Whatever Happened to Our Favorite Child Stars of the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s?
This article appeared in www.cleverclassic.com and has been published here with permission.Quinn Cummings
Quinn Cummings was launched into stardom at the mere age of 10 with the titular role of precocious Lucy. In 1977, she starred in the movie The Goodbye Girl and got nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Bored of the fame, she quit acting in the early ‘90s.
In 2005, she started a blog titled “The QC Report” and has come out with three memoirs since. Motherhood inspired her to create the HipHugger baby-carrying sling, a company she was the president of until 2006.
Lauren Chapin
Lauren Chapin’s character in the 1954 sitcom Father Knows Best, Kathy Anderson, may have had a stable family life, but it wasn’t the case for the young actress. According to her biography, she had an extremely difficult childhood.
After the show was canceled, Lauren couldn’t find any more jobs. She had worked as a dog groomer and a stewardess to bear her expenses by the early ‘80s. These days, she runs a live version of the only show she did, which conducts paid performance on various events.
Hayley Mills
Hayley was just 13 when she bagged the role of the eponymous character in Pollyanna, a live-action Disney drama adapted from a book of the same name. Thanks to her character’s upbeat attitude, she soon became a child icon and appeared in many more movies.
The leading lady has appeared in many roles, both big and small since then, ranging from movies to theater. She might not be a big deal now, but she was a household name back in the day.
Kym Karath
When movies are as groundbreaking as The Sound of Music, it presents many promising stars, and Kym Karath is one of them. She played the role of Gretl von Trapp; and even though she wouldn’t have known it, things panned out well for her.
Kym exited the industry in 1981, preferring education to the media. In her early twenties, she moved to Paris where she studied Art History and did modeling. She’s now married and acts on the side. However, she has no film or TV credits post 1981.
Pop culture in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s was heavily influenced by several TV shows and films. Life wasn’t always all about Netflix – back in those days, the monochrome screen was enough to excite everyone. Do you ever wonder what happened to the kids from The Brady Bunch or The Partridge Family? Let’s take a trip down memory lane and get some answers.