SUMMER STARS

It happens every year. Certain summer films give certain actors a chance to bloom. But what happens once the warm weather ends? We checked in on a decade’s worth of summer stars to see what’s happened since.

1981: MARTIN HEWITT IN ‘ENDLESS LOVE’

He was an unknown when Franco Zeffirelli cast him opposite Brooke Shields in “Endless Love.” What made Hewitt’s story all the more Hollywood was the fact that, at the time, he was working as a parking lot attendant.

“Oh, but that parking lot angle got distorted,” said Hewitt, who got the role after attending an an open casting call. “Some people actually wrote that I was discovered in a parking lot.”

Ensuing films haven’t been as prestigious as “Endless Love.” (“I don’t care what anyone says; I am proud of that film,” said Hewitt.) Still, as he proudly pointed out, “Ever since, I’ve made my living as an actor.”

There’ve been TV shots (“Hotel,” “T.J. Hooker” and “Love Boat”), and the short-lived 1983 NBC series “Family Tree.

He was also in the comedy “Yellowbeard.” (“The ingredients were great, but they just didn’t mix,” he said of the film that merged Monty Python, Cheech & Chong and others.) And there’s been a spate of low-budget films, including the upcoming “Killer Party” and “The Falling.” He’s also had a recurring role as a police cadet these past six months on “General Hospital.” (“If Elizabeth Taylor can do it, I can do it.”)

“These days my thinking is that I’m at the beginning of my career. I’m on an unward climb--as opposed to a downward slide,” said Hewitt. “You won’t make this sound as if I’m bitter, will you? Because, really, I’m very positive about everything. And I’m definitely paying my dues.”