Cryer: Fans still call me 'Duckie'

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- American actor Jon Cryer says he can't seem to live down his 1980s persona.

Cryer, who currently stars on the CBS sitcom "Two and a Half Men," said on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" Monday that strangers still approach him and call him "Duckie," the name of the geeky, lovelorn character he played in the 1986 teen romantic comedy, "Pretty in Pink."

"A lot of women apparently dug him regardless," Cryer observed, noting poor Duckie lost the girl of his dreams (Molly Ringwald) to a preppy rich guy (Andrew McCarthy) in the popular John Hughes film.

Cryer, who still looks boyish at age 38, says he has also frequently been mistaken for the equally youthful-looking Matthew Broderick ever since he understudied for Broderick for a Broadway play in the 1980s. Cryer insists some people still don't believe he is not Broderick even after he shows them identification bearing the name "Jon Cryer."

Wondering why people would think he would deny being the successful actor, Cryer quipped, "It was that big hit 'The Producers' that just drove me underground."