Child stars of our youth/past

The little guy from Eight is Enough has died, Gary Coleman, Dana Plato as well. I think those kids from Family Affair were messed up as well.

r1, when Anissa "Buffy" Jones was discovered dead from an overdose, the story goes there was semen in every orifice of her body.

Thanks r2. I remember hearing about her death, in my mid teens by then, but never knew.

These gals all seem to have landed on their feet.

I thought there were laws in place to protect the incomes of child actors. It was called the Coogan Act after Jackie Coogan's parents spent all his money.

Kurt Russell did a lot of Disney movies when I was a kid.

R5, she addresses that - that doesn’t (or didn’t) apply to commercials.

I’m so glad to know that Norman Lear was a decent guy to these kids.

How can anyone mention Ike Eisenmann without invoking the name of Kim RIchards?

[quote] I thought there were laws in place to protect the incomes of child actors. It was called the Coogan Act after Jackie Coogan's parents spent all his money.

It only protects a portion of the child star's earnings.

Chad Allen became a psychiatrist.

Matthew Newmark from Paradise helps run a treatment center after he had a long bout with addiction.

Jaleel White is semi-active but still annoying.

Matt Shakman from Just the 10 of Us is an in-demand producer/director.

When Corey Feldman was on Steve O's podcast, he said that the Coogan Law only requires that 15% of earnings in California go into a trust fund. As Steve O said, "That means they can only steal 85% of your money." In reality, the parents/guardian have control of the trust fund until the kid is 18. So loads of kid actors end up with nothing.

I was shocked it was only 15%.

Bill Mumy of Lost In Space. I was a huge fan as a kid watching reruns of the show and wanted to be Will Robinson because of all the great adventures his character had.

He was also in 3 classic Twilight Zone episodes. He was later in the 1973 film Papillon and his role was supposed to be a high featured supporting role, but it got edited down significantly to a small role in post production. He spent most of his life writing and playing music, including the Barnes and Barnes classic Fish Heads and playing with other bands and solo work. His biggest role post LIS was in Babylon 5 as Lennier for 4 years. He seems to have had a good life.

Billy

Billy Gray who played Bud in Father Knows Best.

Ike seems like a decent guy — long-time husband, still enjoys Disney theme parks, posts ephemera from his young career with happy stories. He says he never saw anything resembling abuse as a kid actor.

He had a story about guesting on Little House and saying good morning to Melissa Sue Anderson in her makeup chair. She turned around and asked him about Witch Mountain. When he answered she said, "Willie Aames and I were up for that but I had SCHEDULING CONFLICTS." And that was it for his interactions with Melissa Sue. Radames Pera, who played her boyfriend, implied she was no treat either.

Claudia Lamb said that Norman Lear noticed she liked to write and bought her a Selectric, something her parents never did. He gave her feedback on her stories and was unfailingly kind. Later she turned that interest into a longtime career as a radio news reporter in San Francisco.

Lamb got Sparky Marcus into the business. I think he's a therapist now.

Matthew Laborteaux (who spells his last name differently now) seems to have had a good career--he mostly did voiceover work after "Little House" because despite his good looks, he's very small. But I think he made a lot of money doing it. He's rumored to be gay, which should be no surprise to anyone.

R18, Matthew Laborteaux married a woman a few years ago and has at least one stepchild. I heard him interviewed on some podcast and he couldn’t shut up about them, constantly referencing his happy family. Maybe it was a recent marriage he was excited about but it did come off as overcompensating

The interview may have actually been on Ike Eisenmann’s podcast now that I think about it

[quote]These gals all seem to have landed on their feet.

Some more heavily than others.

[quote]These gals all seem to have landed on their feet.

Suzanne Crough landed on her face during dinner.

Eric Olsen, who was on the Swiss Family Robinson series in the 70s and guest starred in a number on TV series. He was also in several TV movies including Irwin Allen's Flood, and Sarah T Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic. The last I remember seeing him was on Eight is Enough.

Tammy Lauren was in everything in the late 1970s, but nothing ever stuck, even Angie!

Ike's podcast. Convos with Audrey Landers, Tina Cole, Stanley and Barry Livingston, Erin Murphy, Kathy Garver, Tony DeFranco, Doug and Emmy Jo from The New Zoo Revue, Michael Gray from Shazam!, Bruce Vilanch, and a lot more.

Looks like Ike interviewed DL laughingstock Susan Olsen today!

R11 I read that Chad Allen is a psychologist not a psychiatrist. I don’t believe he went to medical school.

Glen Scarpelli is gay. He was on “One Day at a Time.”

R28, WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Where did you hear that?

Linda Manz. She gave a great performance in Days of Heaven, then went on to indie roles, but disappeared completely in the 1990s. She died of lung cancer in 2020 at 58.

Rodney Allen Rippy

Mason Reese