A long time ago in a galaxy far, far… closer than anything in Star Wars (because we’re referring to America), Mark Hamill was not yet known as Luke Skywalker – he was starring as the oldest son in the now classic TV series, Eight Is Enough.
Hamill Heads can take a deep dive into the depths of IMDB with Eight Is Enough’s pilot episode, which, like the first Star Wars film, is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Available exclusively on Warner Archive, the pilot features Hamill as a young man considering leaving his childhood home to live on his own after a disagreement with his family. In a twist of life imitating art, he actually pushed to exit the Bradford family after the pilot so he could focus on what was to become a certain popular intergalactic franchise.
Check out a clip of his rarely seen performance as David Bradford – before he was replaced in the following 111 episodes by Grant Goodeve – in the pilot episode “Never Try Eating Nectarines Since Juice May Dispense” and see if you can catch him using The Force to fix the late Dick Van Patten’s typewriter (he doesn’t):
Warner Archive is a streaming video service that allows classic movie & TV lovers to rediscover hundreds of hard-to-find westerns, musicals, noir films, comedies and pre-code classics – many of which are exclusive, remastered and digitally available for the very first time. Each week, they resurface classic movies & TV shows in a whole new light, with curated collections ranging from holiday themes to topical events to showcasing the work of Hollywood’s greatest actors and directors. Warner Archive is currently available on your desktop, Roku, Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, iPod and Android devices. Check it out here:https://www.
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