When it comes to child stars of the past, we all seem to know what happened to the ones that got into trouble. Danny Bonaduce, who played Danny Partridge on the 1970's sitcom "The Partridge Family" is infamous for his brushes with the law. So is Todd Bridges from "The Facts of Life". Butch Patrick, who played Eddie Munster on "The Munster's", reappeared a couple of years ago on E's "Star dates" (not a good career move), and I've seen Gary Coleman here and there, but whatever became of some of the other young stars from the 1960's and 70's? Here is a fond recollection of some classic child stars that just don't make the headlines any more.
-- Kim Richards. When I was growing up, I wanted to be Kim Richards. She starred as the little girl, Prudence, on the sitcom "Nanny and the Professor" and then she went on to star as Tia in the feature films "Escape to Witch Mountain" and "Return to Witch Mountain". As she grew into adolescence, Kim's career was still going strong-- she frequently popped up on shows like "James at 15" and even secured another sitcom role on the short-lived "Hello Larry". When she moved onto more adult roles in the 1980's (like the forgettable teen drama "Tuff Turf"), her acting stints became few and far between. And now she seems to have vanished. Where are you, Kim? One little tidbit that I recently learned-- Kim is the aunt of heiress Paris Hilton (Kim's mom Kathy is Paris' mom). Now that's a claim to fame!
-- Jay North. The former star of the show "Dennis the Menace" North may have had trouble ridding himself of the "Dennis" label. His resume after the series ended is spotty at best and while he was featured on an "E True Hollywood Story" a few years ago, fans have seen little of him since the 1960's. According to his biography on the "E True Hollywood Story", North did have to battle some personal demons as he grew up, but for some reason his woes just didn't make the headlines.
-- Lisa Gerristen. You may not remember this actress's name, but I bet you'd remember her face. Gerritsen played Bess Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman's daughter) on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and then went on to costar in the show "Phyllis" (an MTM spin off ). Although she guest starred on a variety of popular shows like "Family Affair" and "Gunsmoke", my all time favorite Gerritsen role was the role of Lydia Monroe on the 1969 comedy, "My World and Welcome To it". Am I the only person that remembers that show? When I mention it to family and friends they scratch their heads and give me a baffled look. In any event, Gerritsen seems to have fallen off of the planet.
-- Brandon Cruz. I had such a crush on this "Courtship of Eddie's Father" cutie. He played Bill Bixby's son, Eddie, on the show. After that he appeared in a few movies, like "The Bad News Bears" and "The One and Only" and then boom-- Brandon Cruz went missing. I hear he's in a rock band now, but to me he'll always be a former child star missing in action.
