|
 Pamelyn
Ferdin’s acting credits are so lengthy, so varied, that even she
can’t remember them all. Rushed as she was during the 1960s and
'70s from one TV studio to the next, Ferdin appeared on “The Brady
Bunch,” “Star Trek,” “The Odd Couple,” “Marcus
Welby, M.D.” and the list goes on and on.
She racked up plenty of off-camera credits as well, leading her recognizable
rasp of a voice to animated roles in “Charlotte’s Web,”
“Sealab 2020,” “The Cat in the Hat” and “Play
It Again, Charlie Brown.”
Ferdin walked away from the Hollywood grind in the 1980s, studying to
become a nurse and taking up the role of animal protector. Her fight for
animal rights twice landed her in jail.
After about 10 years away from the cameras, Ferdin is attempting a comeback,
with only slight success so far. She will appear in two documentaries
this year, owing more to her animal rights agenda than to her acting skill:
“Pets on Your Plate” and “Your Mommy Kills Animals.”
But for a generation of boys who grew up in the '60s and '70s, Ferdin’s
return to acting can’t come soon enough.
TVparty contributor L. Wayne Hicks caught up with Ferdin by phone,
where the self-described “sweet girl next door” reflected
on her acting career and a childhood spent working.
Q: I used to see you on everything. I don't think I knew
your name. You were just the girl on the all the shows.
A: You know, I really was the busiest actress. There
was never anybody before me that had three series going on at the same
time. My agent at the time, who was like the biggest either child or young
adult agent in Hollywood, said that not only was I her busiest client
but there were times when I was the busiest actor regardless of age, I
was doing so many things at the same time. I was that girl that people
might not remember my name, but they remember seeing my face (laughs)
on one thing or another.
Q: Well, you have an unusual name that people may or
may not remember.
A: Right. Well, you know, it's interesting. Some people
do remember my name. But other people remember my voice. A lot of people
say, “Oh, my gosh, when you talk I remember who you are.”
Q: And you look like you used to. You haven't changed.
A: It's interesting. People say that. I really do look
the same. I look older, but basically my features and my voice and my
personality have pretty much stayed the same (laughs). I don't know if
that's good or bad.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I actually grew up in Los Angeles, right under the
Hollywood sign. I mean literally we could see it from our backyard.
Q: Growing up in Hollywood, did you dream of being an
actress?
A: I never dreamed of being an actress. I didn't even
want to be an actress. I was too little to know who I was at the time
because I was about 2. My mom just put me in the business. She made my
decision for me because I was able to memorize lines so well and I couldn't
read obviously, because I was only 2. She was able to just tell me the
lines and repeat them for me and I would memorize the whole script. Somebody
saw me when I was doing a little play and they said oh you should put
your child in the business, the acting business, and that's how it all
started. I was doing a little local play. I think it was called “The
Little Christmas Tree” or something like that.
Q: What was your first job?
A: My first job was a Breck commercial. Shampoo. I played
one of the daughters of this golden-haired mother. I was one of her three
golden-haired children.
Q: Did you like that experience?
A: Yeah. I did. I sure did. Like I said, I was so young.
Do you know how you felt when you were two and a half or three? It's just
really hard to know and to remember what I was feeling at the time. That's
a hard one to answer. I didn't even realize it was a set or anything.
It was just very interesting.
Q: So you obviously weren't throwing tantrums at doing
more work.
A: No. No. No. I wasn't one to throw tantrums. I was
very obedient. My mother was very strict and highly critical and a real
taskmaster, so no I would never ever throw a tantrum or say anything contrary
to anybody.
Q: Even if you didn't want to do it, you'd go along with
it?
A: Right. I could never contradict my mother. I just
did what I was told.
Q: What was your childhood like? Was it working, working,
working?
A: Yes. I was constantly working. I didn't even have
friends my own age. All I can remember is working. I was doing two and
three jobs at a time. Yeah. That's pretty much my whole childhood. I did
spent a lot of time alone -- well, not a lot of time because I didn't
have a lot of free time -- but the time I did have free I would just kind
of go off. I'm a pretty contemplative private person and even though people
that know me on a superficial level are always thinking you're so happy
and you're so bubbly: I guess I am when I'm talking to people that I don't
really know -- but in my personal life I'm just very private and I like
a lot of quiet time. I would go off with my dog and that's the way I spent
any free time I had. If I wasn't doing that, then I was working.
Q: Were your friends when you were a child actors as
well?
A: You know, I really didn't have that many friends because
I was surrounded by adults. So they were more like family members to me
when I get to know them on a set and they would kind of take care of me
and be my surrogate parents. I didn't have that many friends.
Q: Do you regret that now?
A: Do I regret that? That's a tough question. I really
can't answer that. I don't know.
Q: Because that's the way you know your life. It would
be hard to know it otherwise.
A: Right. Exactly.
Q: Well, do you regret having spent so much time acting?
A: I'd have to answer that question the same way as the
first one because I don't know any other life, you know what I'm saying.
My life is my life and I just accept it. I don't know what it would have
been like or how I would have turned out if I would have had more time
to pursue things like normal children. I don't know what profession I
would have ended up going into or what. So I really can't answer that
question.
Q: It seems like you were on every show back then. Were
there not that many child actors or were you just the cream of the crop?
A: Well, I think I just got most of the things I went
out on because I was smart. I was a good little trouper and I was easy
to work with and I took direction well. I wasn't spoiled. I didn't have
temper tantrums. I was just very focused and when I would go to work,
even as a little tiny girl, I just was focused on what I had to do and
I would take in everything that people told me -- all the information
as to what they expected of me, how they wanted me to read the line --
and I would just do it. I just had a knack at a very young age and I think
adults were really kind of impressed with that and they just kept hiring
me and hiring me for everything.
Q: Were there roles you didn't get?
A: Oh, I'm sure. Yeah. There were plenty of roles I didn't
get. I went out on so many that some I got and some I didn't get. Most
I got, though. Most of the interviews that I went out on, I usually got
the part. Also there were roles I couldn't go out on because I was working
so a lot of it was conflict. Whenever I was working I couldn't go out
on any other interviews.
Q: Did it bother you when you didn't get a role?
A: Mmm, not really. I think it bothered my mother more
than me. I think it bothered me because I knew that my mom was disappointed
and I felt badly that she was unhappy, but I was just doing what I was
told and going along with the flow. So I wasn't really in any position
to make any decisions. I just did what my mother and all the rest of the
people wanted me to do and I tried to do the best job I could. That was
really it.
Q: Was your mother an actress, too?
A: No, she wasn't an actress.
Q: She just thought you had enough talent that you should
try it?
A: I guess so.
Q: I came across a Web site, pamferdin.com. There are
pages of fan mail. There's letter after letter about crushes on you.
A: (laughs) Yeah.
Q: You inspired a lot of crushes. Why do you think that
was?
A: I think it was an age when we were just all watching
television. It was era when there were only a few different channels on
so unlike today where you have hundreds of choices at any given moment,
then you basically had the three or four basic channels. I think people
saw me. I came into their home and they got to know me. I was their age.
I was kind of growing up with them. I just played the sweet girl next
door. I think that's why people, boys and girls, felt really close to
me.
Q: Did you get a lot of fan mail back then?
A: Yeah. A lot.
Q: What sort of things would people write to you?
A: Everything. It just ran the gamut. They wanted to
know what my life was like and what I did for fun, what kind of music
I liked. Just everything. And telling me how much they liked me on television.
Q: Did you usually respond to them?
A: I tried to respond to them. I think I had somebody
in the agency responding for me and then I would just sign an autographed
picture to them. Or something like that. We worked it out different ways
at different times, depending on how busy I was.
Q: One of the letters on this fan Web site says “Should
I refer to myself as a Ferdinite, a Ferdophile or a Pamelynist?”
Any idea which one is right?
A: Boy. Oh, boy. Boy. I would say just refer to me as
who I am. A compassionate person. Basically that's what I want people
to know me as, somebody that cares about making people happy and also
making the other animals with whom we share the planet happy. I'd like
them to know me as a compassionate caring individual that really believes
that people need to look outside their own species and understand that
we're all connected and that we have to treat other species with respect
and with dignity. That's really how I'd like people to see me.
NEXT:
Part Two of the interview with Pamelyn Ferdin!
|
Amazon Prime - unlimited streaming
of your fave TV shows and movies!
Get your FREE 30 Day Trial!
PR4 & PR5 Pages for Advertising
|
