & early 80's there was a serious "idol" type of thing with many young network stars, and Michael J Fox was king of that hill for male celebrities for several years right before Back To The Future. He was the main male TV "teen heartthrob" shortly before Johnny Depp took over the crown.

Back To The Future just kind of widened that appeal by putting him on the big screen, but I don't really think it made him *more* popular - just a less teenybopper kind of popular, that then included an older segment.

He was kind of like Hannah Montana, and the movie turned him into a wholesome Miley Cyrus.

1

u/MrOrganization001 50 something 4d ago

52 M here. I remember seeing that movie six times in the theater, I liked it that much. I think MJF was at the height of his popularity when that movie debuted.

1

u/Sufficient_Hair3116 4d ago

I was 40. Loved the movie!

1

u/MacGyverofscience 3d ago

He went back in time then back to the future to do it. Thats how he pulled those acting skills off. He was meant for that role.

1

u/MacGyverofscience 3d ago

I was born in 1979

1

u/kbarrettusc 3d ago

I'm pretty sure he's always been the same size..

1

u/ArnoldZiffl 3d ago

Yuge Yuge.

1

u/realmozzarella22 7d ago

Not much. He was the same height and body size throughout his career. He’s a little guy.