The present Household Affair won’t be essentially the most well-remembered TV sequence of the ’60s, but it surely was very fashionable in its day. The present was a couple of rich bachelor, who had to absorb his teenage niece and six-year-old twin niece and nephew and lift them alongside along with his butler. However, Household Affair was a comedy about an unconventional household, sadly, the behind-the-scenes story of the present is filled with tragedy. One star who made it previous his personal darkish instances is Johnny Whitaker, who performed Jody, one of many twins.
Whitaker was six years previous when he joined Household Affair, and he spent 5 years on this system till it concluded in 1966. Whitaker has completed some performing within the years since but additionally labored in different areas, together with habit counseling. He is additionally opened up about his personal struggles with habit and the tragedies confronted by his co-stars. Learn on to seek out out extra.
RELATED: Mackenzie Phillips Performed Julie on One Day at a Time. See Her Now at 62.
Whitaker had been performing onscreen even earlier than he starred on Household Affair. In truth, he bought the function as a result of he had appeared in a film with Brian Keith, who would play his uncle on the TV present. “I did The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming. I met Brian Keith. He mentioned I need you to be within the new present that I am doing,” Whitaker defined to Studio 10 in 2018.
Whitaker’s TV appearances as a baby star included Bewitched, Bonanza, and Gunsmoke. He was the primary actor to play Scotty Baldwin on Basic Hospital and in addition starred in Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. As for motion pictures, he starred in a few Disney movies and a musical model of Tom Sawyer.
Whitaker’s performing profession slowed within the ’70s, across the time he determined to go on a mission journey to Portugal as a part of his Mormon upbringing. He additionally attended faculty. “I went to Brigham Younger College for guiding and producing,” he instructed Fox Information in 2016, “and sadly Utah, which I assumed would open their arms to me as being a brother, didn’t accomplish that with my 17 years of expertise and did not settle for me so I went again to California.”
Within the ’80s, Whitaker’s spouse left him, and he started happening a darkish path with drug and alcohol habit. “With that, I misplaced my religion in God and man and the world,” he instructed Fox Information. He mentioned that he misplaced his life to “intercourse, medication, and rock and roll,” which “lasted about seven, eight years.” Whitaker continued, “After which my household mentioned, ‘You have got a selection between getting clear and sober or getting excommunicated from the household.'”
Whitaker turned sober and has devoted himself to serving to others as a Licensed Dependancy Counselor and Advocate, in accordance with his web site. He began a non-profit group referred to as Paso por Paso and has additionally been an advocate for jail reform. “I imagine we have to speak at different profitable drug deterrent packages, apart from throwing individuals in jail for a psychological well being drawback,” he mentioned in his Fox Information interview.
Whitaker’s work as an habit counselor hits near house in a couple of means: Anissa Jones, who performed Jody’s twin Buffy on Household Affair, died of a drug overdose at age 18.
Whitaker has appeared in a number of performing roles in recent times, nevertheless. He was in episodes of the 2016 reboot of Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, and within the motion pictures A Husband for Christmas and Prepper’s Grove. He additionally directed a documentary about drug coverage in Portugal, and his web site notes the he’s writing his memoir. Through the years, he is additionally labored in expertise administration.
For extra celeb information delivered proper to your inbox, join our each day e-newsletter.
With Whitaker being such a prolific little one actor, he has many followers who grew up watching him on TV. “Properly, in the event you’re over 45, you realize who I’m,” he instructed From the Combined Up Information in 2020. “Or in case your mother and pop had been sensible sufficient to inform you what actual tv is.” He additionally mentioned of TV fan conventions, “I do not do them as typically as I used to, however once I can, I do. I’ve a good time, and it is enjoyable to see followers…”
RELATED: Priscilla Barnes Performed Terri on Three’s Firm. See Her Now at 67.