He Played Kevin's Cruel Brother in Home Alone: See the Actor 30 Years Later
Though he's best known for his role as the bully brother in Home Alone, Devin Ratray has continued to work steadily in Hollywood over the past three decades.
But over the last two years, he's had some legal troubles that have cast a cloud over his career.
Ratray was the child of two actors – Ann Willis and Peter Ratray. He had a few small roles in his pre-teen years, including a background role in the 1989 Fred Savage film Little Monsters.
His big break came in 1990 with the smash hit Home Alone. Ratray played Buzz, the mean older brother to the lovable protagonist Kevin McAllister.
Buzz was a typical kids' movie bully: He owned a pet tarantula, talked about French nude beaches, and fed his brother rumors about their murderous neighbor.
He wasn't all that bright, having listed the reasons he wasn't worried about Kevin being left behind as, "A, I'm not that lucky. Two, we have smoke detectors. And D, we live in the most boring street in the United States of America."
He reprised the role in the 1992 sequel before playing a babysitter's boyfriend in Dennis the Menace.
As he grew older, he transitioned from bully roles to villainous ones.
He appeared in a 2006 episode of Law & Order as the murderous Richard Elam, then later played a separate antagonist in Law & Order: SVA. He guest starred in a 2009 episode of Supernatural as Damian – a Dean Winchester LARPer.
One of his most interesting roles was in a documentary – the controversial Courting Condi. It followed Ratray in his quest to make the United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice fall in love with him.
The bizarre mockumentary was described as a "musical docu-tragi-comedy" by its makers. During Ratray's "quest for love," he uncovered several controversial statements made by Rice.
It won several film festival awards, including the Jury Award for Most Creative Concept at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival.
His past decade has seen some success, with roles in Hustlers, R.I.P.D., Kimi, and Better Call Saul. The Home Alone franchise was reborn in 2021 with Home Sweet Home Alone, with Ratray reprising his role.
But all of his successes were marred by his legal issues in the past two years.
In December 2021, he was booked for domestic assault and battery after allegedly strangling his girlfriend, telling her, "This is how you die." The alleged attack stemmed from her failure to charge a fan for his autograph.
Following these allegations, Ratray's friend of 15 years came forward to accuse him of drugging her drink and sexually assaulting her in 2017. He's currently under investigation.
If the accusations are true, his alleged real-life villainy may cast a shadow on the career of the former Home Alone bully.