Lauren Chapin (Kathy)
Lauren Chapin was chosen out of 78 other child actresses to take on the role of 9-year-old Kathy, or “Kitten” as she was called by her dad (Robert Young), on Father Knows Best (1954-60). But, the opportunities largely dried up after that role.
In 1983, she told a reporter: “I couldn’t get a job. I’d been typecast as Kathy Anderson. The more I didn’t work, the more my mother drank and the more belligerent I became. I started running away from home. I became an incorrigible child.” She worked as a flight attendant, dog groomer, insurance claims examiner, carhop and waitress — whatever she could find to do. Her personal life wasn’t much more cheery. She divorced three times, started using drugs, sold drugs, forged checks, was in and out of jail, and eventually got clean and sober. Chapin co-authored Father Does Know Best: The Lauren Chapin Story (1989), and even became an evangelist.
