What Happened To The Cast Of Grace Under Fire?

Grace Under Fire, a sitcom created by the master of the form himself, Chuck Lorre, aired on ABC from 1993 through 1998. The series starred Brett Butler as Grace Kelly, a working class divorced mom of three who struggles to make ends meet, find romance, and generally be happy. As Grace puts it, "After eight years and three children, I decided to go it alone, and it was the hardest decision I've ever made. But I figure I had two choices. I could spend the rest of my life waking up next to a knuckle-dragging, cousin-lovin', beer-sucking redneck. Or I could work like a dog for lousy money while I raise three kids by myself. Boy, is it nice to have choices."

Though Grace Under Fire charmed viewers with its big heart and bountiful wit, Butler, and, subsequently, the series, fell into a serious downward spiral. Since the show's untimely demise, its cast members have scattered to places near and far. What's happened to the cast of Grace Under Fire? Read on to find out.

Julie White played Nadine Swoboda, Grace's next-door neighbor and best friend. She is married to Wade, and together with Russell, they make up Grace's core group of pals. White played Nadine throughout most of the series, but left the show between seasons four and five due to frustration with Butler's addiction and behavior on set. After that, Grace had a few other BFFs, including Dottie, played by Lauren Tom, and Bev Henderson, played by Julia Duffy.

Leaving the show under duress didn't have any kind of negative impact on White's career, luckily. She's a successful stage actor on Broadway, winning a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 2007 for The Little Dog Laughed. She may be most well known to Looper readers as Sam Witwicky's mom Judy in Transformers and its sequels, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. She's also made numerous appearances on television throughout the years, having appeared on Rescue Me, Damages, Nurse Jackie, and more. Most recently, she joined the third season of Designated Survivor on Netflix, and shows no signs of slowing down.

No not, Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy's — we're talking about Dave Thomas the comedic actor. Thomas played the town's bachelor pharmacist Russell Norton, who has an on-again-off-again dating life and a will-they-or-won't-they friendship with Grace for the first couple of seasons of the show. In later seasons, Russell gets more serious with a character named Dottie, played by Lauren Tom. He also reunites with his estranged father, Floyd (Tom Poston).

Thomas hails from SCTV, the same Canadian comedy troupe-turned-TV show that brought us actors like Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, John Candy, Catherine O'Hara, and Harold Ramis. His most famous sketch involved him and Moranis portraying beer-swilling brothers Bob and Doug McKenzie. Since Grace Under Fire, Thomas has had a pretty eclectic career in the entertainment industry. He is the Executive Creative Director of Animax Entertainment, an animation and interactive production studio, and has enjoyed a long career as a voice actor. He's voiced characters for shows including Animaniacs, Justice League, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and Family Guy. Thomas is also a producer and writer, having worked in those capacities on shows like Bones and The Blacklist.

Jon Paul Steuer was one of three actors who played Grace's eldest child Quentin on Grace Under Fire. Steuer played Quentin for the series' first three seasons as a typical pre-teen boy who is trying to deal with the aftermath of his mother's divorce from his absentee, abusive father. Sci-fi fans might know Steuer better for playing Worf's son Alexander Rozhenko on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Steuer only appeared on Grace Under Fire for three seasons, and left under scandalous circumstances: His mother reportedly pulled him from the series after Butler allegedly flashed her breasts at the 12-year-old actor. 

Steuer went on to appear in the '90s kid football classic Little Giants, but did little acting afterwards. As he told The A.V. Club in 2015, "I wanted to forge on with acting after quitting the show, and I went out on a few interviews. But even then they'd turn into question-and-answer sessions with casting agents about Grace Under Fire. I was kind of blown away by how unprofessional people inside the industry were. It really soured me. I didn't want that kind of attention." 

Tragically, Steuer died of a self-afflicted gunshot wound in 2018. 

Little Patrick, the youngest of Grace Kelly's children, is just a baby when the series begins. Patrick's job on Grace Under Fire is to look adorable and give Grace that cuteness worth fighting for when her two older children get sassy. Patrick also gives the show a Michelle-from-Full House character, which so many series of the era failed to emulate successfully. Luckily for Grace Under Fire, Patrick is neither too involved nor too annoying, and as such, does not cancel out his cuteness.

Patrick was played by eight-month-old twins Dylan and Cole Sprouse who went on to become uber-famous as tween Disney stars. Their first major film role was in the 1999 comedy Big Daddy, in which they co-starred (again as one character) alongside Adam Sandler. They then shared the screen from 2005 to 2008 on the Disney Channel mega-hit, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. By 2010, the Sprouse brothers were among the highest-paid teen Disney TV actors, earning $40,000 per episode combined. The duo went to college like normal kids, however, and graduated from NYU in 2015. Cole continued acting, and has gone on to star on the CW's Archie Comics adaptation Riverdale as Jughead Jones, while Dylan has turned his sights elsewhere, and became the co-owner and brewmaster of the All-Wise Meadery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

For the first four seasons of Grace Under Fire, Peggy Rea guest-starred as Jimmy's mother Jean, Grace's disapproving former mother-in-law. She acts as something of an antagonist towards Grace in her attempt to raise three kids and hold down a job while maintaining some semblance of sanity. But in the fifth season, perhaps due to the departure of Nadine (Julie White), Jean moves in with Grace and the kids to give the show another prominent female presence. 

Rea is an actor with a long history in many famous television shows. Her career began in 1953 with a number of walk-on roles on I Love Lucy. She went on to play Miss Roniger on Gunsmoke, a number of characters on The Doris Day Show and All in the Family, Rose Burton on The Waltons, and Lulu Hogg on The Dukes of Hazzard. Grace Under Fire was her last series: She passed away in 2011 at the age of 89.

On Grace Under Fire, Olkewicz played Dougie Boudreau, one of Grace's best work friends at the oil refinery plant. Dougie is one of three work friends when the show begins, the other two being Vic (Dave Florek), and Carl (Louis Mandylor). But Vic and Carl are dropped after the first season, leaving Dougie to hold down the fort as Grace's sole work pal. When Grace goes back to school in season four, she eventually leaves the oil refinery to work a more office-centric job. Dougie, being inextricably linked to the previous gig, is phased out.

Walter Olkewicz has enjoyed a fascinating career since Grace Under Fire ended, full of off-kilter projects and unique co-stars. Most prominently, he played Jean-Michel Renault on Twin Peaks, Bubba on Dolly Parton's short-lived variety series Dolly, and Tiny McGee on Who's the Boss? Fantasy fans might also recall him from the short-lived 1983 CBS series Wizards and Warriors.