Born in 1973, Barret Oliver became one of the most beloved child stars of the 1980s.
After some guest roles in
Knight Rider, The Incredible Hulk, and the gay-themed
Love, Sidney, he landed the role of Bastian, a bookworm whose alter-ego Atreyu (Noah Hathaway, left) saves a heroic fantasy world in
The Neverending Story (1984).Next came
D.A.R.Y.L. (1985), a gay-symbolism movie about a young boy who turns out to be a cyborg (Barret), and the human boy named Turtle (Danny Corkill) who befriends him.
He also starred in
Invitation to Hell (1984), as the kid in a suburban family bedeviled by demons, and
Cocoon (1985), as the kid among a group of elderly people rejuvenated by aliens.
When he hit adolescence and started hunking up, he became embroiled in a tug-of-war battle with casting agents, who wanted to keep him cute, innocent, and wide-eyed: the boy-and-dog movie
Spot Marks the X (1986), a
Twilight Zone episode entitled "Gramma," the boy-and-girl story
The Secret Garden (1987).
Cocoon: the Return (1988) was the last straw. After a small but homoerotic role in
Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (with Ray Sharkey)
Barret retired from acting. He is now a well-known photographer.
