Fans of actor Amanda Peterson today are mourning the sudden loss of the former Hollywood star, best known for her energetic turn as an Arizona cheerleader in the hit 1987 romantic comedy Can’t Buy Me Love, in which she co-starred opposite future Grey’s Anatomy heartthrob Patrick Dempsey. She was found alone at her home in Greeley, Colorado, on 5 July. So far, there is no official cause of death.
While best remembered for Can’t Buy Me Love, Peterson got her start long before that at age nine in the musical Annie, directed by Academy award-winner John Huston. It marked her debut film credit. Watch her belt it out in the clip below from the film, beginning at the 15-second mark, as one of Annie’s orphan friends.
Following her onscreen debut, Peterson continued to work at a steady pace, appearing alongside a very young River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke in Joe Dante’s 1985 children’s fantasy film Explorers, and a number of television series, including Boone and Silver Spoons.
1987 was the year to bring her proper fame with the release of Can’t Buy Me Love, which opened when teen comedies like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful were all the rage with audiences. In Can’t Buy Me Love, Peterson proved she had spunky star quality to rival Molly Ringwald. Watch that magic at work in the feelgood ending from her breakout hit below.
For her big-screen follow-up, Peterson chose to star in the 1988 post-apocalyptic adventure movie The Lawless Land, directed by Jon Hess and executive-produced by maverick B movie legend Roger Corman. Watch her run for her life in the trailer for the campy romp.
During the time of The Lawless Land’s release, Peterson was also starring in the Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning television series A Year in the Life (1987-1988), for which she won a Young Artist award for best young actress starring in a television drama series in 1988. She flexed some serious dramatic muscle in the show, as evidenced in the heartrending clip from the series below.
1989 saw her star opposite Jaws star Roy Scheider in the romance Listen to Me, directed by Douglas Day Stewart, followed by a turn in the 1990 thriller Fatal Charm, from Children of the Corn director Fritz Kiersch. In Fatal Charm, Peterson plays a teenage girl who initiates a dangerous by-mail relationship with a man who’s been convicted or raping and murdering six young women. Here’s a chilling scene from the film.
Peterson continued to work steadily for the following four years before leaving the business in 1994 after appearing in the drama Windrunner at the age of 23.
In a 1987 video interview, pegged to the release of Can’t Buy Me Love, Peterson hinted at her future retirement. “I have two different lives,” she said. “You have to be popular in this business in order to get work – it’s called being well-known. But it’s different, when you separate that from life and work. Work is different because you have to do it, in essence.”
