Erin Moran, who grew up playing Joanie Cunningham in the iconic '70s sitcom Happy Days, died on April 22, 2017, in New Salisbury, Indiana. She was 56. Erin's death is so sadly typical of the negative assumptions that people make about former child stars. Before an autopsy revealed that she died of Stage 4 cancer, everyone assumed that drugs and/ ( Read more... )

'70s child star Alison Arngrim, now 55, first rose to fame for her role on the squeaky-clean TV show Little House on the Prairie. The plots rarely ventured beyond Sunday School, and the worst trouble on the show was usually caused by Alison herself, as the town bully Nellie, who constantly picked on Melissa Gilbert's Laura. In an interview to ( Read more... )

Actress Florence Henderson died of heart failure on November 24, 2016, in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She was 82. Best known for her role as mom Carol Brady on the long-running '70s sitcom The Brady Bunch, Henderson also starred on The Match Game, hosted The Florence Henderson Show, and recently had cameos on 30 Rock and Zendaya's ( Read more... )

It can be so difficult for a former child star to move into a successful second career as an adult, but Alisan Porter, now 34, recently made it happen in a big way, when she was crowned as winner of the singing competition show The Voice. Born in 1981, Alisan did several films and TV appearances in the late '80s and early '90s, reaching the height ( Read more... )

Film: The Turn of the Screw (1974). Young Actress: Eva Griffith, age 8.

There's plenty to enjoy in this drama/horror film, if you can look past the somewhat slow pace and poor production value. (In its defense, this was a '70s TV movie and probably had a very small budget.) The film opens as Miss Cubberly (Lynn Redgrave) is hired as a nanny for ( Read more... )

Emmy-winning actress Ann B. Davis, best known for playing Alice on the '70s sitcom The Brady Bunch, died on June 1, 2014, in a San Antonio hospital. She was 88. The three former young actresses who played the Brady sisters all remembered Davis via Twitter postings, or even old-school statements.

Maureen McCormick, via a statement: "I admired Ann B ( Read more... )

Not many child actress roles are iconic enough to become pop culture references. But Heather O'Rourke's performance as Carol Anne in the Poltergeist trilogy put her "They're he-re!" tagline on the list of movie catchphrases. We sat up in our chairs when the new extended trailer for Paranormal Activity 3 even made a reference to her.

Not wanting to ( Read more... )

Two new memoirs by former young actresses recount tales from the set of Little House on the Prairie. Melissa Sue Anderson played sweet Mary Ingalls; Alison Arngrim, that devil in blond curls Nellie Oleson. Here's how the books stacked up.

How I See It
Melissa Sue AndersonConfessions of a Prairie Bitch
Alison ArngrimOn Meeting Fans"I have been ( Read more... )

In celebration of Modern Family's recent Hawaii episode, here's a recap of a few other sitcom families that have been to Hawaii, and the young actresses who've gone with them.

The Brady Bunch, 1972 ( Read more... )

Diane Lane is living her father's dream, says the London Daily Telegraph. The 45-year-old actress is the daughter of acting coach Burt Lane, who pushed her onto the stage at age 7. By age 12, she was starring on stage and in film alongside the likes of Meryl Streep, and she graced the cover of Time magazine under the title "Hollywood Whiz Kids" ( Read more... )