

"They took such care of every single thing that we wore on those first episodes," she recalls.Īlso, D'Abo had short hair in real life, so she had extensions put in to look like a flower child. Mills had her hair dyed three times to get just the right shade of blonde. Mills and D'Abo dramatically changed their hair for the show "Acting was just a hobby."įred Savage as Kevin Arnold and Danica McKellar as Winnie Cooper in "The Wonder Years" Photo: Time Life "My mom wanted us to stay kids so pilots or feature films," she says. When the role, which was originally a guest-star part in the pilot, became a series regular, her mother was hesitant to let her continue. McKellar says that she landed the role for two reasons: 1) she was older and there was a kiss involved, so the producers felt more comfortable with her in the role and 2) her hair was brown, while her sister was blonde, and the producers liked the match of her hair color with Savage. The producers saw hundreds of girls for the role of Winnie Cooper, and it was down to McKeller and her sister, Crystal, on the Friday before the pilot began shooting. McKellar auditioned Against her sister for the role of Winnie And while he liked the pilot after he read it, he says it was his parents who thought it was really special.

He got a letter from the creators that he still has to this day. At the time, Savage was living in Chicago and had just finished work on the movie Vice Versa. The show's creators Neal Marlens and Carol Black had auditioned a lot of kids, but five casting directors insisted they had to see this kid named Fred Savage. Here are 10 fun facts that you might not have known about The Wonder Years: Savage aced his audition for Kevin The show also stars Dan Lauria as father Jack, Alley Mills as mother Norma, Jason Hervey as brother Wayne, Olivia d'Abo as sister Karen, Josh Saviano as best friend Paul Pfeiffer and Danica McKellar as girlfriend Winnie Cooper. The series followed Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) as he navigates life as a teenage boy. The Wonder Years, which ran from 1988-1993, brought the nostalgia of the '60s and '70s into modern-day living rooms.
