Celebrity Nooz: Wesley Eure

Wesley Eure (Actor) - Land of the Lost

Updated: 11/17/20

Name: Wesley Eure

Birth Name: Wesley Eure Loper

Born: August 17, 1951 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Nickname: Wes

Claim To Fame: Wesley Eure is an American actor, singer, author, and much more, best known for appearing as Michael Horton on the American soap opera Days of Our Lives from 1974 to 1981, and also starring on the popular children's television series Land of the Lost.

Family Life: Wesley never married, never had children. He was in a brief relationship with movie star Richard Chamberlain in the early 1970s.

Info: His surname is pronounced "Your."

His father abandoned the family when he was two years old, so his mother, Mary Jane Loper, moved him and his sister Gai to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where Eure's grandmother lived.

Wanted to be an actor since the age of five.

Enrolled in a summer program at Northwestern University, where he took acting lessons and won an award.

He was hired as a driver for Robert Goulet and Carol Lawrence during their summer tour; he spent most of 1968 and 1969 as their driver.

In 1970, Eure became a cast member at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut.

His stage work includes "West Side Story" (he was Action of the Jets) and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" (in the title role).

Whenever his acting career seemed stalled, Eure continued to sing. He became friends with Shaun Cassidy and Leif Garrett, and some of his music was produced by Bobby Sherman, though a full album was never completed. Motown Records placed him under contract, and he was in a boy band whose music was produced by Mike Curb. He also sang a few times with the Jackson Five. He had a Las Vegas act at Harrah's casino.

In 1992, Eure published his first children's novel The Red Wings of Christmas. It has been called "the new American classic" by CNN, and was optioned by Disney for a full-length animated feature. The book was illustrated by Ron Palillo who played Arnold Horshack on the 1970s TV series Welcome Back, Kotter.

Eure's fifth book, A Fish Out of Water, is his first pre-schooler book. The graduate art students at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina illustrated it. He also wrote The Whale That Ate the Storm.

Knightsbridge Publishing released two of his humor books, Fun with Fax and On-the-Wall Off-the-Wall Office Humor.

For many years, Eure has given interactive lectures in elementary and secondary schools about reading and writing.

Although Eure had relationships with women, he knew he was gay. He entered into a serious relationship in 1975 with actor Richard Chamberlain, who was 41 and Eure was 24 at the time.

Eure was fired from Days of Our Lives in 1981. And according to him he was given many reasons for the cancellation of his contract after nine years on the show, but Eure believes the real reason was his homosexuality, which was later confirmed by Earl Greenburg, the head of NBC's daytime programming division.

Trivia: He was hired to star in a pilot for a Kaye Ballard TV series, The Organic Vegetables, created and produced by the team behind The Monkees.

When Eure learned that David Cassidy was threatening to leave The Partridge Family, he audition for a role as a "neighbor boy" who would take over the lead in the family band from Cassidy. Eure won the audition, but never joined The Partridge Family after Cassidy agreed to stay on. The show was canceled before the next season started.

From 1974 to 1981, Eure starred on NBC's Days of Our Lives, playing the role of Mike Horton. He also starred as Will Marshall in Sid and Marty Krofft's children's adventure series, Land of the Lost from 1974 to 1976, filming this show and Days of Our Lives simultaneously. As a publicity stunt, Eure agreed to be billed simply as "Wesley" on Land of the Lost, although he later regretted the decision.

Eure was hired by ABC to play Gopher on The Love Boat (1977), but at the last minute, NBC refused to release the actor, from his Days of Our Lives (1965) contract.

In 1987, Eure became host of the Nickelodeon children's game show Finders Keepers, and continued in this role through 1988. When the show was sold to Fox for its 1989 (and final) season, Fox declined to hire Eure as host.

Eure co-produced, wrote and acted in Fox Television's hidden-camera show Totally Hidden Video (which aired from 1989 to 1992). He also co-created Dragon Tales, PBS Kids's Emmy-nominated animated series for preschoolers which began airing in 1999, and directed Spy TV for NBC in 2001.

Channel 9 TV in Australia hired Eure to be the permanent host of their Tonight Show, but lost a ten-month immigration battle with Actor's Equity in Australia.

Eure claims that he and Land of the Lost co-star Kathy Coleman filmed cameo appearances for the 2009 film Land of the Lost starring Will Ferrell, but were edited out of the final cut.

Eure was the Travel Editor for Palm Springs Life magazine, writing a bi-monthly travel column.

For many years, Eure was a fundraiser for the March of Dimes, and has also raised money through telethons and fund-raising campaigns for groups like the Variety Club and the Special Olympics.

In 2007, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.

Where Are They Now: 2020 was a big year for Eure! He appeared in three projects: the TV series' The Fathers-In-Law and TV Therapy, and the animated feature The Last Page of Summer.

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