Tom Petty: Seu Legado Nos Filmes E Na TV

Tom Petty: His Legacy In Film And TV

Over the last 40 years, Tom Petty and his band the Heartbreakers have been seemingly omnipresent in the worlds of film and TV.

The acclaimed musician, who is reportedly in the hospital on life support after being found unconscious at his home in Malibu, California, just finished a massive U.S. tour.

Petty’s music has had a strong connection with the big and small screen that started right at the very beginning of their professional career. Just a year after the 1977 release of the band’s debut album, Hollywood was already clambering to feature their work on soundtracks. The first feature to have that honor was FM, a cult classic about a Los Angeles radio station, which used Breakdown and American Girl. The film also marked Petty's first appearance on the big screen thanks to a cameo. He followed that with a small part in Made in Heaven and appeared, as himself, in several episodes of It's Garry Shandling's Show between 1987 and 1990.

Appearances on the soundtracks of WKRP in Cincinnati, Miami Vice and others followed in the 80s. However, it was when American Girl was used in a key scene in the Oscar-winning Silence of the Lambs in 1991 that his work joined the ranks of tracks that became forever linked to iconic moments in cinema. This was further consolidated, but in a more family-friendly way, when Christmas All Over Again was featured in Home Alone 2: Lost In New York a year later.

Four years later he took a big step further with his involvement in movie music when his ninth studio album served as the soundtrack for the 1996 film She's the One, written and directed by Edward Burns. Songs and Music From the Motion Picture "She's the One" peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and was certified gold in December 1996.

In 1997, Petty appeared in the 1997 movie The Postman, directed by and starring Kevin Costner, as the Bridge City Mayor. In 2002, he appeared on The Simpsons in the episode "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation." He played a tutor to Homer Simpson on the art of lyric writing. Petty was one of a number of rock legends who were featured in that episode - others included were Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Lenny Kravitz and Elvis Costello. He also had a recurring role as the voice of Elroy "Lucky" Kleinschmidt in the animated comedy series King of the Hill.

Throughout the 2000s, Petty’s work has appeared in shows and movies as The Wire, The Sopranos, Scrubs, Ugly Betty, Parks and Recreation and, most recently, American Girl was featured in the tenth and final episode of the first season of The Handmaid’s Tail. As a performer, when Petty made a rare appearance on the late-night TV circuit, it was always something that made headlines and he appeared, whether solo or with the Heartbreakers on the likes of Saturday Night Live and Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The latter, in 2014, was the last time he did so on American TV.

Over the years, a number of Hollywood names returned the favor and appeared in music videos such as the one for Into The Great Wide Open which featured Johnny Depp as protagonist Eddie Rebel, Gabrielle Anwar as Eddie’s girlfriend, Faye Dunaway as Eddie’s manager and Matt LeBlanc. Terence Trent D’Arby and Chynna Phillips also featured.