The actor who famously played the teen caddie attacked by Adam Sandler in the cult classic “Happy Gilmore” is now well into his second successful career — as a neuroscientist on Long Island.
But Jared Van Snellenberg, who played the brief but memorable role of getting strangled and tackled by Sandler in the 1996 hit flick, told The Post that being a lab director at Stony Brook’s Renaissance School of Medicine doesn’t mean he can escape his comic past.
“People come to participate in our research studies, and they’re like, ‘Yeah, I don’t really care about being paid, can I just meet Dr. Van Snellenberg?’ ” the 44-year-old former actor told The Post.
The king of cameos, who now calls Floral Park home, is also conditioned to hearing lines such as, “Mister Gilmore, I’m your caddie!” or “Where were ya on that one, dips–t?” yelled to him by passers-by.
“Even at a recent physical therapy appointment, the receptionist said, ‘I finally know where I recognize you from!’ ” the doc said.
Although his scenes in the great golf comedy immortalized the then-14-year-old kid from British Columbia, Canada, Van Snellenberg said he realized by his 20s that he would have to choose between his two loves — acting and science.
Van Snellenberg, who began his career on camera after discovering a love for Shakespeare as a young boy, said he will never forget breaking the news to his agent that he was leaving the business to attend Columbia University.
“He said, ‘Oh, you’re talking about the real world — this is all make-believe,’” said the doctor, who specializes in schizophrenia.
Van Snellenberg — known on X as @HappysCaddy — said he is content with his choices that have led to significant medical research.
“But being on set is something I still miss,” he said.
Grass is always greener
Who could blame the dad of three for missing those glory days, as he said Sandler kept the set in stitches with “a prank atmosphere” and fantastic energy.
“He’s pretty similar to his on-screen characters of the era. That set was a riot,” Van Snellenberg recalled, saying that the late Carl Weathers was also a delightful bundle of mischief.
Weathers, who portrayed Chubbs Peterson in the movie, even got into a playful, all-day back-and-forth slap fight with Van Snellenberg on the last day of filming, the doctor recalled.
Fortunately, Weathers wasn’t using the wooden hand his character was equipped with.
Van Snellenberg shared that he was also supposed to have another shenanigan with Sandler’s aggressive Gilmore character, who was supposed to throw the screen caddie into a pond after beating him senseless throughout the film’s opening arc.
But Sandler, while carrying the teen, accidentally dropped Van Snellenberg, and the film’s legal team decided to scrap the planned scene for hazard reasons.
It was also fate that Snellenberg was cast for the role. He had been going through a “rebellious” phase and opted to bleach his hair blond against the wishes of his mother.
“She said it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done and that nobody would cast me,” he recalled.
But the look was exactly what director Dennis Dugan was going for. It didn’t hurt that Van Snellenberg could easily handle a Sandler tackle in auditions.
“They said, ‘Don’t cut your hair. Don’t do anything with your hair.’ My mom said, ‘Thank God you didn’t listen to me,’ ” Van Snellenberg said.
Tuesday’s gone
Although Van Snellenberg is only photographically shown in the recent sequel “Happy Gilmore 2,” he said he loved the film and was happy to see lookalike professional golfer Will Zalatoris carry on his character’s legacy.
“Maybe I can take a week off and go be in ‘Happy Gilmore 3,’ ” he said. “I’d love to do that.”
But for now, Van Snellenberg will continue to pour his efforts into how working memory and other neurological facets impact schizophrenia.
When it comes time for leisure, there’s one hobby he surprisingly doesn’t have, though.
“I never got into golf,” Van Snellenberg said. “Nobody ever brought me to a golf course as a kid or young adult. It was just not part of my life.”
Even being on the set didn’t change his mind, for one simple reason.
“I was a 14-year-old kid goofing around with Adam Sandler,” Van Snellenberg said. “That’s what was salient to me on that set, not that I should go start trying to play golf.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
