Pamelyn Ferdin never forgot her first time crying on cue on The Andy Griffith Show

She was “the busiest child actress in Hollywood,” and she made “quite an impression” on Andy.

In the Sixties, Pamelyn Ferdin was an in-demand child star, paid $2,400 every time one of her more than 300 commercials aired.

Viewers watched her on hit shows like My Three Sons, The Monkees, Star Trek, and Gunsmoke, and she was a regular on The John Forsythe Show. She also joined the cast of short-lived series like Curiosity Shop and Blondie.

The first time she ever cried onscreen happened in the only episode of The Andy Griffith Show that she appeared in, "The Bazaar."

Years later, the child star posted on Facebook, recalling how she made "quite the impression" on Andy Griffith by shedding those tears.

While some child stars, like Ron Howard, were notable for studying how great films were made while growing up in Hollywood, for Ferdin, she was quite possibly one of the nerdiest child stars of her era.

While guest starring on hit shows like The Odd Couple, The Brady Bunch, and Lassie, through the Seventies, she also became known for voice acting as Lucy Van Pelt in Peanuts specials and Fern in Charlotte’s Web.

But behind the scenes of these shows, Ferdin was serious about her schooling, known to do homework between takes.

In interviews, the young actor became noted for speaking sternly about the need to separate the reality of her school work from the fiction of her acting.

Once when she was appearing on The Odd Couple, The Columbia Record reported that an actor jokingly asked if she was writing a script for the next episode on the desk she’d improvised backstage.

"Maybe someday, but not now," serious Pamelyn answered. "I have a composition to hand in to my teacher tomorrow."

In the Sixties, Pamelyn also enjoyed the distinction of being quite possibly the youngest actor wearing dentures onscreen.

In 1965, The News-Journal reported that Pamelyn had lost her two front teeth just after being cast in an episode of The John Forsythe Show.

To play the part, she had to wear an upper plate to cover up her missing teeth.

Throughout the Seventies, Ferdin continued acting, joining the cast of the short-lived series Space Academy and guest starring in TV shows.

But by the start of the Eighties, Ferdin took a break from acting, only returning to do voice work for a Warner Bros. animated series called Detention from 1999 to 2000.

Ferdin wrote about her acting career on her personal website, calling herself "the busiest child actress in Hollywood" for "the greater part of a decade."

To fans of Sixties and Seventies television, she was unmissable.

"Maybe you didn’t know my name, but you knew my face, and if you couldn’t place the face, you surely knew my voice," Ferdin wrote.

She doesn’t explain why she stopped acting, but she does thank her fans for keeping the memory of her acting career alive:

"It warms my heart that so many people remember me fondly as Edna Unger from television’s The Odd Couple, as Fern from the movie Charlotte’s Web, as Sally from The Cat in the Hat, or as the signature voice of the crabby but much-loved Lucy Van Pelt from Peanuts TV specials and the feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown."

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55 Comments

takeanewone 32 months ago
My god! She looks so much like Buffy on "Family Affair"!
RobertK takeanewone 32 months ago
I agree, I also confuse her with Cathy Silvers who played Jenny Piccalo on Happy Days. The girls look similar enough to be sisters.
Michael 32 months ago
And sort of related, news is that Peter Robbins, the voice of Charlie Brown, and "Dr. T" in Get Smart, has killed himself.
Deleted 32 months ago
This comment has been removed.
takeanewone 32 months ago
Prude or too high quality for the repulsive toilet and tits humor "comedy" shows went down to in the future?
bagandwallyfan52 32 months ago
Does anyone know if TV LAND
And SUNDANCE Channel shows
the Color episodes of The Andy
Griffith Show?
I only seen Color episodes of. AG on TV land
gmail 33 months ago
Another version of how shows are shown, BONANZA, you mainly see the ones with HOSS, those after his death are not seen as often, those with HOSS are better. It's also probably lead to the cancellation of Bonanza. Just my view.
takeanewone gmail 32 months ago
Not just your view it seems. I read elsewhere that the passing of Hoss killed the show. A lot of "Bonanza" fans agreed with your view.
gmail 33 months ago
The colorized version of TAGS with Warren were shown a long time ago. I think the reason for not showing them may be related to not as popular, viewing down and advertising commercials are dependent upon viewers to sell there wares.
So the older b w are more popular and funnier.
Plus it may depend on regional and availability.
bagandwallyfan52 gmail 32 months ago
Seasons 6 7 and 8 of The
Andy Griffith Show were
NOT Colorized because these episodes were FILMED IN COLOR.
GOOD NEWS :
The Andy Griffith Show is
shown 24 Hours a day on
PLUTO TV on channel 510.
PLUTO TV carries BOTH THE Black &White episodes
Of TAGS and the color episodes of The Andy Griffith Show.
bagandwallyfan52 gmail 32 months ago
PLUTO TV is a FREE App on
Cell Phones and can be seen on ROKU TV sets.
takeanewone gmail 32 months ago
Back when I had a TV that let me, I would put all the old colorized shows in black and white. The old way was more special.
Mamajoe 33 months ago
How about daughter of the mind
PatEm Mamajoe 30 months ago
I remember that movie. I believe Ray Milland played her father.
DethBiz 33 months ago
Loved Pamelyn in the 70s movie Toolbox Murders with ironically Aneta Corsaut playing her mother. Also, couldn't stop laughing when Western fave Cameron Mitchell sang her the lollipop song.
LoveMETV22 33 months ago
Acting must had run in the family She had a sister Valerie who appeared in The Birds, My Three Sons and The Danny Thomas Show.
Another sister Wendy who appeared in One Man's Way (1964) and Leave it to Beaver.
CaptainDunsel 33 months ago
Also crying on cue in the season 3 episode of Star Trek, "And The Children Shall Lead".
Pacificsun CaptainDunsel 33 months ago
That's where I remember her first appearing.
amylovestv 33 months ago
Pamelyn quit acting to become a nurse. 🙂
takeanewone amylovestv 32 months ago
Thank you for that information. I wondered what she did after acting.
gmail 33 months ago
January 23rd, TAGS will have one of many funny episodes on...Opies Charity.
Multiple laughs. Annabelle strikes out, Opie a squeezer, never seen a half a boy, Tom comes back to life and I'm having CROW!

As many times I have seen this over the years, I bust a gut on this one every time!
bagandwallyfan52 gmail 33 months ago
Its also a funny scene in
Opies Charity when Tom
Silby shows up and Andy
Taylor days Tom Silby I haven't seen you since
.....//////your funeral?!!?
I also liked the episode
Where Andy Barney and
Gomer all go to the Old
Rimshaw House which
Mayberry residents say
Is Haunted.
On Gomer Pyle USMC it's
Very funny when Gomer
Pyle eats welsh rarebit and
then Gomer sleepwalks and starts yelling at Sgt.
Carter until Boyle wakes
them up.
gmail bagandwallyfan52 33 months ago
I believe it's scheduled to be on this Sunday.
CurleyGirl1018 33 months ago
With all due respect to Pamelyn, I believe I read that Shirley Temple also had to wear a partial denture due to exfoliation of her baby teeth. Maybe Pamelyn was a little younger when she wore her partial?!?
bagandwallyfan52 33 months ago
Pamelyn Ferdin did an excellent
Job of crying on the Bazaar
Color episode of TAGS.
LYDIA REED who played Hassie
On the Real McCoys and Tina
Louise Ginger on Gilligan's Island
Also did an Excellent job of
Crying on their TV shows.
RetroMountaineer 33 months ago
I always thought Pamelyn was a very talented actor. She was especially good in “The Beguiled” with Clint Eastwood. Too bad she stopped, I’d like to hear her very recognizable voice. For Brady fans, Pamelyn played Lucy Winters in “Will the Real Jan Brady Please Stand Up”, you know the one with the wig. Funny her name was Lucy.
Andybandit 33 months ago
I never heard of Pamelyn. I never saw past the season 5 of TAGS. I also don't understand why MeTv does air past season 5. I would like to see the other seasons. Once again TAGS is back to the beginning again.
I wonder if TV LAND shows
The color episodes of The
Andy Griffith Show-
Seasons 5/6/7 and 8?
I don't know why METV
Doesn't show the color episodes of The Andy Griffith Show from seasons
5-8?It doesn't make any since because Metv shows
BOTH The black and white
And color episodes of Gomer Pyle USMC and
Gilligan's Island.TV Stations
That show Reruns of My
Favorite Martian and I Dream of Jeannie and
Bewitched and Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman show BOTH the Black and white and
Color episodes of the TV shows that I just mentioned .
Also All of The Andy Griffith Show episodes are
Available on DVD and that
INCUDES the color episodes of The Andy Griffith Show.
I made a mistake .
The Color episodes of
TAGS are seasons 6-8
And season 5 is in b&w.
They probably cost more. A whole lot more.
The Black and white AND
Color Episodes of The Andy
Griffith Show can be seen
24;hours a day on PLUTO TV on channel 510.
KingMJJ4Eternity 33 months ago
Hello. I watch the reruns of The Andy Griffith Show. How many seasons of the show are there anyway?? I heard there's 8 seasons. Why do you people only show 5 seasons?????????!!!!!!!!! Why won't you show seasons 6, 7 and season 8??????????????!!!!!!!!!I want to know what the other sesons are about. When am I going to get to see season 6, season 7 and season 8????????
This is me again. I want to have a response as to when you are going to show seasons 6, 7 & 8. I'm very upset that you won't show the other seasons.
That's a good question that
METV NEEDS to ANSWER .
Why doesn't Metv show the
Color episodes of The Andy
Griffith Show from seasons
5 6 7 and 8?
METV shows BOTH the b&w
Episodes and color episodes of Gomer Pyle USMC and GP USMC IS A
SPIN OFF of TAGS.
I wonder if TV Land shows
The color episodes of TAGS
From seasons 5-8.
Good News
All 8 seasons of The Andy Griffith Show are available
On DVD.
They broadcast the episodes up to Don Knotts' final episode as a regular cast member as that is the networks choice. You could use the contact MeTV link if you have a query as to their programming decisions. Good luck.
GOOD NEWS:
PLUTO TV is FREE on Cellphones and can also be seen on ROKU TV s.
PLUTO TV carries The Andy Griffith Show on channel
510 24 Hours a day and PLUTO TV shows BOTH
The Black And White AND
Color Episodes of TAGS
From Seasons 6 and 7 and
8.
Lantern 33 months ago
I understand she's an animal activist these days.
TheSentinel Lantern 33 months ago
Ferdin became a member of "animal rights" terrorist group Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty and drew controversy in 2004 when she falsely accused a couple whose daughter was killed in a coyote attack in 1981 of "murdering" the daughter and then "making up" the coyote attack to "cover" for it. The girl's mother threatened to sue Ferdin for slander when she refused to apologize for her lies or to retract them.

Basically put, Pamelyn Ferdin played a spoiled brat in that Andy Griffith episode, voiced a horrible character (Lucy Van Pelt) in several Peanuts specials and in A Boy Named Charlie Brown and grew up to become a horrible person as an adult - and that is why I have zero respect for her.
takeanewone TheSentinel 32 months ago
She just got another fan if she cares about animals as you say she is. Not that I agree with her coyote story tactics you mention here.
Mirramanee takeanewone 31 months ago
I never heard of the coyote story, but she did in fact become president of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, which mainly lobbied against laboratory animal testing. Several of its members were indicted of using nasty tactics against a laboratory which tested household products and drugs on animals (many of those tests are horrendous and painful to the animals). In my mind, you have to be pretty sadistic to be able to do what they do to any living thing, regardless of if the final outcome might be to the betterment of society. She was never charged or indicted and became president AFTER the other members were indicted. I admire her for her beliefs, even if the group she was affiliated with was rather extreme. While some testing must apparently be done with drugs, does anyone really believe that there is a need to test and test again something that is intended to be used for, say, mascara? I think there are many types of mascara already out there on the market that do a good job. Why must there be more for something so completely aimed at the vanity market? Just saying...
MrsPhilHarris 33 months ago
She was everywhere when I was a kid. She said she wished she could have had a more normal childhood, but her mother pushed her. A stage mother.
takeanewone MrsPhilHarris 32 months ago
Thank you for telling that. It sounded sad she had such a workload and such a serious attitude toward it all. All work and no play. I wondered if she was just that kind of a child or adults made her life that way.
MrsPhilHarris takeanewone 32 months ago
That’s a very good question.
Zip 33 months ago
I was trying to remember what accounted for her crying on TAGS. Was the episode Bazaar the one where Warren jails a whole bunch of people for "gambling"?
bagandwallyfan52 Zip 33 months ago
Yes and that also was the
FIRST appearance of
Warren played by Jack Burns in the Bazaar episode.
If Don Knotts AKA Barney
FIFE had NOT left The Andy Griffith Show then I believe that Barney would have
Arrested all of those women for gambling
Instead of Warren.
Does anyone think that I
Am right?
Zip bagandwallyfan52 33 months ago
Oh yes, definitely! Especially since Barney had done that type of thing before.
The episodes with Warren was actually written for Don Knotts. I believe Warren Furgenson was only in six episodes and all six episodes were intentionally written for Barney Fife. TAGS asked Jerry Van Dyke to be Don Knotts replacement but he turned it down to star in My Mother the Car. He later regretted opting out of being cast as a regular on TAGS.
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