# Child Actors that didn't crash and burn **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964 "2013-03-15T00:52:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/1 "2013-03-15T00:52:47Z")
We hear a lot about hild stars that burn out tragically or have shitty drug filled lives after their glory days. Its become a cliché. But there are quite a few I can think of that have had very successful careers without turning into complete trainwrecks. Ron Howard The main three from Harry Potter Elijah Wood Neil Patrick Harris Joseph Gordon-Levitt Christian Bale (OK he has yelled a bit but he’s not a trainwreck) Sara Gilbert Leonardo DiCaprio Then there are others who didn’t stay in front of the camera but didn’t turn up on the cover of the Enquirer. Peter Ostrum: (from Willy Wonka) didn’t want to be an actor is a veterinarian Peter Billingsley: still in show business but mostly as a producer Mike Vitar (Benny “The Jet”, Sandlot): One day I was watching the movie and started looking up the cast. I was surprised to see he became a LA Fireman. Shirley Temple seemed to do OK for herself after show business. Who did I miss? Who else goes against the cliché? ---
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/2 "2013-03-15T01:00:04Z")
Melissa Gilbert (Little House on the Prairie) came to mind. She divorced awhile back, but no drug rehabs or anything that I can recall. ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/3 "2013-03-15T01:02:23Z")
Drew Barrimore had a rough patch in her teens but cleaned up nicely. Natalie Portman has done pretty well for herself. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/4 "2013-03-15T01:09:11Z")
Roddy McDowell, who continued to act regularly his entire life. Margaret O’Brien, one of the great child actresses of the 40s, left acting as she grew up, but seems to have had a fairly good (if not exciting life). Moe Howard started as a child actor (though not a star) in John Bunny silent comedies. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/5 "2013-03-15T01:09:44Z")
**Johnny Crawford** (Rifleman) has done well as an adult. Well, except for his soft core Playboy film. 😉 He’s a band leader now playing 40’s music. > **[Johnny Crawford](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Crawford)** > > John Ernest Crawford\[citation needed\] (March 26, 1946 – April 29, 2021) was an American actor and singer. He first performed before a national audience as a Mouseketeer. At age 12, Crawford rose to prominence playing Mark McCain in the series The Rifleman, for which he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Emmy Award at age 13. > Crawford had a brief career as a recording artist in the 1950s and 1960s. He continued to act on television and in film as an adult. Beginning in 1992, Crawford led... > [@](#): > > The Naked Ape was a partially animated 1973 feature film starring Johnny Crawford and Victoria Principal, produced by Hugh Hefner.[5] In an article about that movie he became the first man to be shown in full-frontal nudity in Playboy magazine. **Tony Dow** from Leave it To Beaver is a successful director. ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/6 "2013-03-15T01:11:03Z")
Oh and Ryan Gosling was really big on Canadian TV when I was a kid. I don’t know if that counts as a “star” but I sure knew of him (and may have had a crush on him) Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Mario Lopez from Saved by the Bell have done well for themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/7 "2013-03-15T01:14:54Z")
I can think of a couple of members of the original Mickey Mouse Club (1955 era) who had problems later on, but most of them, especially Annette, Bobby, Tommy and Cubby went on to be productive and relatively unscrewedup. BTW Shirley Temple had an extremely rocky adolescence but came through it better than, say, Judy Garland or Mickey Rooney. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/8 "2013-03-15T01:15:35Z")
> [@phall0106](#): > > Melissa Gilbert (Little House on the Prairie) came to mind. She divorced awhile back, but no drug rehabs or anything that I can recall. All three Gilbert siblings seemed to get through being child actors and stayed successful. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/9 "2013-03-15T01:17:30Z")
> [@Ludy](#): > > Oh and Ryan Gosling was really big on Canadian TV when I was a kid. I don’t know if that counts as a “star” but I sure knew of him (and may have had a crush on him) > > Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Mario Lopez from Saved by the Bell have done well for themselves. Tiffany Thiessen too. Currently on White Collar and has worked pretty steadily. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/10 "2013-03-15T01:18:19Z")
Bill Mumy seems to have done pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/11 "2013-03-15T01:20:55Z")
Beautiful, talented conservative father of four **Ricky Schroder** Dr. of neuroscience **Mayim Bialik** Television director and person I personally prayed to come out of his childhood stardom undamaged **Fred Savage** ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/12 "2013-03-15T01:24:06Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Television director and person I personally prayed to come out of his childhood stardom undamaged **Fred Savage** what the…? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/13 "2013-03-15T01:24:07Z")
Also from the Wonder Years, Danica McKellar, a math whiz. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/14 "2013-03-15T01:24:59Z")
Wil Wheaton. Not a big star now, but stable and well liked. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/15 "2013-03-15T01:25:20Z")
**Emmanuel Lewis** from Webster has done ok. Graduate college in 1997. Not in show biz now, but I’ve never heard of him getting in trouble. He was interviewed last year after his tv dad Alex Karras died. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/16 "2013-03-15T01:35:30Z")
Deanna Durbin, although she has stayed out of the spotlight for about 60 years Baby Peggy Montgomery was probably pretty well adjusted despite having $2 million stolen by her great uncle/manager (who had also married her grandmother, took the money and money to Texas to keep his ill gotten loot. Crooks going to Texas, what a surprise). Also lost a bunch in stock market/investing in ranch and depression hit. Dwayne Hickman (Dobie Gillis, Love That Bob). Interesting in commentary for “Cat Ballou” he mock rants how Burt Mustin got 100s of roles in his 70s and 80s while he can’t get any. Jon Provost survived falling in all those wells on “Lassie” ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/17 "2013-03-15T01:43:35Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > what the…? Of all the child actors I have watched, I somehow felt the most protective over Fred Savage. It bothered me greatly that he could possibly end up like the less fortunate trainwrecks referred to in the thread title, and I always prayed that it wouldn’t happen. So I’m especially pleased that things did work out O.K. for him, and that he appears to be successful and happy. Not taking any credit for it, just saying that if there was any one actor who could be added to the list of successes, I’d want it to be Fred Savage. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/18 "2013-03-15T01:51:38Z")
Baby Rose Marie dropped the “baby” and became a TV icon. Larry Mathews also seems to have had a fairly normal life as he grew up, though not in show business. Brandon Cruz of **The Courtship of Eddie’s Father** grew up to be a fairly successful punk rocker. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/19 "2013-03-15T02:00:43Z")
Alyson Hannigan ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964/20 "2013-03-15T02:01:23Z")
Micky Dolenz [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-actors-that-didnt-crash-and-burn/652964.md?page=2)