'70s Child Actors, Then And Now

Buzz Feed

04-06-2025

Sorry if this sounds odd, but I could spend hours looking at old celebrity photos from the good ol' days. And one particular genre of celebs I've become super interested in researching lately are CHILD STARS — specifically, the ones many of us have probably forgotten about.
And we've spoken about the more recent child stars who have grown up in the blink of an eye, but what about the ones from several decades ago? You know, the kids who starred in our fave movies and TV shows? Well, we're about find out what they look like now. And some of these are big shockers.
First, here is Peter Ostrum from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, age 12:
And here he is now, age 67:
Here is Jodie Foster from Taxi Driver, age 14:
And here she is now, age 62:
Here is Linda Blair from The Exorcist, age 16:
And here she is now:
Here is Tatum O'Neal from Paper Moon and The Bad News Bears, age 14:
And here she is now, age 61:
Here is Ron Howard from The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days, age 9:
And here he is now, age 71:
Here is Kristy McNichol from Family, age 15:
And here she is now, age 62:
Here is Henry Thomas from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, age 11:
And here he is now, age 53:
Here is Kim Richards from Escape to Witch Mountain, age 6:
And here she is now, age 60:
Here is Megan Follows from Anne of Green Gables, age 14:
And here she is now, age 57:
Here is Danny Lloyd from The Shining, age 6:
And here he is now, age 52:
Here is Danny Bonaduce from The Partridge Family, age 14:
And here he is now, age 65:
Here is Melissa Gilbert from Little House on the Prairie, age 13:
And here she is now, age 61:
Here is Todd Bridges from Diff'rent Strokes, age 14:
And here he is now, age 59:
Here is Angela Cartwright from The Sound of Music and Lost In Space, age 13:
And here she is now, age 72:
Here is Lisa Whelchel from The Facts of Life, age 16:
And here she is now, age 61:
Here is Bonnie Langford from Just William, age 13:
And here she is now, age 60:
Here is Christopher Knight from The Brady Bunch, age 13:
Here is Mackenzie Phillips from One Day At A Time and American Graffiti, age 12:
Here is Johnny Whitaker from Family Affair and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, age 13:
And here he is now, age 65:
Here is Harvey Stephens from The Omen, age 5:
And here he is now, age 54:
Here is Noah Hathaway from Battlestar Galactica, age 5:
Who's your favourite child star from the '70s, '80s, or '90s? Tell me in the comments below!
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