Danny Pintauro Tells All About ‘Who’s The Boss’ Ending, ‘As the World Turns’ & ‘Cujo’
Best known for playing Jonathan Bower on the hit ABC sitcom Who’s the Boss?, where he costarred alongside Judith Light, Tony Danza, and Alyssa Milano during the show’s successful run from 1984 to 1992, Danny Pintauro became famous at a young age. But he began in the industry far before his “mom” hired a male housekeeper in the ’80s.
Pintauro began acting at just two years old, appearing in numerous commercials before landing the role of Paul Stenbeck on the CBS daytime drama As the World Turns. He left the soap for his first film role in the 1983 Stephen King adaptation Cujo, playing Tad Trenton, a young boy trapped in a car with his mother, played by Dee Wallace, as a rabid St. Bernard terrorizes them.
In 1997, Pintauro became an activist, as one of the first former child stars to publicly come out as gay. Years later, he also revealed that he was HIV+ and has since become an outspoken advocate, using his platform to raise awareness about LGBTQ+ issues and HIV education.
Pintauro has returned to Hollywood and most recently was seen in the Lifetime Christmas film A Country Christmas Harmony and the TV Series The Comeback Kid. He can currently be seen on Twitch creating little amazing Book Nooks.
Pintauro recently attended the Hollywood show in Burbank, California, and sat down with ReMIND Magazine to chat about his work on Who’s The Boss, As The World Turns, Cujo and his passion for building Book Nooks.
Credit: Mike Pingel
How’d you get the job first?
Danny Pintauro: Each audition story is funny, in a way. I don’t remember As the World Turns, but for Cujo one of the producers was going up the stairs and we were walking down the stairs after the audition. My mom always said the same thing. She said, ‘All right, now what do we say after every audition?’ I was like, ‘I know, mom. If I get it, I get it. If I don’t, I don’t.’ And he heard that, and that got me the job. I mean I’m sure the audition was good too. But that was the thing that got me the job because he trusted that I knew what the hell was going on.
Then for Who’s the Boss? Tony [Danza] and Judith [Light] had been their all-day auditioning kids for the two kid roles, and they were paraphrasing their lines by the time I got there. It’s Tony Danza and it’s Judith Light – they can do what they want, right?! I don’t actually remember this, it’s all hearsay, and Tony and Judith will tell you too. I walked in and they started doing the scene and I went, ‘I’m sorry, can we stop? I memorized the lines the way they were written in the script. So can you do it that way?’ I was a little precocious kid. They were like that’s the kid. Already precocious at the age of six. So, yeah, that’s how I got it.
What happened to your character on As the World Turns?
I’m the original character, Paul Stendek. It became Paul Ryan later. But because I got Cujo, they basically just wrote me out of the soap opera. I think there’s a little bit of drama, but I don’t know what the drama is. I’d have to ask my dad. So, the character went away for two years and then he came back and he was 15 – a sexy 15-year-old. A lot of really hot guys played Paul Ryan after me, which is pretty cool.
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I heard that you were tragically damaged after Cujo. Is that true?
No, not at all. That’s the whole idea. People were 100% convinced that I was permanently traumatized. Even on a daily basis, filming each take, they thought, oh god, this kid’s gonna have problems in the future. So, Dee [Wallace] was always like ‘You know it’s not real,” Lewis [Teague, director] would go “Okay remember they’re not mean they’re just acting” and I was like ‘No I’m good, are we moving the camera?’ It baffles me because how do you teach a six-year-old to separate that out.
But by Cujo I’d already been on a soap opera for four years and as you know every scene was trauma. I just posted some clips on my Instagram from As the World Turns. Number one, I don’t remember any of it and number two, I’m four, and I’m just sobbing acting. Colleen Zenk (Barbara Ryan), she played my mom, a consummate actress on As the World Turns for the entire run of that show. I’m just watching these clips thinking, Wow! I held my own against this amazing actress. I don’t remember a thing, not an ounce of it.
Memories of working with Dee Wallace in Cujo?
I mean, the memories are very slim. Actually, memories that I have are not of Dee. They’re of the craziest things. There was a camera on the inside of the car, and it was spinning around and I’m crying in the corner and she’s dying, and I was so fascinated by the idea that they had figured out how to cut a hole in the car. I have an image of that. I have an image of the car they cut in half so they could get the camera where the engine would be, and I thought that was so fascinating but like actual serious memories with Dee not a lot. I was six and anything that I know or stories that I tell are mostly hearsay from my mom or from Dee or from Lewis. I’ve sort of created memories from that.
Any favorite Who’s The Boss episodes?
Definitely the gum episode. Yeah, I had my first kiss and there’s this amazing moment. Tony and Angela walk in on us kissing, and they’re freaked out, of course. And then at the door, as she leaves, I go, ‘Oh, Heather, here’s your gum.’ And I literally take the gum out of my mouth as Tony and Angela are watching in shock. I mean, it’s beautiful television.
Did you keep anything from the set?
Yes, and no. I guess there was an episode where Tony ran for school or city council or something, and my dad took one of the posters that says, “Micelli for President.” You don’t know that 20, 30 years later it’s gonna be a thing, right? So, it wasn’t like we really thought about it. I don’t know if anyone else took anything. I also didn’t really have any part of the set that was Jonathan-specific. If I had a bedroom set and I did at some point. That would have been cool to take something from that, but I think we did one episode where he had a bedroom.
How about favorite memories of the cast from Who’s The Boss?
Tony and Judith were always so excited when I would bring in my grades. They loved that I was focused on school as much as I was being on the show. Alyssa and I were always like brother and sister; I think my favorite memory of her is the very last episode. Just us hugging off stage while Tony and Judith filmed the last scene. It was so good. Just all those years coming back together and the sort of circle completing itself. It was really cool.
How was the last episode of Who’s The Boss for you?
I mean, I had like two lines in the last episode, so it is what it is. But just the energy in the room, watching it, knowing that this is the end of a very good thing. I have very specific memories of that last moment for sure. We could have gone for another season, but I guess Tony was adamant about going out on a high note rather than doing that last season that nobody watches and then you’re like, oh we should have just called it a day. So, I think that’s really why they did that.
We even brought in the little kid in the last season because that’s what you did at the time. To boost ratings by bringing in some child. I was so offended in a way because that was me, but I had already outgrown that part. But I always thought they should have given me bigger parts. But no, they had to bring in a little kid.
Columbia Pictures Television/Courtesy: Everett Collection
And how about Katherine Helmond?
Oh, she’s the best. Yeah, she was the boss, for sure. She was the consummate professional. She also had all these dachshunds. She always had dogs in her dressing room, barking away. She was lovely. She was good people.
What are you currently the boss of?
I’m currently the boss of Book Nooks. That’s what I’m the boss of. I have this side job right now while I wait for acting stuff to come up. I build these miniatures live on Twitch. People just watch me build them and then I sign the bottom and send them off. I’ve been doing it for a year. I’ve made 164 Book Nooks since November.
And where do you get your inspiration for them?
I’ve always loved doing models. I don’t actually build or design them. I just assemble them. So, people pay me to assemble them for them. Why DIY [Do It Yourself] when I can DIFY [Do It For You]? That’s the catchphrase.
Do you have anything coming up?
I decided to come back to being an actor at the worst time. The business is garbage right now. So, in the meantime, I build book nooks.
To keep up with Danny, check out his website or follow him on his Instagram.
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