Here are your favorite movie nerds
It wouldn't have been the 80s without this word: nerd. It's as much a part of the decade as Vans, sushi, Duran Duran and Aqua-Net.
Last month, Stuck in the 80s asked our readers to name their favorite movie nerds of the 80s. And with true nerd-like passion, you came through with a ton of forgotten names. Click here to read all the suggestions.
Our only guidelines: These actors must have done their nerdy work in the 80s. And we weighed the nerd work against their non-nerd work. So without further delay.
TOP 20 MOVIE NERDS OF THE 80s:
20. ILAN MITCHELL-SMITH: Shortest nerd career in history. After playing "Wyatt Donnelly" in "Weird Science, Mitchell-Smith is now a professor of English at Angelo State University.
19. TIMOTHY BUSFIELD: Yes, that's Busfield as "Arnold Poindexter" in "Revenge of the Nerds." Bonus points for being whiney yuppie in "thirtysomething."
18. SARAH JESSICA PARKER: "Rusty" in "Footloose" got her nerd start on TV's Square Pegs.
17. CRISPIN GLOVER: Hello? Hello? "George McFly" in "Back to the Future."
16. PATRICK DEMPSEY: Long before he was "McMuffin" or whatever the hell women call him now, he was "Ronald Miller" in "Can't Buy Me Love."
15. GABE JARRET: Don't even tell me he was acting when he played "Mitch" in "Real Genius."
14. JOHN CUSACK: "Bryce" in "Sixteen Candles" but also nerd-like roles in "Better Off Dead," "Hot Pursuit" and "One Crazy Summer."
13. JOAN CUSACK: Her character in "Sixteen Candles" is known simply as "Geek Girl #1."
12. MARTIN SHORT: If there was a nerdy amigo among the "Three Amigos," it was Short, who also geeked out for "Inner Space."
11. JOHN CRYER: Debate all you want if Duckie was a nerd in "Pretty in Pink." But then consider "Morgan Stewart's Coming Home" and "Hiding Out."
10. ANDREW McCARTHY: He's a "sensitive turd" in "Class." And he's stuck wearing a wig in the final, re-shot scene of "Pretty in Pink." And don't get me started again about "Mannequin."
9. BRIAN BACKER: "Rat" in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." (Loved the Popeye t-shirt.)
8. HAROLD RAMIS: Big-time geek roles in "Ghostbusters," "Stripes," "Baby Boom" and "Stealing Home."
7. COREY HAIM: Everybody in "Lucas" deserves an honorable mention on this list.
6. GEDDE WATANABE: Long Duk Dong. Need I say more? OK, "Volunteers" and "Gung Ho."
5. ROBERT CARRADINE: Possibly one of the single-greatest nerd performances of all time as "Louis Skolnick" in "Revenge of the Nerds." But also his only nerd role. And it's watered down by his tough-guy turn in "Big Red One."
4. ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL: Farmer Ted still ends up with the hot girl in "Sixteen Candles" and "Weird Science." But in "The Breakfast Club," he's the only one who doesn't hook up (and gets stuck writing the paper.)
3. PEE WEE HERMAN: He turned nerd-dom into a franchise.
2. RICK MORANIS: Three nearly impossible-to-equal nerd movies: "Ghostbusters," "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." Only his role in "Streets of Fire" keeps him out of the No. 1 spot.
1. CURTIS ARMSTRONG: "Booger" in "Revenge of the Nerds" was even better teamed with John Cusack in "Better Off Dead." And don't forget his turn as "Miles" in "Risky Business."
Armstrong has nearly a unanimous choice for this "honor." One reader said: "The last I saw him, he played a DJ on 'That '70s Show' who played Dungeons and Dragons ... I guess old stereotypes die hard!"
Which nerds did we forget?
Relive the music, movies and culture of the greatest decade ever with Times online editor Steve Spears. A teen during the decade, Steve is obsessed with everything from Duran Duran to Journey, John Hughes to John Cusack, and parachute pants to Reaganomics.
E-mail Steve Spears:
THIS WEEK'S SHOW: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers rock Tampa Bay. To hear the latest "Stuck in the 80s" episode now, 
YEAH! The long awaited nerd-a-fic list. I wondered what happened to all that info compiled.
I'm drawing a blank with who might have been left off the list. I think it's pretty well covered.
Posted by: Marissa | February 17, 2008 at 12:16 AM
I was that reader, if I recall....it's been awhile.
see, Marissa, short post!
Posted by: Douglas Arthur | February 17, 2008 at 12:31 AM
Yay! to Harold Ramis being on the list. I had such a crush on him in "Ghostbusters." Lucky Annie Potts.
Of course, Curtis Armstrong is at the top of the list -- Booger aside, he will always be Herbert Viola to me.
Posted by: jane | February 17, 2008 at 12:52 AM
PS: Just watched "Pretty In Pink" the other night. That wig that Andrew McCarthy wears at the end is just awful. And very distracting to boot.
Posted by: jane | February 17, 2008 at 01:01 AM
Jane,
FYI, I posted a response to your Lost in Translation comment.
MinA
Posted by: Mike in Austin | February 17, 2008 at 01:26 AM
So what's the consensus on Duckie -- full-fledged nerd or just a social outcast?
Posted by: Spears | February 17, 2008 at 10:39 AM
I loved Duckie... absolutely not a nerd! So I'd have to vote for an "adorable social outcast!"...
Posted by: Carla | February 17, 2008 at 10:50 AM
I'm thinking Jon Cryer is in nerd form for "Morgan Stewart's Coming Home" and "No Small Affair."
And for "Hiding Out," he only reverts to nerd status for a short period of time. Love that movie. Roy Orbison's "Crying" for a couple skate anyone?
Posted by: Spears | February 17, 2008 at 10:56 AM
Duckie was NOT a nerd, no way no how. (Though Jon Cryer himself may very well be a nerd, especially today.)
Posted by: Sherrie | February 17, 2008 at 11:05 AM
Agreed Sherrie... but Duckie is too cute (and a little sexy) when he serenade's Andie with "Try A Little Tenderness"!! Great scene!
Posted by: Carla | February 17, 2008 at 11:19 AM
Ducky = free spirited social outcast.
Posted by: jane | February 17, 2008 at 12:34 PM
Duckie was not a nerd, but a social outcast. However, If you have seen 'Two and a Half Men', Cryer's character is a complete nerd.
Posted by: Bassnote | February 17, 2008 at 02:00 PM
another vote for Duckie being a social outcats... I love him!!
Posted by: specialk | February 17, 2008 at 07:24 PM
Ah, the "Duckie Conundrum". Like a nerd, outcast and marginalized by the "in" crowd, but like a rebel, independent and self-actualized.
It reminds me of the two years I spent traveling the country looking for college students who wanted to be Navy engineers. Recruiters would always ask me what kind of kids we were looking for.
"Nerds," I would reply, "but not the kind of nerds other nerds call nerds."
That's where you would find Duckie. Cast out with the nerds by the cool kids, but the real nerds can tell that it's a bum rap.
Posted by: Jeff in Cuba | February 17, 2008 at 10:07 PM
Gary from Last American Virgin
Posted by: denvermatt | February 17, 2008 at 10:18 PM
I didn't see him on any of the lists but my vote for most helpless nerd is Dan Schneider as Ricky in Better Off Dead.
Posted by: DaveFromMN | February 17, 2008 at 11:27 PM
Gary from LAV?
He's not a nerd, he's a hormone driven teenager that sells his stereo and doesn't get the girl at the end.
That's not a nerd, that's a tragedy.
Posted by: Ray from LA | February 18, 2008 at 01:23 PM
What about Pee Wee from Porky's? Oh- and Porky's 2.
Posted by: Pee Wee | February 18, 2008 at 02:51 PM
Great call on Gabe Jarrett! I'd forgotten him but he even had an authentic adolescent nerd voice; high-pitched, nasal and just short of being an outright whine.
Posted by: Clark | February 18, 2008 at 04:37 PM
D-list movie but who could be a better nerd than the true nerd Toby Radloff who made the film Killer Nerd.
Posted by: Chad | February 18, 2008 at 05:04 PM
Booger recently turned up as a retirement home rent-a-cop on USA Network's "Psych."
Posted by: bk | February 18, 2008 at 05:42 PM
Booger played a serious role (and decently-sized) as Ahmet Ertegun in "Ray." Should that drop him from #1?
Duckie wasn't a nerd - he just didn't care to fit in. Big difference.
Posted by: GregW | February 19, 2008 at 12:40 AM
Quasi-Nerds:
Michael J. Fox - Family Ties, continued in Spin City?
Matthew Broderick - War Games, continued in Godzilla?
Bit-Nerds:
Marc Price - Skippy from Family Ties & host of "Teen Win, Lose or Draw"
Eddie Deezen - Wesley in Midnight Madness, Eugene in Grease 2, Malvin in Wa Games
Chick-Nerds:
Cynthia Nixon - Manhattan Project and Let it Ride
Susan Ursitti - Boof in Teen Wolf
Martha Plimpton - Goonies
Old Nerds:
Dabney Coleman
John Lithgow
Posted by: NittanyAggie | February 19, 2008 at 01:13 AM