Heather Thomas, known for her role alongside Lee Majors in *The Fall Guy*, turned 66 on September 8. She was on track for a very successful Hollywood career.
However, after the show’s finale, her mother appeared on set, and Thomas rushed to the hospital, thinking her father had an emergency. But when she arrived at the Santa Monica hospital, her family and friends told her that her father, Leon, was fine—it was her they were worried about.
This marked the start of a new chapter in the 28-year-old’s life, which would change both her personal life and career.
Read on to find out what happened to the famous 1980s pinup girl!
Heather Thomas had talent and natural beauty that compared to stars like Farrah Fawcett and Heather Locklear. She was born to be in the spotlight.
At just 14, she hosted an NBC show called *Talking with a Giant*, where she and other teens interviewed celebrities.
Wanting more, Thomas studied film and theater at UCLA, aiming to be an actor, director, and writer. Before she graduated, she appeared in a short-lived comedy series called *Co-Ed Fever* in 1979.
In 1980, Thomas, who was born in Connecticut, landed her first major role in *The Fall Guy*. She played Jody Banks, a stuntwoman and bounty hunter, alongside Lee Majors, who was famous for his role in *The Six Million Dollar Man*.
Her role made her popular, especially among male viewers, who saw her as a sex symbol. Thomas had mixed feelings about this label.
“There’s a kind of condescension that comes with it,” she told *People*. “You fit the stereotype of the blonde bimbo. But at the time, I was just having fun.”
Unfortunately, Thomas’s fun also involved drugs, a habit that began before her role as Jody Banks.
She revealed that her drug use started in sixth grade to help keep her grades up. “I was taking acid and getting straight A’s. I thought it was mind-expanding,” Thomas said.
As Heather Thomas grew older, the drugs she used also changed.
While studying at UCLA, Thomas started using cocaine. By 1981, just one year into her role on *The Fall Guy*, her drug problems got worse.
Feeling pressure to live up to her image as a sex symbol, the 5-foot-7 actress became obsessed with her weight. She began taking Lasix, a diuretic that can cause extreme tiredness.
To fight the tiredness, she used more cocaine to stay energized.
“At first, I loved the drug. I felt like I was getting a lot out of it. It kept me awake all night, and I could still work the next day,” she said, but claimed she never used it on set. “Cocaine isn’t accepted on sets. It’s no longer cool. It’s just a personal nightmare.”
However, a source close to Thomas told *People* that her drug use was hurting her career. “People knew Heather had a problem,” the source said.
Thomas’s weight dropped from 125 to 105 pounds, and she began falling asleep between scenes. She admitted, “Sometimes, I was in a mini coma.”
One day, she passed out in front of her co-star, Lee Majors. He contacted her manager, who then called her mother.
After the final episode of *The Fall Guy* was filmed, Thomas’s mother, Gladdy Ryder, showed up on set and told her that her father was in the hospital.
Thomas rushed to St. John’s Hospital, but when she arrived, she was met by her family and friends. They were there to admit her into a three-week drug rehabilitation program.
“That day was a big relief for me,” Thomas said. When she checked into detox, she had pneumonia, scarred lungs, and inflamed kidneys. “I’d been on a roller coaster, and I wanted to get off. If my family hadn’t stepped in, I probably would have kept going until I lost my job or died.”
She also said, “The doctors told me I should have been dead three years ago.”
Determined to recover, Thomas surrounded herself with people who supported her goal of staying drug-free. That’s when she met Allan Rosenthal, co-founder of Cocaine Anonymous, and married him when she was 28. They divorced in September 1986.
That same month, Thomas was hit by a car while crossing the street, leaving her with serious injuries to both legs.
After detox, divorce, and surgery to repair major damage in one of her legs, Heather Thomas returned to acting with smaller roles in TV series. She also appeared in movies like *Cyclone* in 1987 and the 1990 Canadian film *Red Blooded American Girl* with Christopher Plummer.
With her struggles behind her, Thomas started fresh in the 1990s. While working to revive her career, she married entertainment lawyer Skip Brittenham in 1992. She became a stepmother to his two daughters, Kristina and Shauna, and gave birth to her only biological child, daughter India Rose, in June 2000.
Talking about her decision to step away from acting, Thomas said, “I had about 45 restraining orders, and I was on everything from a toilet seat cover to an ashtray. Then I fell in love, had two little girls, and decided to give up acting to write for a while.”
In 2017, Thomas made a brief comeback in the movie *Girltrash: All Night Long*, one of her 26 acting credits.
However, Thomas has focused mostly on writing. She said it wasn’t a lack of roles that drove her away from acting but the constant threat of stalkers invading her privacy. “One guy climbed over the fence with a knife. I had two little girls who needed raising, so that was that. Now, I think I’m old enough that people won’t bother me as much.”
Today, Thomas is also involved in activism. She has served on the boards of the Rape Foundation and the Amazon Conservation Team.
Identifying as a feminist, which some find surprising for a former sex symbol, Thomas explained how she embraced both roles.
“When I was younger, I did what people told me. But as I got older, I didn’t compromise myself. I wanted power and freedom, and my career gave me that. I don’t think being a feminist means you should be ashamed of your body,” she said.
It’s unfortunate that Heather Thomas wasn’t able to fully revive her acting career, but we’re glad she got the help she needed and is now on a lifelong journey of recovery.
The 1980s had so many great shows, and we loved watching her as Jody Banks in *The Fall Guy* alongside Lee Majors, the Six Million Dollar Man!
We’d love to hear your thoughts about Heather Thomas and her journey to recovery!
Every Night, My Late Grandpa Spoke to Me in a Dream: ‘Check the Red Box In My Basement!’ – One Day, I Finally Did
When my grandpa passed away, I thought the hardest part would be moving on. I never expected him to start visiting me in my dreams with the same strange message every night. I didn’t want to believe it meant anything — until the day I finally gave in and went to the basement.
I don’t know if you’ve ever felt truly stuck — like you’re running in place while the world around you keeps moving. That’s my life in a nutshell. I’m 22, and I work as a cashier at a run-down grocery store. It’s the kind of job where you smile and nod while people barely make eye contact, praying your register doesn’t freeze up again.
A young male cashier | Source: Midjourney
The pay is terrible, and by the time I cover rent and utilities for my tiny apartment, there’s barely enough left for groceries.
Life wasn’t always like this, though. I grew up in my grandpa’s house — a cozy place with creaky floors and walls full of old family photos. He raised me and my older brother, Tyler, after our parents died in a car accident.
Grandpa did his best to give us a good life and taught me everything I know about working hard and being decent.
But Tyler? He couldn’t have been more different. Immediately we turned 18, we found out our parents had left us a small inheritance. It wasn’t a fortune, but it could’ve made life a little easier.
Close up of two young adult men | Source: Midjourney
Tyler didn’t care about sharing. He drained the account, borrowed money from Grandpa, and vanished without a word.
I haven’t seen him since.
Grandpa and I didn’t talk about Tyler much after that. It hurt too much. We focused on getting by, fixing things around the house, and spending weekends fishing at the lake. Those were the good days.
Grandpa and grandson fishing | Source: Midjourney
After Grandpa passed, I thought the hardest part was over. I thought the silence in the house, the empty chair at the table, and the quiet hum of memories would be the worst. But I was wrong.
It had happened all so fast. Just two weeks ago, I walked into the house after my shift, groceries in hand, and found him on the floor. His favorite sweater was soaked in spilled tea, and the crossword puzzle he’d been working on was half-finished on the coffee table.
I remember dropping the bags, screaming his name, and shaking him like he could wake up if I just tried hard enough.
A heart attack, the doctors said. Quick and unexpected. Nothing anyone could’ve done.
Doctor delivering bad news to a patient about losing a loved one | Source: Midjourney
At the funeral, I kept waiting for Tyler to show up. Not because I wanted him there but because it felt wrong for him not to be. But, as always, my brother didn’t care enough to show his face. Just me, a scattering of neighbors, and a casket I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to.
That’s when the dreams started.
It wasn’t weird at first. Of course, I’d dream about Grandpa — he was the only family I had left. In the dreams, we were back at the lake, sitting on that old wooden dock with our fishing rods, just like we used to.
Grandpa was the same as ever: his baseball cap tilted back, his sleeves rolled up, smiling like he didn’t have a care in the world.
A young man sleeping | Source: Midjourney
“Caught anything yet?” I asked him in one dream, watching my line float lazily in the water.
“Nah,” he said, grinning. “You’re scaring the fish with all that talking.”
I laughed, and for a moment, everything felt normal. But then, his face grew serious, and he leaned in close.
“Listen to me, kiddo,” he said. “Check the red box in my basement.”
The first time it happened, I woke up and shrugged it off. Grief does strange things to people. But the dreams didn’t stop. Every night, the same scene. The same words.
A young man seated in his bed at night | Source: Midjourney
“Check the red box in my basement.”
After a week, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Fine, Grandpa,” I muttered one morning, standing at the top of the basement stairs. “Let’s see what all this is about.”
The air down there was heavy, like the weight of a thousand memories. And then I saw it — a splash of red peeking out from beneath a pile of old newspapers.
My heart started pounding. Could this really mean something?
The red box was exactly where Grandpa said it would be, sitting beneath a dusty stack of newspapers. For a second, I just stared at it, unsure if I was more relieved or freaked out.
Young man staring at a large red box in the basement | Source: Midjourney
“Well, Grandpa,” I muttered, wiping my palms on my jeans, “let’s see what was so important.”
The lid creaked as I opened it, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Inside was nothing but fishing gear — spools of line, a box of rusty hooks, and a set of lures. There was even the old reel Grandpa used to call his “lucky charm,” though I don’t think it ever actually caught anything.
I picked it up, turning it over in my hands. “Is this what all the fuss was about?” I chuckled. “You really got me worked up for a tackle box?”
Shaking my head, I set the reel back inside and closed the lid. Maybe the dreams were just my brain’s way of clinging to him. Maybe it was all nonsense.
Young man opening a large old red box in the basement | Source: Midjourney
As I turned to leave, my foot clipped the edge of a nearby box.
“Crap!” I hissed as the whole stack wobbled dangerously before collapsing in a chaotic crash. Dust filled the air, and I coughed, waving it away. “Seriously? Perfect.”
But as I bent down to start picking up the mess, something caught my eye — a metal door embedded in the wall behind where the boxes had been.
A safe.
An old safe with a large circular dial | Source: Midjourney
I froze, my heart hammering in my chest. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
It looked ancient, the kind with a big circular dial and no obvious keyhole. I crouched down, running my fingers over the cold metal.
“What’s the combination?” I muttered to myself, my mind racing.
I tried a few combinations, starting with Grandpa’s birthday. Nothing. Then I tried Tyler’s, just to see. Still nothing.
“Come on,” I muttered, wiping sweat from my forehead. Then, almost on instinct, I tried my own birthday.
Click.
Young man opening an ancient safe | Source: Midjourney
The sound echoed in the quiet basement, and I froze. Slowly, I pulled the door open, revealing neat stacks of cash — so much that I could hardly believe my eyes. Fifty thousand dollars, at least.
My hands shook as I reached in and pulled out a note tucked beneath one of the stacks. It was Grandpa’s handwriting, shaky but familiar.
“For my boy — everything I couldn’t give you in life. Use it to build something good, and don’t let the world beat you down. Love, Grandpa.”
Tears blurred my vision as I sat back, clutching the note. He’d left it for me. After everything, he’d left me the inheritance he must’ve saved bit by bit over the years.
Thousands of US dollar notes inside an ancient safe | Source: Midjourney
“Thanks, Grandpa,” I whispered. My voice cracked, but for the first time in weeks, I felt something close to hope.
The money changed everything.
I didn’t blow it on luxury or take the easy way out. Grandpa’s note kept playing in my mind: “Build something good.” And so, I did.
Six months later, the doors to Peter’s Coffee opened, a cozy little shop tucked on the corner of Main Street.
The walls were lined with fishing memorabilia — a framed picture of Grandpa and me at the lake, his lucky reel mounted above the counter, and even the old red box, now polished and displayed by the register.
A cozy, inviting coffee shop | Source: Midjourney
People loved it. Maybe it was the smell of fresh coffee or the warm, homey vibe. Maybe it was because it was personal. I made sure to tell every customer about the man behind the name, the one who gave me everything when he had so little.
I thought about Tyler, too. I tried calling him, left messages on the only number I had, and even sent an email. But, just like before, there was no answer. Part of me wanted to be angry, but another part just hoped he was okay.
Young man smiling in his cozy coffee shop | Source: Midjourney
One evening, as the shop closed for the night, I lingered behind the counter, wiping down tables. The fishing reel above the door caught the light, and I smiled.
“See, Grandpa?” I said softly, looking around the shop. “I did it.”
I swear I felt a warm breeze sweep through the room, even though the doors were shut.
And in my mind, I heard his voice, as clear as ever:
“You did good, kiddo. You did real good.”
A young man standing in his cozy coffee shop at night | Source: Midjourney
Curious about another family mystery? You’ll love this next one: At My Grandfather’s Funeral, a Stranger Handed Me a Note – When I Read It, I Laughed Because Grandpa Had Tricked Us. What did he leave behind?
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
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