Rick Moranis Threw His Acting Career To The Wayside When His Wife Ann Belsky Passed Away

Once a beloved Hollywood fixture, "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" star Rick Moranis has been one of those "whatever happened to...?" actors for quite some time. The Canadian-born performer got his start on the beloved sketch comedy show "SCTV," before going on to worldwide fame playing such lovable bespectacled nerds as Louis Tully in "Ghostbusters," Seymour Krelborn in "Little Shop of Horrors," and Wayne Szalinski in the aforementioned "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." Moranis seemed destined to have a limitless career, but personal tragedy swiftly reorganized his priorities.

The actor had been married only five years to costume designer Ann Belsky when she died of breast cancer in 1991. Suddenly a widower with two young children, the beloved star opted to focus instead on fatherhood. "I pulled out of making movies in about '96 or '97," he told USA Today in 2005. "I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the traveling involved in making movies. So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn't miss it."

While some actors, like Martin Short, suffer personal tragedies and continue to turn out regular performances, Moranis limited his onscreen appearances to occasional voice work and also tried his hand at songwriting; the "Ghostbusters" star's Grammy-nominated country album "The Agoraphobic Cowboy" came out in 2005. In 2015, he was offered a cameo in the "Ghostbusters" reboot, but turned it down. "I wish them well," Moranis confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter at the time. "I hope it's terrific. But it just makes no sense to me. Why would I do just one day of shooting on something I did 30 years ago?"

Rick Moranis is famously quiet about his personal life. He hasn't been publicly linked with anyone romantically since the death of his wife, nor has the actor mentioned being in a relationship either. But his life seems happy, and the Canadian star has no regrets about backing away from his career to focus on his children. Now that they're adults, Moranis is more open to new projects. In 2019, he signed on to reprise his role of Wayne in a reboot of "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," in which Josh Gad would have played his adult son. But the COVID-19 shutdown stalled the project, and then Gad's other commitments interfered, leading "Shrunk" to be scrapped. Once again, Moranis stayed under the radar, doing only occasional, small appearances such as a 2020 commercial for Mint Mobile, which also featured Ryan Reynolds.

Proving that good things are worth the wait, Moranis is slated to make his return to the big screen in "Spaceballs: The New One," in late April 2027. The Mel Brooks-directed sequel to his 1987 "Star Wars" spoof will see Moranis playing the evil Dark Helmet once again, along with Bill Pullman as the Han Solo-esque Lone Starr, Daphne Zuniga as Princess Leia Vespa, and Brooks as the wise alien Yogurt. Gad, one of the co-writers, will also appear. Brooks bragged to The Hollywood Reporter that he was the one who convinced Moranis to come out of semi-retirement. "He's never been better. He's even better than in the first edition. He's so good. He's a strange, wonderful, lovely guy and a very talented comic," he enthused. Fans hope this will be the beginning of a real career revival. As Yogurt would say: May the Schwartz be with him!