One was fiercely focused, the other accident-prone.
They both made it.
Lowe found another roommate for camaraderie.
(L-R) Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise in 1982Frank Edwards/Fotos International/Getty Images
It was an ominous portent because Cruise soon moved on to hits likeRisky BusinessandTop Gun.
Lowe struggled with early disappointments likeClassandMasquerade.
But todays wannabe stars might be prompted to ask some serious questions about guidance and discipline.
(L-R) Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze and Tom Cruise in ‘The Outsiders’Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection
He credits those missteps for his 30-plus years of sobriety.
As such, the likable Lowe is a living symbol of resilience.
Im past warranty, he cheerfully explains.
I never set out to break the rules, it just happened that way.
To help counteract his raucous past, Lowe last year made a schmaltzy Daddy-rescues-the-dog movie for Netflix.
TitledDog Gone, even the crooks and homeless characters in the G-rated film are meticulously polite and well-groomed.
He also has won applause for his deftly written tell-all book,Stories I Only Tell My Friends.
The book is candid in analyzing the stars unmemorable movies, but Lowe also expresses pride inAbout Last NightandSt.
Responds Rob: OK, its my world view on steroids.
Both came from unstable homes and lacked much formal education.
Yet both are astute showmen, albeit fueled in part by inevitable narcissistic self-involvement.
By contrast, Rob Lowe clung to his artistic and sometimes eccentric autonomy.
Cruise and Lowe kept intersecting one another over the years but never became friends.
But Cruise had a quick out, having just shaved his head forBorn on the Fourth of July.
He also was a co-star ofRain Man, a nominated movie.
Mistakenly I took this gig as an honor, he said.
She did; he didnt.
