Robert Romanus

"I woke up in a great mood; I don't know what the hell happened." So said Mike Damone, the ticket-hocking friend-turned-fink, and a main character in the 1982 classic high school comedy, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." Damone's line is also an apt description of the career of Robert Romanus, the real life man behind the character--starting strong with his role in "Fast Times," along with recurring parts on the television hits "Fame" and "The Facts of Life" later in the '80s he has achieved few substantial roles since. That said, Romanus did manage to keep landing parts, on-screen and off, into the 2010s, but these could be categorized alternately as cameos in modest movies or TV shows--the "Guitar Teacher' in the '10 rock band biopic "The Runaways"--or more substantial supporting parts in very obscure fare: "Richard" in the '06' drama "Mojave Phone Booth" with Annabeth Gish and Steve Guttenberg. But Romanus's movie legacy will remain Damone, the smooth-talking, budding entrepreneur, and friend and mentor to Mark 'Rat' Ratner, the shy ticket-taker at the local mall multiplex. Off-screen, Romanus intermittently gigs at L.A. clubs and regularly records with his band, Poppa's Kitchen, and he also teaches kids through the lens of a video camera in a program he developed called "Teaching Through Film."