WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO: SARAH HOLCOMB

You may not know the name Sarah Holcomb, but I can just about guarantee that you have seen 50% of her filmography.

She appeared in four films, and only acted for two years. Yet two of these films were among the most popular of the past thirty years.

And then she disappeared.



Born in 1960, Sarah made her film debut as Clorette DePasto, the Mayor’s daughter in NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE. It was a huge hit, as I’m sure everyone knows.

She would follow that up in 1979, starring in WALK PROUD with Robby Benson. The same year, she also made a brief appearance in the SNL spin off / special / film MR MIKE’S MONDO VIDEO.


1980’s HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEMINI was a film adaptation of the Broadway play. Sarah starred opposite Madeline Kahn and Rita Moreno.


That same year, she played Maggie, Danny Noonan’s Irish girlfriend in CADDYSHACK. She wasn’t Irish. I didn’t even realize she was the same actress as the girl in ANIMAL HOUSE until later.

And then, in 1980, she gave up acting. She never appeared in another film.

So, What Ever Happened To Her?

As many of the books on the scene surrounding CADDYSHACK tell you, it wasn’t exactly a healthy set. Much of the cast was involved in drugs. Some claim this was a reason for her leaving the industry.

But the real reasons may be found in a little known film from 2004 called STATESIDE.

The writer and director of this film, Reverge Anselmo, claims the film is based on his relationship with an actress who starred in four films, two of them big hits. He also states that the brother of the actress appears in the film. An actor by the name David Holcomb appears in the film, and in the credits, there is a thank you to a “S.H.”

In the film, Rachael Leigh Cook appears as an actress, first seen in a film trying to do an Irish accent. She runs off the set of the film. It turns out that she is schizophrenic.

Sent to a mental hospital in Connecticut, she befriends a Marine. The two fall in love.

How accurate the film is, I don’t know. It opens with a “Based on a true story”, but the character is said to star in a big buddy movie, which Sarah never did. And, the film sort of just ends in the mid 80's. There is no crawl at the end to say what happens to the characters later.

Here is an excellent story about someone meeting Sarah, and how STATESIDE may be quite accurate.

According to one report, Sarah now lives under an assumed name, hidden away from the Hollywood spotlight.

I wish her the best, wherever she is.

To only star in four films in such a short period, and two of them being CADDYSHACK and ANIMAL HOUSE, she had a better career than some who work for decades.

Sarah Holcomb on DVD



Sarah Holcomb on VHS