The Brat Pack Then and Now

Nov. 18, 2009— -- Anthony Michael Hall may have played the ultimate geek as a Brat Pack star of the 1980s.

But last week, the grown-up Hall, now 41, was ordered to stay away from his ex-girlfriend, Diana Falzone, after he allegedly attacked her in her New York apartment.

According to the New York Post, Falzone, a Sirius radio host and relationship columnist for the Huffington Post, obtained a temporary restraining order against Hall. She told police last Tuesday that Hall tried to kick down her door. When she let him in, he allegedly bashed her head against the wall.

Ironically, Hall is about to guest star as a campus bully on the NBC comedy "Community." It's a far cry from Hall's breakout role playing a geek in the 1980s John Hughes classics "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club" and "Weird Science."

Hall and seven other stars of the 1980s, Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy and Ally Sheedy, were dubbed the Brat Pack -- a play on the Rat Pack, the name given in the 1960s to the group of stars including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. -- by a 1985 New York magazine cover story.

The name stuck. Most of the Brat Packers struggled to ditch their iconic '80s roles and find success in the '90s and beyond.

For Hall, the road has been bumpy. Hall once admitted that he began drinking at age 13 and, as the youngest "Saturday Night Live" regular at 17, confessed: "I sometimes got in fights and punched people in the face and got drunk." He claims to have become sober in 1990.

In the '90s he starred in a few low-budget movies and a couple standout ones: "Edward Scissorhands" and "Six Degrees of Separation." But his real comeback came in 2002, when he became the star of the USA cable series "Dead Zone," playing a small town teacher whose powers help him solve crimes.

Despite his newfound success, Hall was allegedly still prone to violence. According to the Post, an insurance firm sued Hall for not disclosing that he had bipolar disorder. The lawsuit claimed that Hall suffered an episode of "bipolar affective disorder depression with psychotic features" that put him in a Vancouver hospital for a day.

Hall's spokesman did not respond to a request for comment from ABCNews.com.

From Hall to Moore, we remain fascinated by these stars of the 80s.

"I suppose it's nostalgia," Jamie Currie, founder of the Web site The Brat Pack, told ABCNews.com. "Their careers all sort of took off more or less at the same times. Since then, they've each gone in different directions. Most didn't survive the '90s too well and they began making a comeback in 2000.

"They went out of fashion," Currie said. "But now time has passed and people are interested in them again."

ABCNews.com takes a look at the other members of the Brat Pack then and now:

Rob Lowe

Brat Pack Cred: His roles in "The Outsiders" (1983) and "Oxford Blues" (1984) turned him into a popular pinup for teenage girls. But it was his roles as a shiftless frat boy, alongside a new generation of stars including Moore, Estevez, Nelson, McCarthy and Sheedy, that cemented his inclusion in the Brat Pack

Scandal: Lowe partied hard and was linked with Nastassja Kinski and Princess Stephanie of Monaco before he was felled by scandal. A videotape of him having sex with two young women, including a 16-year-old, damaged his public image and he went to rehab for alcohol and sex addiction.

The Comeback: Mocking himself as host of "Saturday Night Live," comedic roles in "Wayne's World" and "Austin Powers," and his comeback role in television's "West Wing" followed by "Brothers and Sisters."

Quote: "I saw People magazine had a list of the top 10 teen idols of all time, and I'm on that list with Elvis, with James Dean, Michael Jackson. I mean, I have to say I'm proud of that. It's cool."

Demi Moore

Brat Pack Cred: Played party girl Jules in "St. Elmo's Fire" and in real life was Estevez's girlfriend.

The 90s: Moore was actually more successful in the 90s. Playing alongside Patrick Swayze in "Ghost" launched her as a global superstar. She also starred in "A Few Good Men" and "Indecent Proposal" and became the first actress to be paid $10 million for a movie.

Demi now: By the late '90s, Moore had fallen off the map, perhaps while taking care of her three daughters with actor Bruce Willis. In 2003, she made a big-screen comeback in "Charlie's Angels," but has not had a big hit since. These days, she's probably best known as Ashton Kutcher's wife.

Emilio Estevez

Brat Pack Cred: Starred in "The Outsiders" with Lowe before being cast in "The Breakfast Club" and "St. Elmo's Fire."

Surviving the '90s: Estevez had more longevity than some, with the "Young Guns" films and a critical role in the first "Mission Impossible." But it was his turn toward directing that allowed Estevez to move beyond the Brat Pack. Starting with "Wisdom," which he directed in 1986, making him one of the youngest Hollywood stars to direct, to his more recent "Bobby," about the assassination of Robert Kennedy, Estevez has received acclaim for his directing.

Ally Sheedy:

Brat Pack Cred: The loveable freak Allison in "The Breakfast Club" and Judd Nelson's yuppie girlfriend who wants a career before marriage and children in "St Elmo's Fire."

The '90s: Sheedy virtually disappeared from the big screen in the 1990s, landing mostly television roles. But her role as a drug-addicted photographer who falls in love with another woman in 1998 independent film "High Art" won her rave reviews.

Brat Pack Reunion: In 2003, she was a guest star on Hall's show "The Dead Zone."

Quote: "The term 'Brat Pack' is so condescending."

Andrew McCarthy:

Brat Pack Cred: McCarthy starred in "Class" beside Lowe and "Pretty in Pink" with Ringwald and cemented his place in the Pack with "St. Elmo's Fire." He continued on to other '80s hits, "Less Than Zero" and "Weekend at Bernie's." But his career took a dive in the '90s.

In 2000s: McCarthy has made guest appearances on several television series but probably his biggest role of the decade was as the lead Dr. Hook in the Stephen King-adapted miniseries "Kingdom Hospital."

Quote: "I have to accept the fact that these films (of the '80s) have had a fantastic effect on people, and to deny that doesn't make any sense until I do something that has the same cultural and social impact of those movies. That's just the way it is."

Judd Nelson

Brat Pack Cred: Nelson starred as the criminal of "The Breakfast Club" and the ambitious yuppie in "St. Elmo's Fire." After these successes, though, his career failed to take off as expected.

The '90s: His only real big screen hit was playing an undercover cop in 1991's "New Jack City." In 1996 he was cast as Brooke Shields' boss in the hit sitcom "Suddenly Susan."

The 2000s: Most of Nelson's films have headed straight to DVD, with the exception of Kevin Smith's "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," in which Nelson played a small but notable role as the sherriff. He also returned to his role as Hot Rod in the "Transformers" animated cartoon but had no such luck being cast in the successful movie franchise.

Molly Ringwald

Brat Pack Cred: The '80s and particularly director John Hughes launched Ringwald into superstardom, making her the biggest of the Brat Pack stars. Cast in the lead of "Sixteen Candles," opposite Hall, she went on to an even bigger hit, "The Breakfast Club," alongside several fellow Brat Packers. Her biggest hit, though, was "Pretty in Pink" opposite McCarthy.

Downward Slide: Seeking to break out of her Brat Pack mold, Ringwald starred in a string of flops, while turning down roles in box office hits "Ghost" and "Pretty Woman." "I think she probably tried too hard to lose her reputation," said Currie of The Brat Pack Web site. "She made 'Malicious' (1995) and did a topless scene, when she could have done 'Pretty Woman.'"

Coming back: After disappearing for a while, Ringwald made her comeback on Broadway, starring in "Cabaret." Since last year, she has starred as the mother of a teenager in "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." The original teen queen has grown up.