Lauren Chapin, the youngest kid on Father Knows Best, has died after a five-year battle with cancer. She was 80.
The late actress, who was born in Los Angeles, California in 1945, got her start in acting as a child in the 1950s, with an appearance on a 1952 episode of CBS' Lux Video Theatre, followed by one on 1954's A Star Is Born starring Judy Garland.
She was cast in the Robert Young-led sitcom, which ran from 1954 to 1960, when she was nine years old, starring as Jim Anderson's youngest daughter Kathy Anderson, appearing in 196 of the sitcom's 203 episodes, for which she was awarded five Junior Emmys for Best Child Actress.
The years after Father Knows Best ended were difficult for Lauren, but she eventually got sober in 1970, and took on a variety of jobs. Learn about her below.
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© Getty ImagesShe suffered from "manic depressive personality"
According to The Hollywood Reporter, when Lauren was six, her mother Marguerite, whom she said was an alcoholic, took her brother Billy to New York to build his stage career, leaving her her father, William, whom she said molested her. She said by age 11 she had developed a "manic depressive personality" and once attempted suicide.
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© Getty ImagesShe got married at 16
Lauren was on Father Knows Best from 1954 to 1960, from when she was nine years old to 15. During a 1989 appearance on Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee, she revealed she dropped out of Pasadena High School as a junior, got married when she was 16 years old, and divorced when she was 18.
She then had another marriage that was annulled after she discovered her husband was still married.
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Lauren when she was 17 years old
Lauren struggled with drug addiction
During the same Regis and Kathy Lee appearance, Lauren also revealed another man she became involved with turned her into a call girl and on to heroin, which took over her life for seven years, until she turned 25.
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© Getty ImagesLauren with her Father Knows Best co-stars in 1984
She is survived by a son and daughter
In her troubled years after leaving Father Knows Best, Lauren lost eight children to miscarriages. She eventually did have at least two children; it was her son, Matthew Chapin, who announced her death, and included in his statement a sister.
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© FacebookShe allegedly kickstarted Jennifer Love Hewitt's career
After achieving sobriety in 1970, Lauren wore multiple hats; she taught natural childbirth, worked for a brokerage firm, was a licensed and ordained evangelist, owned two beauty pageant enterprises, was a talent manager, and on her website she claims Jennifer Love Hewitt "got her start in show biz through" her.
