A Hollywood legend who found fame in a 1980s cult classic was spotted out and about recently – but can you recognise him all these decades later?

A film legend who shot to fame in the 1980s has been spotted on the 40th anniversary of his hit film(Image: Jeff Rayner/Coleman-Rayner)

A film legend who shot to fame in the 1980s with his key role in one of Hollywood’s most famous offerings of that era was spotted out and about recently. But the star was barely recognisable as he met up with a friend in recent weeks.

When he originally found fame, the star was in his twenties and sported a completely different look to the one he has now. Now 66, he has long white hair and is clean-shaven. For his recent outing, he opted to keep things simple with a blue V-neck T-shirt and black shorts as he accessorised with dark shades and a bag.

The look was a far cry from the one that made him famous, when he had a short back and sides do that was brunette in colour. According to The Sun, the star and his friend were seen laughing and chatting as they had lunch together and then said their goodbyes as they went off in different directions. It comes after Bill Bailey responds to ‘toxic’ Strictly Come Dancing claims with honest verdict.

The star met up with a friend for lunch as he made a rare outing in public (Image: Jeff Rayner/Coleman-Rayner)

The actor appeared as a bully in a cult classic, which was originally released in 1985, and his character is possibly best-remembered for calling Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) a ‘butthead’. It’s Thomas F. Wilson, who played Biff Tannen in the Back to the Future franchise.

The character is the main antagonist of the first two films in the series, and Wilson played the character’s great-grandfather in the third instalment. He also voiced the part for the animated series based on the films in the early 1990s.

He chose not to return to his signature for Back to the Future: The Game when it was initially released in 2011, and he was replaced by Kid Beyond. But the game was ported to various platforms such as the PlayStation 4 and the xBox 360 four years later in time for the film’s 30th anniversary, he did make a return to the part.

The first Back to the Future film followed teenager Marty McFly as he travels back to the 1950s with the help of a time machine built by a scientist. The film has since grown into a billion-dollar franchise, with two sequels, an animated series that ran for two seasons and a host of books and games to boot. In 2021, a musical version opened in London’s West End and was named Best Musical at the Olivier Awards the following year before a Broadway production opened in 2023.

Thomas F. Wilson shot to fame in the 1980s(Image: Jeff Rayner/Coleman-Rayner)

Back to the Future was Wilson’s second film appearance, having made his big screen debut the year before with a small role in Ninja Turf. Outside of his signature role, he also appeared in films such as Blood In Blood Out, Caroline at Midnight, and That Darn Cat in 1997, a remake of the Hayley Mills Disney classic from more than thirty years earlier.

The actor has also had a varied career in television, having voiced several characters on Max Steel, Batman: The Animated Series and has appeared on SpongeBob SquarePants for more than 20 years. Since 2022, he has voiced roles on Spidey and His Amazing Friends, but has also appeared numerous times in live-action programmes.

In 2005, he appeared opposite Britney Spears’ sister Jamie Lynn Spears in an episode of her Nickelodeon show Zoey 101, and has also been seen in episodes of Sabrina, The Teenage Witch and Disney Channel’s Sydney To The Max.

He played bully Biff in Back to the Future (Image: DAILY STAR)

The Philadelphia native has also carved out a career as a stand-up comedian, and in 2000, he released a Christian album titled Name of the Father.

Nowadays, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife Caroline Thomas, whom he married in 1985, and they have four children together. The Hollywood star has also found a new audience thanks to YouTube, and launched a channel on the video-sharing platform and so far has nearly 50,000 subscribers.

Even though he rose to fame in the role of a bully, the actor admitted in one of his vlogs that he didn’t really like the idea of the part when he first went to audition thanks to his own experience with bullies up until that point He said: “It had to be my approach. It had to be. I don’t even like to say ‘a**, ‘ I say ‘a double scribble.’ The role was for a bully. I’d never played a bully before. I didn’t want to play the role of a bully. I’ve been pushed around by bullies my whole life!”