Freddie Prinze - Legacy

Legacy

Prinze's mother wrote a book about her son, The Freddie Prinze Story, which was published in 1978. In September 1979, the TV movie Can You Hear the Laughter? The Story of Freddie Prinze, premiered.

Prinze's life and death were a focal point of one of the storylines in the movie Fame set in Prinze's alma mater Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. The character Ralph Garcy (stage name for Raul Garcia) played by Barry Miller speaks often of growing up with Prinze and seeing him as the local neighborhood hero. Prinze's death affects him profoundly, and Garcy credits Prinze with inspiring his own career; he says he is doing it "for Freddie." Later, as Garcy's stand-up career shows similar promise, he falls into a depression and drug use as Prinze had, nearly destroying himself. The character Doris Finsecker (Maureen Teefy) in one scene screams at Garcy that he is not Freddie, and he does not have to be self-destructive just because Freddie was.

Prinze also received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame a few decades after his death, although many argue his clear and present lack of appreciation for his industry, or being in it for the 'long haul' made him a less than worthy candidate for that star. In 2001, TV Land began showing reruns of Chico and the Man.