Amanda Peterson starred in '80s teen comedy 'Can't Buy Me Love'

Actress Amanda Peterson, who appeared in such films as the 1982 movie “Annie,” 1985’s “Explorers,” and the 1994 movie “Windrunner,” has reportedly died at her home in Greely, Colo. at the age of 43.

Ms. Peterson is often best remembered for her role in the 1987 film “Can’t Buy Me Love,” in which she portrayed popular cheerleader Cindy and co-starred opposite Patrick Dempsey. In the film, Dempsey’s character Ronald pays Cindy to pose as his girlfriend, but the two end up being drawn to one another.

Dempsey, of course, starred on the long-running ABC medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy” and recently appeared in such films as “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” and “Valentine’s Day.” “Love” also co-starred actor Seth Green, who stars in the Fox animated sitcom “Family Guy.”   

Peterson’s most well-known movie “Love” was released in the heyday of 80s teen comedy films (“Love” came out the year after the movies “Pretty in Pink” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” and the same year as the movie “Some Kind of Wonderful”) and “Love” helped cement the decade’s reputation as a golden era of films aimed at teenagers. The film was remade in 2003 as the movie “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” with actors Nick Cannon and Christina Milian, but the film was not well-received by critics. 

“Love” is now cited by some fans as one of the best teen movies to come out of the era, with the website WhatCulture naming “Love” as one of the best underrated movies of the ‘80s and calling it an “’80s classic,” while TheWrap writer Matt Donnelly called the film “beloved … the film sits in a canon of ’80s fare alongside John Hughes and other angst masters” and Fandango writer Chuck Walton wrote that the film is one of “the essential ‘80s teen movies … [part of the] cream of the crop of teen movie nirvana.”