Page 24 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • April 17, 2013 Celebrities will abound at April’s Chiller Expo by Dennis Seuling What can you do on a spring weekend in New Jersey? Pay a visit to the Chiller Expo, a three-day extravaganza showcasing celebrities and their contributions to pop culture. The scope of the expo has widened from horror and science fiction in the early years to embrace mainstream movies, classic TV, and even sports and music. The show offers a huge collection of show biz folk under a single roof. Held twice a year, the Chiller Expo draws crowds from the tri-state area and beyond. It’s one place where fans can come away with plenty of signed photos or even personal photos of themselves with the stars. The spring show will be held from April 26 through 28 at the Sheraton Parsippany Hotel in Parsippany. Guests will include Michael Dudikoff (“TRON”), Drea de Matteo (“The Sopranos”), Barry Bostwick (“The Rocky Horror Picture Show”), Larry Wilcox (“CHIPs”), Mariel Hemingway (“Manhattan”), boxing Hall of Fame legend Jake Lamotta, John Amos (“Good Times”), Burt Young (“Rocky”), Lorenzo Lamas (“Falcon Crest”), Robert MacNaughton (“E.T.”), Todd Bridges (“Diff’rent Strokes”), Mark Lester (“Oliver!”), Cathy Moriarty (“Raging Bull”), Edward Herrmann (“The Lost Boys”), and Nancy Allen (“Dressed to Kill”). Visitors will also find Patty Duke (“The Patty Duke Show”), Jay North (“Dennis the Menace”), and two of the original Monkees: Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork. Duke, a native of New York City, started acting as a child, winning a part on the daytime soap opera “The Brighter Day.” Her first starring role was as the pre-adolescent Helen Keller in the Broadway drama “The Miracle Worker.” She reprised the role in the 1962 film, which featured an astounding knock-down, drag-out battle of wills between Helen and her teacher, Annie Sullivan (Anne Bancroft). From 1963 to 1966, she starred in “The Patty Duke Show,” in which she played both Patty Lane, a typical Brooklyn teenager, and Cathy Lane, her “identical cousin” who arrives from Scotland to live with Patty’s family and attend school. In 1965, Duke had two Top 40 hits and played Neely O’Hara in the film adaptation of the best-seller “Valley of the Dolls.” From the late 1970s to the mid-2000s, she appeared in several made-for-TV movies and TV shows. She is also the mother of Sean Astin (“The Lord of the Rings”). “The Monkees,” inspired by the madcap style of The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night,” ran on NBC from 1966 to 1968. The group consisted of Dolenz, Tork, Michael Nesmith, and Davy Jones. Though the actors were assembled to play an aspiring fictional band, the Monkees became a sensation and eventually morphed into an actual band that filled stadiums across the country and continued to record music through 1971. “The Monkees really becoming a band was the equivalent of Leonard Nimoy really becoming a Vulcan,” Dolenz later said. As a child, Dolenz, under the stage name Mickey Braddock, starred in the title role of TV’s “Circus Boy.” Tork, who had studied music, was part of the folk music scene in Greenwich Village in the early ‘60s. Stephen Stills recommended him for one of the four Monkees. Their hits include “I’m a Believer,” “Last Train to Clarksville,” and “Daydream Believer.” North starred as the title character in “Dennis the Menace,” a sitcom based on the Hank Ketchum comic strip. The show ran four seasons on CBS. Dennis was an energetic, trouble-prone, and mischievous but well-intentioned child who frequently drove next-door neighbor Mr. Wilson (Joseph Kearns), a retired salesman, to apoplexy. As a teen, North starred in the jungle adventure movie “Maya” and the NBC-TV series based on it. After leaving show business, North disclosed details of a troubled childhood and Mickey Dolenz, one of the original members of The Monkees, will be among the guests at April’s Chiller Expo in Parsippany. began working with fellow former child star Paul Petersen and the organization A Minor Consideration, using his own experiences to counsel other children working in the entertainment industry. He currently lives in Florida and works in the juvenile justice system. Though the celebrities are a major attraction, there is much more to a Chiller Expo. Hundreds of dealers pack several ballrooms, offering one-of-a-kind models, monster magazines, masks, vintage toys, DVDs, books, posters, lobby cards, CDs, comic books, and other collectibles. The array of merchandise is vast, and this is the place to relive the childhood excitement you felt at seeing the latest creature movie poster, leafing through a monster magazine, collecting comic books, or playing with a favorite toy. Chiller Expo will be held April 26 from 6 to 11 p.m., April 27 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and April 28 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $25 per day. Children 12 and under are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. For directions to the Sheraton Parsippany Hotel, call (973) 515-2000. For a complete list of guest celebrities, visit www.chillertheatre.com.