Two actors who portrayed two of America’s most beloved sitcom characters from the 1980s are competing on Season 27 of Dancing with the Stars. John Schneider who played the handsome and lovable Bo Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard and Nancy McKeon who’s best know for playing tomboy Jo Polniaczek on Facts of Life. While at their peak moments of fame, Schneider launched his music career, and McKeon dated fellow TV sitcom star, Michael J. Fox, who played the young republican Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties. They met on the set of the 1983 TV movie High School USA. In 1985, President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan invited the young celebrity couple to a State Dinner for Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. (Photo below.) McKeon was 19; Fox was 24.
The Reagans with Michael J. Fox and Nancy McKeon at a State Dinner for Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, 10/8/1985, public domain
Both McKeon and Fox went on to marry other people. In 1988, Fox married fellow actor Tracy Pollan, who played Alex Keaton’s girlfriend Ellen on Family Ties. (They have four children together). In 2003, McKeon married Hollywood key grip Marc Andrus (they have two children). On Dancing with the Stars, Nancy McKeon is paired with pro dance partner Val Chmerkovskiy. Dancing with the Stars airs Mondays at 8pm on ABC.
