By Joe Puccio

Goofy sidekicks have been a mainstay on classic sitcoms since the advent of television. From Ed Norton (Art Carney) in The Honeymooners for one revered season in the mid-1950s to Barney Fife (Don Knotts) in the venerable The Andy Griffith Show throughout almost the entire decade of the 1960s to Freddy “Rerun” Stubbs of the Cooley High-based What’s Happening!! in the 1970s, the role has been an integral component of TV comedies over the nearly 80 years that they have been in production. Even in the modern era, it’s hard to imagine Arrested Development without the over-the-top George Oscar “Gob” Bluth II (Will Arnett) or The Office sans the awkward Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner).

For gifted child actor Casey Ellison, he proved to be so adept at the specific type of character that he landed two separate ones of their ilk simultaneously.

“I did both Punky Brewster and Mr. Belvedere concurrently,” said the talented entertainer during a recent conversation with Generation X Wire. “I’d basically take a break from one and then go do the other.” While the logistics of starring in two successful programs at the same time might seem to be a hindrance, Ellison’s penchant for playing both Allen Anderson in the former and Miles Knobnoster in the latter spoke volumes for his versatility as well as his stamina. “I don’t actually know what the arrangement was, but for me, it didn’t make any difference where they drove me to do my job,” he joked. “If I was working on Belvedere, then that would have been a week that I wasn’t on Brewster. So, they’d coordinate it nicely. I believe both shoot schedules were a bit different so that was another reason it worked out.”

Ellison got his start in show business in the form of a series of commercials for IBM, eventually a household name in technology, but a brand-new product in consumer electronics at the time. “IBM’s spokesperson back then was advertising the big mainframe computers that were in office buildings. This was the first time IBM was branching out into personal computers in your house,” Ellison explained. “So, they enlisted me as the new face for the campaign. I did a whole bunch of spots as a brunette and during that time, I auditioned for Punky Brewster, but I needed to be blonde for it. So, I wound up going back and forth between both colors. There was a dip in a pool at one point, so I, unknowingly, went green once,” he laughed. “But I wound up landing the part.”

As is the norm nowadays with popular shows of yesteryear, the Soleil Moon Frye-starring vehicle received the requisite reboot four years ago, bringing back Frye in the titular role, along with both Cherie Johnson, who played her best friend, and Ami Foster, who portrayed the spoiled, obnoxious Margaux Kramer. Ellison, however, wasn’t a part of the revival.

“I wasn’t very active in terms of having a social media presence, so I found out later that they tried to contact me to be involved but they said I was virtually impossible to locate,” he confessed. “Soleil did tell me that if they were going to move forward with a second season, which they unfortunately did not, I would have been on it. It would have been nice,” he admitted. “I did watch it and really enjoyed it. I felt it was a good representation and held true to the heart of the original show.”

Ellison has nothing but fond memories of his time on the Chicago-set series, especially his relationship with veteran thespian George Gaynes, Punky’s curmudgeonly but lovable foster parent Henry Warnimont. “I’m sure it sounds a little trite but honestly, he was the perpetual grandfather. We had our schooling on the set and there was one time that he worked it out with our teacher to take all of the kids to the Griffith Observatory,” he recalled. “It was such a nice surprise for us. They didn’t close it down for us or anything. People recognized us but it was no big deal. It was a field trip and to this day, one of my treasured mementos is a book he bought for me and wrote a personal note in.”

The performer’s tenure on Mr. Belvedere, led by two polar opposites in the distinguished, theatrically-trained Christopher Hewitt and the self-deprecating ex-Major League Baseball player Bob Uecker, was just as enjoyable. “Christopher was a consummate professional. He wasn’t really into horsing around. When it was time to work, it was time to work,” he remembered. “Not in a mean way or anything. He just took it seriously. Bob, on the other hand, was hysterical. There were times that we got reprimanded by the director because he was so funny, and I was giggling nonstop. I just couldn’t keep it together. Bob was fantastic.”

Like Ellison’s Griffith outing with Gaynes, Uecker brought the youngster to one of the games he called as a sportscaster for the Milwaukee Brewers. Naturally, hijinks ensued, a typical result of being in Uecker’s company. “A pop fly was hit and got stuck in the window cutout of the booth we were in,” he offered. “There was a long desk we were sitting at, and I couldn’t reach it. So, he grabbed my legs and shoved me out the window so I could grab it. He got everyone to sign it for me and I still have it today.”

As is the case for many young actors, Ellison found the transition into becoming a teenager in Hollywood particularly difficult, with the auditions he was going on becoming less and less fruitful. Although he secured guest roles on notable programs such as Newhart and The Wonder Years, his time onscreen began to diminish by the early ‘90s. “My agent and I had a gameplan,” he stated. “She wanted to make sure I didn’t get typecast into only being the ‘goof.’ That was our goal. An example of that was when I played a bully in an episode of 21 Jump Street. I think it helped.” When Ellison entered high school, however, the opportunities he’d been previously receiving regularly had all but disappeared. “It was at that point that I decided I just wanted to finish school without the acting distractions and then figure out what I wanted to do when I graduated.”

While not actively acting any longer, Ellison has managed to remain in the industry in another way. These days, he excels in behind the scenes work, as a lighting technician, electrician, and key grip on everything from Mad Men to You to The Mandalorian. “I gave acting a little bit of a try again after college and my heart really wasn’t in it. I wanted to try something different,” he remarked. “I’ve also started a side business recently, making light clips for TV and film sets. I have a 3D print farm for that so that keeps me busy as well.”

Despite acting being, at least for now, in his rearview mirror, Ellison’s daughter Audrey may someday follow in her father’s footsteps. “I’ve had heart to hearts with her about show business,” he acknowledged. “She’s a high school junior right now and she’s a dancer – and she’s very good at it. She loves it and it’s her passion. But, as much as I support her, and I absolutely do, you have to have a plan B. Now, chances are that your plan B is going to suck,” he joshed. “But you hope it won’t and you just follow your dream.”

Clearly skilled, Ellison still credits much of his own success to sheer luck. “There was no way that I was the most talented kid in the room on ninety percent of the auditions I went on,” he believed. “There’s no way that I was the cutest. There are a lot of different factors, a feeling, a look, it could be anything.” Notwithstanding his unmistakable modesty, the polished artist shared an appropriate anecdote to support his claim.

“I got a small part in the movie Inventing the Abbotts with Liv Tyler and Joaquin Phoenix. The scene was going to be me and Liv dancing with each other in a country club when Joaquin tries to cut in, I tell him to fuck off, he hits me, and they wind up dancing together,” he clarified. Despite seemingly being a done deal, Ellison, after spending roughly 12 hours in his dressing room waiting to film his part, was told that he wasn’t needed after all. “The director finally told me that they couldn’t use me because Liv was six inches taller than me and that was without her heels and beehive hairstyle,” he chuckled.

As for his quite respectable career, Ellison has no regrets. “When my daughter was about six, I pulled out my old Punky Brewster VHS tapes and we watched it together – and she loved it! And she didn’t even know, at the time, that the two of us were the same person,” he smiled. “The show really holds up and I’m proud of it.”