Published by Cel Manero from Global One Media Inc.
The Friends star appeared in the legendary 1984 music video.
Bruce Springsteen and Courteney Cox brought a wave of nostalgia to the U.S. Open.
On Sunday, Sept. 7, the Born to Run legend, 75, and the Friends actress, 61, crossed paths more than four decades after Cox’s breakout role in the 1984 Dancing in the Dark music video.
Both stars were in attendance for the Men’s Singles Final in New York, where Carlos Alcaraz faced Jannik Sinner. Cameras caught Cox greeting Springsteen and his daughter, equestrian Jessica Rae Springsteen, before returning to her seat alongside longtime partner Johnny McDaid.
The Dancing in the Dark video, directed by Brian De Palma and filmed during a Minnesota concert, famously featured Springsteen pulling Cox from the crowd to dance onstage. What the singer didn’t know at the time was that Cox had been cast for the role and flown in from New York.
For Cox, it was a turning point in her early career. “At that point, I had only done two days on a soap opera and a New York telephone ad,” she recalled on Off Camera with Sam Jones in 2017. “I walked into this big casting room, and all these dancers were there. I thought, ‘I don’t belong here, I can barely touch my toes.’”
Cox has continued to support Springsteen over the years, even attending Springsteen on Broadway in 2018. Looking back on her onstage moves in 2019, she admitted to PEOPLE, “That was not good dancing on my part. I would only do that as a joke.”
She poked fun at herself again in 2024, when she recreated her iconic moment on Instagram in a video set to Bronski Beat’s Smalltown Boy. Midway through, Cox peeled off her sweatshirt to reveal a Springsteen T-shirt, cutting in footage from the original video.
The Dancing in the Dark clip went on to win the MTV VMA for Best Stage Performance, while the song itself earned Springsteen his first Grammy in 1985 for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male.
