During his television heyday, Willie Aames was the poster boy for high Hollywood living. From drugs (“It was everything: Quaaludes, mushrooms, cocaine, pot, alcohol, black beauties”) to sex (“I was the one who introduced Scott Baio to the Playboy mansion”), the actor — who got his break as dreamboat Tommy Bradford on Eight Is Enough — indulged his every desire. “Scott and I would take our Playboy dates to the Universal lot and dare them to do things like run up to the Psycho house at 1 o’clock in the morning,” he recalls.
Since 1996 he has decked himself out in purple spandex tights and a cape to tour the country as Bibleman, entertaining children with a laser light show that focuses on the battle between good and evil. This year, Aames will reach even larger audiences when he plays several dates on the Rev. Billy Graham’s Crusade, a nationwide tour of faith.
