AsPrancerTurns 35, Former Child Star Rebecca Harrell Tickell Says She’s Living the Life Her Character Would Have (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Rebecca Harrell Tickell in December 2024 (left) and in 1989’s ‘Prancer’.Photo:Courtesy of Rebecca Harrell Tickell; Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

Courtesy of Rebecca Harrell Tickell; Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

Rebecca Harrell Tickell knew thatPrancerwas special from the moment she read the 1989 holiday film’s script as an 8-year-old child actor.

“I remember I cried,” the 44-year-old documentary filmmaker and environmental activist tells PEOPLE. “And I remember reading it and just thinking, ‘I am gonna get this part because this is me.’ ”

And get the part she did, beating out other young actors to star alongsideSam Elliott, Rutanya Alda andCloris Leachmanas Jessie, a little girl who nurses an injured reindeer back to health, believing him to be a member of Santa’s team.

The film was a modest success at the time, but has gone on to become a Christmas cult classic. Ask folks who grew up in the late ’80s and early ’90s to name the most famous reindeer of all and, sure, they’ll probably still sayRudolph. But chances are Prancer comes in at a close second.

Rebecca Harrell Tickell in 1989’s ‘Prancer’.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

“I think for people who watchedPrancer, they feel like they sort of grew up with it and it became part of their tradition,” Tickell says.

That’s especially true for people in La Porte, Ind., and Three Oakes, Mich., where much of the movie was shot. This year, Tickell returned to both towns for “PrancerPalooza,” a two-day celebration on Dec. 14 and 15 of the film’s 35th anniversary. Tickell revisited the shed where her character hid Prancer in the film, signed autographs, rode in a parade, attended a Sam Elliott lookalike contest, and took part in a Q&A with director John Hancock following a screening of the film.

Prancerfans shared memories and stories with Tickell, which she says show the profound and lasting impact the film has had on people.

“One gentleman battling stage 4 cancer shared that meeting me was on his bucket list,” she told PEOPLE following the event. “A woman recounted how her daughter didn’t like how Sam Elliot treated me in the film and went on to be a social worker as a result.”

Watching the film with her own 10-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son has become a tradition for Tickell as well.

“It’s really sweet because my son, he gets worried about me,” she says. “It’s a little bit confusing for him because he’s like, ‘Wait, is that your dad? Wow, he’s kind of mean.’ They don’t like it that my character struggles. They’re like, ‘Where’s your mom? And why are you walking alone through the woods?’ I’m like, ‘Well, it was the ’80s.’ ”

Rebecca Harrell Tickell and Sam Elliott in 1989.Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Tickell compares the making ofPrancerto the wild west. “We did not adhere to any hourly schedule that should have been in place,” she recalls. “I was working throughout the night. I was up way before the sun came up. I worked six days a week. With the deer, I was leading her around. And honestly, I loved it. I loved every second of it.”

She describes Hancock, whose own ranch served as another primary filming location, as “like family,” and still considers Elliott as something of a father figure. The two still talk regularly, and she has many of theA Star Is BornOscar nominee’svoicemails saved on her phone.

She remembers one scene in particular in which Elliott’s character is holding Jessie and the script called for her to laugh. After Hancock yelled “Cut,” Elliott, still in character, looked at the young Tickell and sternly told her she needed to do better. “He related to me like somebody who was the character that he was to me in the film,” she says, “who loved me, but it was a tough love, and also the kind of love of somebody that wanted me to do great.”

Rebecca Harrell Tickell at a ‘Prancer’ 35th anniversary event.Courtesy of Rebecca Harrell Tickell

Courtesy of Rebecca Harrell Tickell

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Tickell sees a direct connection between her current work andPrancer, which she notes has a struggling farming family at its center. “I think for a lot of people back in 1989, and the reason it held up over the years, is because it reflects the struggle that Americans, especially American farming families feel,” she says. “That resilience and that American grit that comes through in the film resonates with people because it captures that hardworking American midwestern spirit. And Jesse’s optimism and the fact that she refuses to give up and that she keeps that magical spark alive — I think that’s what really touched people.”

Rebecca Harrell Tickell and Josh Tickell at a 2024 screening of their documentary ‘Common Ground’.Gregg DeGuire/Variety via Getty

Gregg DeGuire/Variety via Getty

The Tickells continue to return to the theme of farming in their films, she says, “because it’s through farming and how we manage the land and how we grow our food that we can actually draw down carbon and create climate resiliency. That’s what our films are all about.”

And she has no trouble imagining where her plucky, openhearted character would be today. “I think like Jessie, I have this fierce love of nature and of animals and of life,” she says. “I think Jessie’s spirit is in me and I think very much she’s a part of me to this day. I’m living sort of the life that I think she would have led.”

source: people.com