The Only Major Actors Still Alive From The 1979 Salem's Lot Miniseries

Before “Salem’s Lot” returned to the zeitgeist with a highly-anticipated (then delayed, then possibly almost shelved, and now anticipated again) reboot movie, the Stephen King classic was a miniseries that shook the world. Directed by “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” mastermind Tobe Hooper, the two-part 1979 series was event TV at its spookiest.

The original “Salem’s Lot” limited series has never been among the best King adaptations out there, but it holds a unique place in pop culture history thanks to its status as one of the earliest on-screen takes on a King book — plus some truly frightening moments. Several members of the show’s sprawling ensemble cast, including David Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin, and vamp actor Reggie Nalder, have passed away in the decades since “Salem’s Lot” first beamed its way into our collective consciousness. Of the actors who are still with us, several have gone on to award-winning careers in film and television, while others retired or found fulfillment in other careers. Here’s what we know about where the “Salem’s Lot” cast is now:

Actress Bonnie Bedelia was roughly a decade into her on-screen career by the time she appeared in “Salem’s Lot,” having made her debut in popular teleplay series “Playhouse 90” and appearing in Sydney Pollack’s 1969 adaptation of “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” In “Salem’s Lot,” she played college grad Susan Norton, who formed a relationship with bestselling author Ben Mears when he returned to town. The vampire saga wouldn’t be the last Stephen King adaptation Bedelia starred in: she also popped up in the somewhat poorly received 1993 take on “Needful Things,” playing a woman whose life is impacted by the arrival of a shady new antiques dealer in her town.

Aside from King adaptations, Bedelia has starred in TV shows including Lifetime’s womens’ detective series “The Division” and NBC’s family drama “Parenthood.” She played Braverman family matriarch Camille in the latter, but that acclaimed series isn’t what landed her an Emmy nomination. That came back in 1994, for her guest spot on the short-lived neo-noir series “Fallen Angels.” She also nabbed a Daytime Emmy nod for her part in the 1999 TV movie “Locked in Silence.”

Other key films in Bedelias career include the first two “Die Hard” movies (she played John McClane’s wife Holly), and the Alan J. Pakula thriller “Presumed Innocent” (she played the wife of Harrison Ford’s character), while she’s appeared in a number of TV movies and recurring or guest spots on TV. In recent years, Bedelia had a five-episode arc in the political thriller “Designated Survivor” and has appeared in a number of Christmas movies, including the Netflix original “The Noel Diary.” While Bedelia has often played characters who get spoken about in relation to their male main character relatives (as the aunt of the Culkin siblings, including Macaulay and Kieran, this phenomenon isn’t just on-screen, either), juicy roles like those in “Salem’s Lot” and “The Division” have seen her talents shine all on their own.

After a prolific TV career in the ’70s that included appearances on “Little House on the Prairie,” “The Incredible Hulk,” and “Gunsmoke,” Cobb took on a memorable role in the “Salem’s Lot” miniseries. She played Bonnie Sawyer, who in King’s book has an affair with phone repairman Corey while married to mechanic Reggie. She’s either killed or turned into a vamp after the pair’s adultery is discovered.

Cobb’s career continued after “Salem’s Lot:” she appeared in the Albert Brooks film “Defending Your Life,” in a 1980 adaptation of “Brave New World,” and in ’90s horror flicks including “Lisa” and “Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde.” She also starred in “Charles in Charge” and had multi-season arcs on TV shows including “Growing Pains,” “Magnum, P.I.” and “Designing Women.” Cobb appeared on six episodes of soap opera “Days of Our Lives” in the aughts, and most recently popped up in the Netflix show “Teenage Bounty Hunters” in 2020.

According to a brief web biography she co-wrote, Cobb once appeared in a stage production of Arthur Miller’s “After the Fall,” winning a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award in the process. She also directed an award-winning production of “Twelve Angry Men.” Cobb co-wrote and directed the 2014 short film “Night Vet” (starring her ex-husband James Cromwell), and also wrote a recurring column for Country Connections journal. In addition to her work in the arts, Cobb has also reportedly worked as a certified life coach.

Retired actor Bonnie Bartlett played Susan’s controlling mother Ann, yet another character who doesn’t make it out of town alive in Hooper’s version of “Salem’s Lot.” Bartlett was popular before the King adaptation — she played Grace Edwards in “Little House on the Prairie” — but her most memorable role would come a few years later, when she took on a starring role in the medical drama “St. Elsewhere.” A recurring character in the earlier seasons, Ellen Craig eventually became one of the core cast members — and soon left her on-screen husband, Dr. Mark Craig, who was played by her real husband, William Daniels.

Bartlett won two Emmys for her turn on “St. Elsewhere,” at one point making headlines by winning one the same night as Daniels won his own. After the medical show ended in 1988, the pair continued acting together, playing opposite one another in ’90s teen sitcom “Boy Meets World.” In addition to these roles, Bartlett appeared in the original “V” miniseries, had stints on shows including “Once and Again” and “Home Improvement,” and guest starred in classics including “The Golden Girls,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Murder She Wrote,” and “E.R.” (she memorably played Dorothy’s snobby, secretly anti-Semitic new friend in the former).

Most recently, Bartlett appeared in two episodes of “Better Call Saul” in 2017, playing a resident of Sandpiper Crossing nursing home who’s in the process of being swindled by Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk). On the big screen, you might also recognize her from the ’80s comedy “Twins,” Ivan Reitman’s “Dave,” or Mike Nichols’ “Primary Colors.”

After playing various roles in “Star Trek: The Original Series” and otherwise making a name for herself in Hollywood, Barbara Babcock appeared in “Salem’s Lot” as June, the mother of Mark Petrie, one of the story’s main heroes. Babcock doesn’t have a major role in the miniseries, but if she looks familiar, it’s probably because she’d continue appearing in popular TV shows throughout the ’80s and ’90s.

In the groundbreaking police drama “Hill Street Blues,” Babcock played Grace Gardner, a widowed department decorator and the beau of Sergeant Phil Esterhaus — who dies memorably in the NSFW episode “Grace Under Pressure.” Babcock won an Emmy for the role. She also did a stretch on primetime soap “Dallas,” and rounded out the ’90s with a role on “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” that earned her a second Emmy nod.

Additional noteworthy credits in Babcock’s filmography include the films “Far and Away” and “Space Cowboys,” plus guest roles in shows like “Cheers” and “Frasier” and a series of parts in “Murder, She Wrote.” Babcock was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2004 and hasn’t acted since that time, though according to a Carmel Magazine piece from 2018, she’s spent her post-acting years living life to the fullest in Carmel, California. “I’ve written poetry, novels and screenplays,” she told the outlet, “but they’re all still in the closet.”

Actor Joshua Bryant played doomed townsperson Ted Petrie in “Salem’s Lot,” but his life offscreen has been much more interesting than the relatively small part in a cult horror classic. According to IMDb and other sources, Bryant co-created the Taos Talking Pictures Film Festival, which ran for several years in New Mexico. He’s also been outspoken about his political and moral stance, telling Le Populaire in 2018 that he and his wife Melinda Mullins decided to move to France after the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.

On the career front, Bryant had already worked in film and television for over a decade before appearing in “Salem’s Lot,” and he continued to grow his career afterwards as well. On the small screen, he had a three-episode run on “M*A*S*H” and appeared in shows like “Magnum P.I.” and “St. Elsewhere” (then the new stomping grounds for his “Salem’s Lot” costar Bonnie Bartlett). On the film front, “Salem’s Lot” is likely his most popular work today, but he also appeared in plenty of films in the ’70s, plus lesser-known ’80s movies like “First Monday in October” and “The Deliberate Stranger.”

Bryant also at one point hosted the reality show “Game Warden Wildlife Journal,” which was hilariously spotlighted in an issue of Indianapolis magazine with the hook, “Bad bears, bad bears, whatcha gonna do?” In 1994, he directed the music video for S.W.V.’s “Anything.” The actor hasn’t had a credited on-screen role since 2008, but according to the 2018 profile of Bryant’s life in France, he and Mullins are still keeping busy. “They both write,” the piece explains. “She paints and draws. Very well. Of course, they do theater, he directs, she writes the text and acts.”

As young Salem’s Rot resident Danny Glick, Brad Savage made up one half of the series’ scariest and most memorable scenes. Poor Danny is in bed when he suddenly sees the vampiric image of his missing brother, Ralphie (Ronnie Scribner, below), outside his window. It’s an iconic scene, one that’s been praised as formatively scary by everyone from director and DC head honcho James Gunn to actor and filmmaker Mark Gatiss. “When I was a kid, that scared me more than anything else in my entire life,” Gunn once wrote in Empire. “It gave me nightmares for years.”

Child actor Savage appeared in a handful of roles before “Salem’s Lot,” but by 1987 — eight years after the miniseries — his acting career had largely ended. In the interim, Savage starred in the conservative action hit “Red Dawn” and popped up on shows like “Mork & Mindy,” “The Magical World of Disney,” and “The Love Boat.” Savage eventually returned to acting for a two-episode stint on the spicy Lifetime drama “The Client List” in 2013.

According to his official IMDb biography, Savage never really left Hollywood after the ’80s, working as a runner, post-production coordinator, and freelancer before working in marketing as a trailer and promo spot editor. Savage and David Friedman at one point ran the post-production company Flashframe, which worked on trailers and title sequences, and he’s also headed up companies called Bandwagon Media and The Woodshed Studios.

Additionally, you might know him from one of his bands. Savage has been a part of musical acts including Fashion Risk, The Action Figures, and Big Boy Combo, but his most well-known project is likely Band From TV, a charity cover band whose roster of past and present members also includes “Alias” actor and frequent J.J. Abrams collaborator Greg Grunberg, “House M.D.” alums Hugh Laurie and Jesse Spencer, and “Desperate Housewives” star Teri Hatcher.

The creepy bedroom scene in “Salem’s Lot” would not be complete without Ronnie Scribner, who played lost kid turned vamp Ralphie in the series. In a 2022 Vanity Fair retrospective, Scribner admitted that the terrifying expression on his face in the scene probably came from “the pain from the contact lenses digging into my eyeballs.” He recalled one lens accidentally rolling back into his eye, and that the lenses hurt and made it difficult to see. He also says Hooper instructed him to do some of the motions in the scene backwards, as they would be played in reverse in the final version.

Unlike many of the actors on this list, Scribner was still relatively new on the scene when he appeared in “Salem’s Lot,” with just a years’ worth of credits under his belt. After the movie, he continued acting until 1982, appearing (like others on this list) in shows including “The Love Boat,” CHiPs,” and “Little House on the Prairie.” His other movie roles include parts in two very of-their-time dramas, a movie about a teacher of deaf children called “Amy,” and “Split Image,” about a college athlete lured into a cult. He was nominated for a Young Artist Award for the latter.

Scribner left Hollywood in young adulthood, and according to Vanity Fair, he ended up working in banking. He returned to the miniseries’ small-town filming location for a 40th anniversary screening, where he was surprised to see attendees with tattoos of his character. “Some great people were there, some huge fans,” Scribner told the outlet. “I got to see my character tattooed on a couple of people’s arms which was interesting. I’m not used to seeing a likeness or an image of myself on somebody’s body.”