In 1984, a 20-year-old Cox was chosen by director Brian De Palma at a casting call for Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” music video. Filmed at the St. Paul Civic Center, she played the fan in the front row whom Springsteen pulls onstage to dance with him. The video became an MTV staple, instantly putting her on the Hollywood radar. Her short, pixie-style haircut and casual look became an early signature style.

In 1985, Cox starred in a national commercial for Tampax. The ad became a milestone in American advertising history, as Cox was the first person to ever say the word “period” on American television, breaking a long-standing industry taboo.

Following her music video success, Cox began booking steady television roles. She landed a starring role as Gloria Dinallo, a teenager with telekinetic powers, in this short-lived but memorable NBC sci-fi series Misfits of Science (1985).

Her most significant 1980s acting role came when she joined the smash-hit sitcom Family Ties (1987–1989) for its final two seasons. She played Lauren Miller, a psychology major and the serious girlfriend of Michael J. Fox’s character, Alex P. Keaton. She also made appearances on classic era dramas like Murder, She Wrote and The Love Boat in 1986.

The late 1980s also marked her transition to the big screen with roles in cult classic and fantasy films. She played Julie Winston in the live-action He-Man movie Masters of the Universe (1987) starring Dolph Lundgren. She played Sara in the sci-fi comedy sequel Cocoon: The Return (1988) to the Oscar-winning original.

By the time the decade closed in 1989, Cox had evolved from a commercial model into a seasoned television actress, setting the stage perfectly for her international breakthrough a few years later. Here’s a selection of 35 photos of a young and beautiful Courteney Cox in the 1980s:

In March 1966, four months before England was set to host the World Cup, the Football Association agreed to let the solid-gold trophy be displayed at the “Sport with Stamps” rare stamp exhibition at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster.

Despite assurances of 24-hour security, the guard schedule had structural gaps. On Sunday, March 20, 1966, while a Methodist church service was taking place on the floor below, someone forced open the back doors of the building, removed the padlock from the display case, and stole the trophy. Ironically, the thieves completely ignored rare stamps worth £3 million, taking only the trophy (valued significantly lower for its physical gold).

The Metropolitan Police were utterly humiliated. Days later, a ransom note demanding £15,000 arrived. An undercover sting operation led to the arrest of a middleman, but he claimed to have no knowledge of where the actual trophy was hidden. The trail went cold.

On Sunday, March 27, exactly one week after the theft, 26-year-old Thames lighterman David Corbett stepped out of his South Norwood home in South London to take his dog, Pickles, for a walk. As Corbett was getting ready to put on the leash, Pickles wandered over to a neighbor’s parked car and began sniffing intensely at a package hidden under a laurel bush.

Corbett later recalled the moment: “It was wrapped in tightly-bound newspaper and string, laying against my neighbor’s car wheel. I picked it up and it’s quite heavy, though not very big… At the time the IRA were at large, so I personally thought it was a bomb. So I put it down. Picked it up, put it down again. Then curiosity took hold. I tore a bit off the bottom and there was a plain disc. Then I tore around and there was Brazil, Germany, Uruguay. I ran back in and said to my wife: ‘I think I’ve found the World Cup!’”

Corbett rushed the trophy to the local police station, where, in classic true-crime fashion, he was initially interrogated as the prime suspect. Once his name was quickly cleared, the nation erupted in pure relief and “Pickles-mania.”

The heroic collie became an international celebrity. Corbett collected nearly £5,000 in reward money (enough to buy a house at the time). Pickles was named “Dog of the Year,” awarded a silver medal from the National Canine Defence League, and given a year’s supply of free food from pet food manufacturer Spillers.

Pickles went on to star as an extra alongside Eric Sykes and June Whitfield in the 1966 comedic spy film The Spy with a Cold Nose. When England went on to win the World Cup that July, both Corbett and Pickles were invited to the official celebration banquet at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington. Pickles became the star of the night, famously held by players like Bobby Charlton, though he also reportedly bypassed the prestige of the evening by relieving himself on the five-star hotel’s elevator doors.

Tragically, Pickles’ time in the limelight was short. In 1967, he passed away in a tragic accident while chasing a cat. He was buried in the back garden of the house his reward money helped purchase, where his collar and medal remain highly prized pieces of football folklore (some of his medals are preserved by the National Football Museum in Manchester).