Lauren Chapin, the actress best known for her performance as Kathy “Kitten” Anderson on “Father Knows Best,” died on Tuesday after a five-year battle with cancer. She was 80.
Her son Matthew announced his mother’s passing on Facebook. “After a long hard fought battle over the past five years, the time has come. My mother Lauren Chapin passed away from her battle with cancer tonight,” he wrote. “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.”
Born May 23, 1945, in Los Angeles, Chapin became a bona fide child star when she landed the role of Kathy Anderson, one of the children of Robert Young and Jane Wyatt’s Jim and Margaret Anderson, on the 1950s sitcom “Father Knows Best” at the age of nine. Across the show’s six seasons, Chapin won five Junior Emmys for Best Child Actress for her performance.
Two of her brothers, Billy (“The Night of the Hunter”) and Michael (“It’s a Wonderful Life”), were child stars like her. After “Father Knows Best” ended in 1960, Chapin made a guest appearance on one episode of “The General Electric Theater” before taking a 16-year break from screen acting.
Outside of her TV career, Chapin dropped out of high school at the age of 16. She talked extensively in the public on late night shows, TV specials and other platforms about her personal struggles and the dark side of Hollywood fame, especially as a child. She eventually became a founding member of the Board of Directors for A Minor Consideration, a non-profit dedicated to taking care of and protecting child actors.
In the 1980s, Chapin worked for a brokerage firm and taught natural childbirth techniques. She also worked as a talent manager and helped oversee the budding career of a young Jennifer Love Hewitt. She was also a licensed and ordained evangelist and wrote an autobiography about her life, titled “Father Does Know Best,” in 1989.
Chapin is survived by her son Matthew, daughter Summer and brother Michael.
