Actress Lauren Chapin (“Kitten” on Father Knows Best) died on Feb. 24. She was 80. The L.A. native (sister of actors Billy and Michael Chapin) had already appeared in a handful of films and TV shows before being cast, at age nine, as youngest daughter Kathy “Kitten” Anderson on the popular sitcom Father Knows Best (1954-60). Post-Father, Chapin only appeared in a handful of shows (some of them Father reunions), most recently on School Bus Diaries (2016-17). Chapin later bounced between drugs and religion: “I think coming from a dysfunctional home that was so the opposite end of the spectrum of Kathy Anderson, to grow up on a seesaw like this made for a very confused person,” she said. “I count it all joy to say ‘Yes, I’ve gone through these things. I’m not proud of them, but I’ve come out on the other end.’ I can say life can be good.”
