A blockbuster comedy legend popped out to grab some groceries in New York City this week (Picture: Backgrid)
A huge Hollywood star who stepped away from moviemaking in the 90s was spotted on a low-key outing after shunning the limelight for the past few decades.
Rick Moranis, 71, is rarely seen and looked virtually unrecognisable wrapped up against the cold in New York City in a bulky brown jacket with the collar stood up, corduroy trousers and gloves.
He also wore dark shades and a green flat cap, which further obscured his identity.
The Ghostbusters star turned his back on his film career and fame over 25 years ago, after his wife’s tragic death from cancer, to focus on looking after their two kids.
Ann Belsky, a successful costume and make-up designer, was only in her mid-thirties when she died from breast cancer in 1991.
Moranis’ last onscreen film credit was in 1997’s Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, the final sequel he appeared in for the popular family comedy franchise started with 1989’s Honey, I Shrunk the Kids in 1989.
Rick Moranis looked lost in thought as he strolled along the sidewalk, wrapped up against the cold (Picture: Backgrid)
The comedy icon was able to go unrecognised thanks to a flat cap and sunglasses (Picture: Backgrid)
Moranis stepped away from a massive movie career in the 1980s and 90s that included films like Ghostbusters (Picture: Columbia/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock)
After kick-starting his career on sketch comedy show Second City Television in his native Canada, which also provided launching pads for the likes od John Candy and Schitt’s Creek co-stars Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy, the comedian and actor picked up movie work.
Following Strange Brew and Streets of Fire, he clocked up scene-stealing and leading turns in Ghostbusters and its sequel, Parenthood, Spaceballs, Little Shop of Horrors and The Flintstones live-action film, where he played Barney Rubble.
In the photographs, the star appeared to be on a trip to the supermarket, carrying a reusable black bag with him.
He was also listening to something via white wired earphones as he walked along with a thoughtful expression.
He focused on raising his children after the death of his wife from cancer in the 1990s (Picture: Backgrid)
The actor was wrapped up against the cold on his walk out ahead of the weekend (Picture: Backgrid)
Although it has been reported that Moranis retired from Hollywood years ago, the actor set the record straight in a 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, explaining that he is just much more ‘picky’ over the roles he takes on now.
‘I took a break, which turned into a longer break,’ he told the publication. ‘But I’m interested in anything that I would find interesting. I still get the occasional query about a film or television role and as soon as one comes along that piques my interest, I’ll probably do it.’
While he hadn’t appeared in front of cameras for many years, the actor did keep busy over the years with some voice work – such as Disney’s Brother Bear and its sequel – as he focused on raising his son and daughter as a single father.
He had said that he found he ‘really didn’t miss’ making movies after struggling to undertake the travel required for them while raising his children.
One of his most popular roles was as Louis Tully in Ghostbusters and its sequel (Picture: Moviestore/Shutterstock)
He also appeared as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors in 1986, as well as The Flintstones, Spaceballs and other movies before the last film where he appeared in front of the camera, 1997’s Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves (Picture: Moviestore/Shutterstock)
In the same interview he confirmed that he wouldn’t be appearing in a cameo in the all-female 2016 Ghostbusters reboot like the rest of the original cast as it ‘made no sense’ to him to do ‘one day of shooting on something I did 30 years ago’.
Moranis most recently made fan Ryan Reynolds ‘weep with joy’ after agreeing to appear in a series of adverts in 2020 for Mint Mobile, a phone plan company he owns.
He also hit headlines that same year after he was violently struck in an unprovoked assault in New York while he walked through Manhattan on a Thursday morning.
The attack occurred on October 1, with CCTV footage showing a man wearing a black ‘I (heart) NY’ sweatshirt hit Moranis with a sucker punch and knock him to the ground.
The star went to a local hospital with pain in his head, back and hip, and reported the incident to the 20th NYPD precinct.
After his rep confirmed it was the actor that had been attacked, a statement read: ‘Rick Moranis was assaulted on the Upper West Side yesterday. He is fine but grateful for everyone’s thoughts and well wishes.’
The following month, a suspect was arrested in the case, with Marquis Ventura, then 35, pleading guilty to second-degree assault and multiple other charges involving four other victims in August 2022, confirmed NBC New York.
Moranis had also delighted fans that year by signing up to appear in Shrunk, a continuation of his beloved franchise alongside Josh Gad, with returning director Joe Johnston.
Moranis was shockingly assaulted in Manhattan in 2020, but reassured fans in the aftermath that he was ‘fine’ and ‘grateful for everyone’s thoughts and well wishes’ (Picture: Backgrid)
In 2020 it was announced he was finally coming back to reprise his role of Wayne Szalinski for Shrunk, but the project has hit many roadblocks (Picture: Moviestore/Shutterstock)
However, in June 2023, Gad gave an update on the project’s issues, revealing a string of delays due to Covid, scheduling and also budgeting problems.
‘I still believe there’s an audience to an actual sequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. I happen to think Rick Moranis is one of the greatest actors and comedians of all time,’ the Frozen star added in an update on the project to The Jess Cagle Show on SiriusXM in December.
‘I am desperate to being him out of retirement, so never say never. We’ll see.’
He then simply said they were ‘talking’ about is still, having shared: ‘The heartbreak is we actually were weeks way from filming it on multiple occasions. It’s come so much closer than I think anybody knows.’
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