“Brat Pack” actor and travel writer Andrew McCarthy visited Mississippi during the holidays. An upcoming book is the reason why.
Fans of actor Andrew McCarthy, best known for his roles in 1980s films “Pretty in Pink” and “St. Elmo’s Fire,” might have noticed a Facebook post he published about Mississippi last December.
The post, dated Dec. 14, 2023, started out with the sentence — “One of the happiest surprises of my travel life has been Mississippi.” The post included photos McCarthy took of Elvis Presley’s home in Tupelo, a cotton field in the Delta, Rowan Oak in Oxford, and a photo inside of Red’s Lounge, the Clarksdale juke joint. The post ended with the sentence, “Complicated” is a word you hear throughout Mississippi — I’m glad I came and can’t wait to return and dig deeper.”
The post garnered more than 1,000 comments — many from Mississippians — praising the actor for the visit.
McCarthy, who these days is a travel writer who has penned two travel memoirs and a third memoir about his days as one of the “Brat Pack” actors in the 1980s, was in Mississippi last December working on his latest book.
“I’m on a cross country journey exploring male friendship. It’s the third in a loose trilogy of what I call, personal travel books,” McCarthy told Today in Mississippi.
McCarthy said his enthusiasm about the visit was reflected in the comments his Facebook post received.
“Social media is funny. Despite people presenting their best “social” life we want the world to see, when you post something that has truth in it, people tend to respond. I had an amazing experience in Mississippi, and I guess that showed,” he said.
McCarthy, a lifelong fan of Presley, said he drove to Tupelo to see his birthplace. Although he had been to Graceland twice, he had never been to Presley’s hometown.
“I have to say I preferred the simplicity of the birthplace. People’s origin stories are always fascinating. I went to all the Elvis pilgrimage spots, the Tupelo Hardware Co., and I sat in the Elvis booth at Johnny’s BBQ,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy had never been to a gun show and went to his first while he was in Tupelo. He said he found the gun show “fascinating” and loved just wandering around Tupelo.
He went to Oxford and found it “elegant and welcoming.” He said he enjoyed his visit to Rowan Oak, the home of author William Faulkner.
McCarthy said he wanted to visit Money while he was in the state as well.
“I was very interested to drive down to Money, to the ruin of Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market, where the Emmitt Till tragedy began. That the site has been left to decay, I found it the most powerful and disturbing ‘historical site’ I’ve ever visited,” he said.
McCarthy also visited Clarksdale, Vicksburg, and Natchez.
“I traveled on back roads throughout the state, never on the interstates — a way of traveling I would recommend,” McCarthy said.
Besides the current travel book McCarthy is working on about male friendship, McCarthy has directed a documentary about his time as an actor in 1980s — an offshoot of his 2021 memoir, “Brat: An 80s Story.” The documentary, “Brats,” will premiere on Hulu later this year. In it, McCarthy visits with fellow “Brat Pack” actors Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, and Ally Sheedy.
“I wrote about that time in my life in a memoir because it was a seminal moment in my life; it altered the trajectory of who I would become, and I had never looked under that rock; quite the opposite, I had run from it for decades. So, it was worth a look. The film grew out of that, I now knew what I felt about that time, but what did the others feel? It was life changing and career altering for all of us, and I was curious. I hadn’t seen most of the old gang in 30 plus years. I was surprised. I think we all were by how much affection we all had for each other after all this time. It was very satisfying,” McCarthy said.
Going back to his Mississippi trip, McCarthy said his best advice for people who think they know Mississippi, but have never been, is to see it for themselves.
“I would say what I say to anyone about travel anywhere, ‘Go see it for yourself.’ That said, Mississippi was one of the great surprises in my travel life. But if I’d thought about it, I shouldn’t have been surprised. “Complicated” was a word I heard a lot to describe Mississippi, and complicated places are invariably the most alive and interesting. I can’t wait to return.”
