Lauren Chapin, the youngest star of the quintessential 1950s sitcom Father Knows Best, has passed away.
Videos by Suggest
Chapin died on Tuesday, five year after being diagnosed with cancer. She was 80 years old.
Her son Matthew announced her passing on Facebook.
“After a long, hard-fought battle over the past 5 years, the time has come,” Matthew wrote. “My mother, Lauren Chapin, passed away from her battle with cancer tonight. I’m at a complete loss for words right now. Please keep my sister and family in your thoughts and prayers as we go through this incredibly tough time.”
After appearing in a 1952 episode of CBS’s Lux Video Theatre and the Judy Garland film A Star Is Born (1954), Chapin joined the cast of Father Knows Best at age 9.
Chapin’s TV siblings were Betty “Princess” Anderson, played by Elinor Donahue, and James “Bud” Anderson Jr., played by Billy Gray. Their parents were the level-headed homemaker Margaret Anderson (Jane Wyatt) and insurance salesman Jim Anderson (Robert Young).
According to IMDb, Father Knows Best ran for six seasons, from October 1954 to May 1960, airing on CBS and NBC. Reruns were later broadcast on ABC and in syndication for decades. The cast reunited for two TV specials in 1977.
Lauren Chapin Struggled Both During and After Her Child Acting Career
Chapin was born in Los Angeles on May 23, 1945. Her older brothers, Billy and Michael Chapin, were also child actors. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she signed with Columbia Pictures and trained with choreographers Gower and Marge Champion, as well as the renowned French mime Marcel Marceau.
At six, her mother, Marguerite, an alcoholic, took her brother Billy to New York for his stage career, leaving her with her father, William, who she said molested her. By age 11, she identified as “manic depressive” and had attempted suicide.
“It was very difficult to understand how Kathy Anderson could be loved and protected, and Lauren Chapin lived a whole different kind of life,” Chapin recalled on Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee in 1989. “I didn’t understand how God could let me suffer.”
She also revealed that she had to sue her mother to claim part of the earnings from Father Knows Best.
Five months after Father Knows Best ended, Chapin appeared in an episode of General Electric Theater with Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows. This would be her last acting role for 16 years.
She left Pasadena High School during her junior year and revealed on the Regis and Kathie Lee show that she married at 16 and divorced at 18. Another marriage was annulled when she discovered her husband was already married. One partner introduced her to life as a call girl and to heroin, which she said she used for seven years until she was 25. During this period, she suffered eight miscarriages.
After getting sober in the 1970s, Chapin became a minister and a talent manager. Her website states she helped launch Jennifer Love Hewitt’s career. Chapin also published a memoir, Father Does Know Best (1989), and appeared in the 2016 YouTube series School Bus Diaries.
Chapin is survived by his son Matthew, daughter Summer, brother Michael Chapin, and other family members.