When Beckham, who played Wesley Owens, Mr. Belvedere's charge (and tormentor), for five years, showed up at former co-star Tracy ("Heather") Wells wedding recently, he wasn't too surprised that few guests knew who he was. "A lot of people thought I was the groom," says the 23-year old goateed actor. "They hadn't seen me in so long, they didn't recognize me."  On the other hand, when Beckham is slted to go to events where he thinks he may be spotted, "I'm reluctant," he admits, because the show was "something I did so many years ago."

When it began in '85, the hardest part of the job for the shy 9-year-old was making personal appearances.  "It was awkward to be displayed like that," he remembers. But overall "the cast felt like a second family," and his five-year run "was a fantastic time in my life."  It also set him up for life. 

Beckham, who belongs to the L.A. theater group Namaste, still has most of his Belvedere income and residuals from the show. "It's what I live off," he says. "I don't feel forced to take jobs I don't want."