Whatever Happened To The Cast Of Fletch?

Gregory Mcdonald was a Boston Globe reporter who channeled his at-large adventures into the award winning 1974 novel “Fletch,” launching a franchise that would spawn nearly a dozen books and sell tens of millions of copies. But if you sat next to him on a plane, he’d tell you he was in the insurance business — just to avoid further conversation.

McDonald’s bestselling first book, featuring a sharp-tongued investigative reporter named Irwin Maurice Fletcher, was shepherded by Kirk Douglas’ son Peter (and could have nearly starred his other son, Michael), who toiled for years to bring it to the big screen with the likes of Burt Reynolds and Mick Jagger, all ultimately rejected by Mcdonald.

“It seemed that over the last 10 years, everybody in the world who acts and is a male between the ages of 17 and 76 tried to get the role,” Mcdonald said in 1985. “I admire Mick Jagger, but he is not my idea of a young American male.”

Ultimately, Chevy Chase landed the role, with Mcdonald sending him a telegram reading: ‘I am delighted to abdicate the role of Fletch to you.’”

So, it all came together in a 1985 film with a script by Andrew Bergman (elevated considerably by Chase improvs), solid direction by Michael Ritchie, a synthtastic score by Harold Faltermeyer a masterful master of disguise lead turn by Chase (who, to this day, says it is the “favorite” role of his entire career) and a set of 30-weight ball bearings — after all, it’s all ball bearings nowadays.

While director Ritchie preferred sticking to the script, his genius was in negotiating a “one for you, one for me” approach with Chase. Freed from script pages, the former “SNL” funnyman ad-libbed gags like the alias “Ted Nugent,” Cujo, “Dr. Rosenpenis,” the “Dr. Jellyfinger” line, John Cocktoaste and the beloved steak sandwich bit. Naturally, many of the “Chevy takes” were kept, and the results of this unorthodox collaboration — ranging from classic lines about hitting a water buffalo to what co-star George Wyner perfectly assessed (“‘Moon River‘ has never sounded quite the same”) helped make it an endlessly quotable masterwork of 1980s comedy. 

Of course, Chase wasn’t alone in this pursuit of comedy gold, as he was supported in scene after scene by a talented ensemble of straight men and women, with assistant director Wolfgang Glattes reflecting, “Chevy was a dominating figure in these scenes, and he never pushed people aside, he always let them do their part to make the scene work.”

Now, after decades in development hell (with names like Jason Lee, Zach Braff, Ryan Reynolds, and even Ben Affleck), Jon Hamm is bringing Fletch back with 2022’s “Confess, Fletch.” There’s no better time, it seems, to look back on whatever happened, bit by bit, to the original 1985 “Fletch” cast … none of whom appear in the new film. 

So sit back, enjoy a nice cup of hot fat, and while you wait for the head of Alfredo Garcia to arrive, read on for a breakdown of what the “Fletch” cast have been doing in the years since.