CHILD STARS

Do you recall the Brady Bunch, Beaver Cleaver and the “Home Alone” boy, Macaulay Culkin? Most of today’s TV programs and movies don’t include children. The characters are adults and the story is about their problems.

On Monday nights, I watch the TV sitcom, “The Neighborhood.” The plots center around a white Midwestern family who moves into a Black neighborhood in California. The stories feature longtime residents Calvin and Tina plus their two grown sons, Malcolm and Marty, and their relationship with newcomers, Dave and Gemma, who have a young boy, Grover. He’s an elementary student at the school where his mother is principal and makes brief appearances on the show.

The only exception I’ve noticed is “Young Sheldon” with Iain Armitage in the title role. In 2017, he was nine when he was cast as the child genius in the prequel to “The Big Bang Theory.” The socially inept lad interacts with his family that includes his twin sister, an older brother, their parents and a maternal grandmother who live in Texas during the 1980s and early 90s.

Through the years, there have been many child stars. Elizabeth Taylor became the nation’s sweetheart as a twelve-year-old girl who loved a horse in the 1944 movie “National Velvet.” She continued in many movies as she matured including “The Father of the Bride” in 1950 and the historical epic, “Cleopatra,” in 1963. The public was fascinated by her real-life loves including singer, Eddie Fisher, and actor, Richard Burton.

In 1949, Ricky Nelson was eight when he joined his parents, Ozzie and Harriet, plus older brother, David, in their radio series. The family made the transition to a television sitcom in 1952. Five years later, Rick began a long career as a musician, songwriter and actor, which was cut short when he died in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve 1985.

Six-year-old Ronnie Howard began his entertainment career as Opie Taylor, son of Mayberry’s sheriff, Andy Griffith, on TV from 1960 to 1968. He followed that by playing Richie Cunningham, a 1950s teenager attending a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, high school in the sitcom, “Happy Days,” shown on TV from 1974 to 1980. As an adult, Ron has become a successful movie director, producer and screenwriter.

Do you have a favorite child star?