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Love to hate that cackling bully from 'A Christmas Story'? This revelation ought to warm your heart
The actor who played Scut Farkus — the iconic bully who got his just desserts in "A Christmas Story" — is all grown up. And he does a pretty cool thing with the royalties he still gets from his work on the movie. (Image source: YouTube screenshot)

Love to hate that cackling bully from 'A Christmas Story'? This revelation ought to warm your heart

It may be the greatest name ever bestowed on a movie bully in the history of Hollywood.

Scut Farkus.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

Who can forget the kid with the coonskin cap who terrorized Ralphie and his friends in "A Christmas Story"?

Image source: YouTube screenshot

Who can forget that awful cackle as he pushed the neighborhood kids around and stared them down with those "yellow eyes"?

With the classic movie having long since entered cult status and having become a holiday tradition in front of the tube, Farkus lives on 34 years later as a character countless viewers love to hate.

Indeed, the commands "Say uncle! Louder!" — with Farkus mercilessly harassing a helpless tyke in a snow-filled Cleveland alley — may echo for decades to come. Here's a lil' reminder:

Not that Zack Ward, the 47-year-old actor who played Farkus, minds at all.

“So many people come up to me and are like, ‘You got your ass kicked by Ralphie,’ and it makes them so happy,” Ward told People, adding that fans of the movie actually greet him with free beer, hugs and "a lot of love. It’s usually very kind.”

Ward's very un-Farkus-like gesture

You might be surprised to learn that Ward still gets royalty checks from his work on the 1983 movie — although they're not making him rich.

“You’re going to be so disappointed,” he told Page Six, People added. “It's basically about $1,800 every two years … and it comes in Canadian money because we shot in Canada.”

Zack Ward played Scut Farkus in "A Christmas Story." (Image source: YouTube screenshot)

But it's what Ward does with the extra cash that's very cool: He places it in a special account he set up for his mother in case she needs it down the road, People said.

What does 'A Christmas Story' mean to Ward?

“It’s incredible to be a part of something that is lightning in a bottle like that,” Ward, who's appeared on "American Horror Story," told People.

And he recognizes the dastardly character he played has become a touchstone of sorts for many viewers over the years.

“I think they’re connecting to themselves as that little kid who had a bully," Ward told the magazine, "and when they saw Scut Farkus get beaten up, they were just like, ‘Yeah!’"

And now for your viewing pleasure, here's the famed scene where Ralphie has had just about enough of Farkus' bullying:

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Dave Urbanski

Dave Urbanski

Sr. Editor, News

Dave Urbanski is a senior editor for Blaze News and has been writing for Blaze News since 2013. He has also been a newspaper reporter, a magazine editor, and a book editor. He resides in New Jersey. You can reach him at durbanski@blazemedia.com.
@DaveVUrbanski →