Brandon Call
Brandon Call was an adorable little boy. He played a funny sarcastic jerk on Step By Step. He was a tough guy in real life when he got shot in both arms during road rage on the 405 in Los Angeles. Now he appears to be a doting father living a normal life. Brandon Call was a brief teen idol in the 1990’s. He was born on November 17, 1976 and began his entertainment career shortly after.
His first credited acting job was a small role in a 1984 episode of Simon & Simon. He also portrayed Brandon Capwell in the soap opera Santa Barbara, was in a handful of Magnum, P.I. episodes, and was Hobie on Baywatch. He did many other shows and movies, but his most substantial role was that of J.T. Lambert on Step By Step.
Step By Step
Step By Step was kind of a modern 1990’s Brady Bunch. It ran for seven seasons and starred Patrick Duffy (of Dallas fame), Suzanne Somers (of Three’s Company fame), and a whole bunch of kids. I always laughed at the opening credits of that show because they were so bad. The amusement park is obviously Six Flags Magic Mountain in Santa Clarita, California but then they have the fake water splashing up right next to the roller coaster (Colossus). I would think they could have done a better job in the 1990’s of adding in the fake water. BTW, I know my roller coasters. My ex-husband and I were going to get married on the Goliath at Magic Mountain. We ended up getting married at city hall for $92. But I digress……
Step By Step was set in Port Washington, Wisconsin which is where Dustin Diamond (Screech from Saved By The Bell) lives. In addition to Brandon Call, the show starred many other young actors who would end up in the teen magazines: Sasha Mitchell (Cody), James Marsden (Rich Halke), Andrew Keegan (Matt Crawford), and Staci Keanan (Dana) to name a few.
Trivia
- Brandon Call auditioned and was actually cast in the role of Kevin Arnold in The Wonder Years. He was replaced at the last minute by Fred Savage.
- Brandon Call was supposedly asked to leave the cast of Baywatch when it was picked up for syndication. Brandon had grown so much and was almost as tall as star David Hasselhoff (and I’m sure better looking). Hasselhoff probably felt threatened so he cast a younger boy to play Hobie Buchannon. The role went to Jeremy Jackson who looked nothing like Brandon. They did a Chris Partridge.
- Brandon has a daughter, born in 1998.
Brandon was on his way home from a Step By Step taping when some crazy dude followed him. Call noticed he was being tailgated so he turned down a road to try and lose the guy. It turned out to be a dead-end. Tommy Eugene Lewis fired six times at Brandon Call’s car and ended up hitting him in each arm. Lewis is serving 41 years in jail.
Brandon Call retired from acting after Step By Step. He lives in Southern California and reportedly helps out at his parents’ gas station and car wash. He’s a normal guy living a normal life. Nothing wrong with that.