As long as there has been pop culture, there has been an industry catering to teens crushes, and in the 1960s and ’70s, Tiger Beat magazine was the place to find pictures and news about cute boys (and girls, sometimes), In the pre-internet age, it was often the only place to find pictures and news about your imaginary boyfriend.

One of the cutests of those boys, Lance Kerwin, passed away Wednesday at the age of 62. Kerwin was a child actor, appearing on shows like Little House on the Prairie, Emergency! and Wonder Woman, but his breakthrough role came in 1977 with James at 15. Kerwin had a starring role as James Hunter in the coming-of-age series that attempted to present a more modern and edgy look at teenage life than had been seen on television previously.

Kerwin also had a major role on the Stephen King mini-series Salem’s Lot as Mark Petrie, the young horror film buff-turned-vampire hunter, and went on to star in that most 1970s of productions, the after-school special. Kerwin appeared with fellow teen dreamboat Scott Baio (back then, he wasn’t known for his politics) in The Boy Who Drank Too Much, in which Baio played a teen alcoholic.

Kerwin continued to act through the end of the 1990s, when he retired from acting to become a youth minister. Like a lot of child stars, especially from that era, he made it big during his youth, and that didn’t translate to a lifelong acting career.

So what happened to the other Tiger Beat stars of Kerwin’s era? While some, like Baio, Donnie Osmond, John Travolta, and Tony Danza, who did in fact grace the cover of Tiger Beat once upon a time, stayed in the public eye for decades after they experienced teen stardom, most of the idols were hot for a moment and then faded away.

On the cover pictured above, Kerwin is joined by fellow stars Shaun Cassidy, Leif Garrett, Parker Stevenson, Clark Brandon and Willie Aames. What happened to these one-time successful hotties?

Shaun Cassidy, born in 1958, was part of an acting dynasty: he was the younger half-brother of David Cassidy, an actor and singer known mostly for being on The Partridge Family, and the son of actors Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy. Shaun Cassidy was also a TV star, appearing as Joe Hardy in The Hardy Boys Mysteries from 1977-79. Cassidy was also a pop star, releasing a self-titled multi-platinum album in 1977.

Cassidy acted throughout the 90s, then went behind the camera, writing and producing shows like American Gothic, Invasion, and New Amsterdam. In 2021, Cassidy took his one-man show The Magic of a Midnight Sky to the stage, playing to standing-room-only crowds nationwide in his first live music performance in almost forty years.

Leif Garrett, born in 1961, started acting at the age of five, starring with his sister Dawn Lyn in the horror movie Devil Times Five as well as appearing on episodes of Gunsmoke and Wonder Woman, with a recurring role on the show Family, which starred Kristy McNichol. What brought him to the attention of Tiger Beat, though, was his appearance in a CBS drama called Three for the Road.

Like Cassidy, Garrett had a musical career, but his wasn’t nearly as successful, though he had a top ten hit with “I Was Made for Dancing.” He continued to record into the 2000s, and appeared in a number of television and film projects that capitalized on his former teen idol status, like an episode of VH-1’s Behind the Music, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, and the David Spade project Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, for which Garrett recorded the title song. Garrett had his share of legal troubles, stemming from his drug use. In 2019, he published his autobiography, called Idol Truth.

Cassidy’s Hardy Boys co-star, Parker Stevenson, was born in 1952, the son of an actress who got him small acting gigs when he was five years old. He starred in the film A Separate Peace and in films opposite Sam Elliott and Burt Reynolds, but reached stardom status when he got the role of Frank Hardy on The Hardy Boys Mysteries.

Stevenson starred with his then-wife Kirstie Alley in the mini-series North and South Book II, and was part of the original Baywatch cast and had a small role on Melrose Place. His last listed acting role was on the show Greenhouse Academy, which concluded in 2020. Stevenson notably sued Alley for spousal support after their 1997 divorce, to maintain the lifestyle the two had while they were wed.

Probably the least well-known of the six cover models featured above is Clark Brandon, born in 1958. He had a few minor roles, like as apprentice Zachary Rogers in the CBS series Mr. Merlin, as one of The Fitzpatricks, also on CBS, and in ABC’s Out of the Blue. With his striking blue eyes, though, he was almost more famous as a magazine cover model than as an actor.

Before he seemingly disappeared from view in 2018, when he became Dean of Students at Areté Preparatory Academy in Southern California, he had roles on Family, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat and The Facts of Life, and roles in films like My Tutor and Fast Food, which starred Jim Varney. He also directed three movies, Dark Secrets in 1992, Skeeter in 1993, and The Last Road in 1997.

Willie Aames was born in 1960, and began acting as a child on shows like Gunsmoke, Adam-12, and The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, and played the son of Felix Unger in The Odd Couple, a role that was later taken over by Garrett. Aames’ big break came when he was cast as Tommy Bradford in the family comedy-drama Eight is Enough.

Lightning struck twice for Aames when he was cast as the best friend of Scott “Charles in Charge” Baio on the popular series, which ran for six years, and he starred in some movies, and worked with Baio again in the film Zapped! After some soap opera and voice work, and an attempt at a musical career, he found his calling as “Bibleman” in the direct-to-video Christian superhero movie series. He then found another calling on a real life Love Boat, becoming a Cruise Director for various ship lines. When that career ran aground, he returned to acting, mostly in Hallmark TV movies.

It’s definitely not easy out there for teenage heartthrobs, past and present, but the crushes they inspired were memorable, and in some cases, life-long.