Ferris Bueller’s Day Off star who worked with Jimmy Kimmel and Richard Nixon surfaces in wheelchair at 81… can YOU guess who?
A comedy star of the 1980s and 1990s whose work has spanned showbiz and politics was spotted in Los Angeles this week at the age of 81.
One of his early careers was as a ‘nepo baby’ speechwriter for two US presidents, in whose administrations his father held a high rank.
He landed his Hollywood breakthrough in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, after he which he featured on a hit sitcom and acted on the big screen with Jim Carrey.
Over the years he also co-hosted a game show with Jimmy Kimmel, written a string of books and pursued a career as a conservative political commentator.
When he was glimpsed this week, he was being pushed in a wheelchair by a man in scrubs but remained snappily dressed in a coat and tie.
Can you guess who he is?
A comedy star of the 1980s and 1990s whose work has spanned showbiz and politics was spotted in Los Angeles this week at the age of 81
When he was glimpsed this week, he was being pushed in a wheelchair by a man in scrubs but remained snappily dressed in a coat and tie
One of his early careers was as the ‘ nepo baby’ speechwriter of two US presidents, in whose administrations his father also held a high rank
He is none other than Ben Stein, best known as the dreary economics teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off who leaves his students slack-jawed with boredom and tries to prod them into participating by repeatedly asking: ‘Anyone? Anyone?’
Inasmuch as Stein was the son of an economist and had himself worked for the Federal Trade Commission, he was able to ad-lib his dialogue.
The Daily Mail has contacted Stein’s representative for comment.
Stein first shot to prominence in the 1970s as an attorney and speechwriter in the presidential administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford – both of whom his father Herbert Stein also served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors.
It was the younger Stein who attracted the splashier publicity in the shape of a blizzard of rumors that he was actually ‘Deep Throat,’ the shadowy media source for the Watergate scandal who later turned out to be FBI official Mark Felt.
A decade later, in 1986, his role in the classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off brought him a gentler form of attention as a prized deadpan comic actor.
Directed by John Hughes, who was famed for 1980s high school comedies like The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was an instant smash.
Its rollicking plotline follows the title teenager (Broderick) playing truant from high school for a day with his girlfriend (Mia Sara) and best pal (Alan Ruck).
Stein was able to parlay the movie’s success into a steady career in acting, including a recurring guest spot on the nostalgic family sitcom The Wonder Years.
He is none other than Ben Stein, best known as the dreary economics teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off who leaves his students slack-jawed with boredom
In the hit 1994 comedy The Mask, he played the psychiatrist who advises Jim Carrey’s lead character about the supernatural properties of the titular device
In the hit 1994 comedy The Mask, he played the psychiatrist who advises Jim Carrey’s lead character about the supernatural properties of the titular device.
From 1997 through 2003 he was a fixture on Comedy Central as the host of Win Ben Stein’s Money, which he initially compered alongside Jimmy Kimmel.
Win Ben Stein’s Money was a general knowledge quiz show, with the added gimmick that Stein himself would jump in and compete against the guests for ‘his’ $5,000.
Over the past few decades, his principal notoriety has come from his work as a conservative pundit, both on radio and TV and in writing for outlets ranging from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to Newsmax to even Penthouse.
His positions have occasionally resulted in controversy, such as his ebullient optimism about subprime mortgages as the economy skidded towards the crash of 2008.
Some audiences were also appalled by his remark in 2014 that the ‘real problem with race in America is a very, very beaten-down, pathetic, self-defeating black underclass that just can’t seem to get its way going in the way that blacks were able to before the scourge of drugs and the scourge of gangs.’
This May, he appeared onstage at the TCM Classic Film Festival with Alan Ruck to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
During his interview, he explained that he had in fact been a professional teacher at the time when he was approached for his role in the movie, via Cherry the Geek TV.
From 1997 through 2003 he was a fixture on Comedy Central as the host of Win Ben Stein’s Money, which he initially compered alongside Jimmy Kimmel
Win Ben Stein’s Money was a general knowledge quiz show, with the added gimmick that Stein himself would jump in and compete against the guests for ‘his’ $5,000
When John Hughes asked him to ‘improvise’ his dialogue, he plucked from his memory a topic on ‘monetary policy’ on which he had just given a real-life lecture.
Thus was born his famous speech in the movie on the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which went viral online last year in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
After Stein ad-libbed the monologue on set, he was asked: ‘How long did it take you to write that?’ and he replied: ‘It just came right off the top of my head.’
Matthew Broderick then approached him to tell him he was ‘really good’ and ask if he had ‘ever done any stage acting, anything on Broadway,’ to which Stein replied: ‘It’s the first time I’ve ever been in front of a camera.’