Where in the world is Joe Torres? That was the question that “Hey Dude” fans wanted to know when the cast of Nickelodeon’s first scripted series reunited at the 2014 ATX Television Festival in Austin, Texas.

Cast members David Brisbin (Mr. Ernst), Debrah Kalman (Lucy), Christine Taylor (Melody Hanson), Josh Tygiel (Buddy Ernst), David Lascher (Ted McGriff), Jonathan Galkin (Jake Decker) and Geoffrey Coy (Kyle Chandler) got together for the first time since “Hey Dude” ended in 1991, and two former co-stars were noticeably absent. Kelly Brown, who played Bradley “Brad” Taylor, had to cancel last minute due to an emergency, but one person couldn’t be accounted for: Joe Torres.

“Hey Dude” fans will remember that Joe Torres played Danny Lightfoor, a Hopi Native American who worked at the Bar None Dude Ranch in Tucson, Arizona.

“No one has heard from him,” Geoffrey Coy told reporters of Torres during a press conference.

“We don’t really know,” writer Alan Goodman continued. “We know the same rumors as everybody else. We’re not really in touch.”

What are the rumors that Goodman is referring to? There are two big ones:

Death Rumor

One rumor bouncing around about Joe Torres is that he died from alcoholism. His death is unconfirmed, and a Yahoo! Answers commenter claims that a former agent or manager of Torres planted the story.

Car Salesman Rumor

The second rumor circulating is that Joe Torres is alive and well … and working at the Toyota of Runnemede in New Jersey. [You can click HERE to see a supposed picture of Torres on the car dealership’s website.] The same Yahoo! Answers commenter claims that he will send you a headshot and autograph if you email him.

Turns out that the cast hasn’t seen each other in 20 years -- besides Debrah Kalman and Kelly Brown, who still keep in touch. As Christine Taylor explained, email didn’t exist when the show ended so the cast had to rely on phone numbers. However, now that they’re back together, the group has already shared their information and is even looking to get copies of a book of photos that Taylor put together for the reunion at ATX.

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