Kristy McNichol biography

"I'm just trying to keep the events in the order that they happened." (says Harvey to Carlie in The Pinballs while he is making another one of his lists.)

About this biographical timeline:
This page is written by John Beuker for the "Kristy McNichol en ik" website. Copyright John Beuker 1998-2007.

I would like to thank Bart Jospies for lots of information. I would also like to thank Jim Mix for additional information and all the promos. Also thanks to Bill Boyko.

Last update December 2007.

1962
September 11 Kristy McNichol is born in (greater) Los Angeles. The precise place is probably Burbank in northern L.A. Her birth name is Christine Ann or Christina Ann, that remains uncertain.
Her brother James Vincent McNichol III, better known as Jimmy (nowadays as James) was born July 2, 1961. In 1964 their younger brother Thomas (Tommy) is born.
When Kristy is three years old, her parents Jim and Carolyn (or Carollyne, again uncertain) divorce and she and Jimmy live with their mum, Tommy with his grandparents.
1969
Taken to the set by their mother, who does some minor acting roles, Jimmy and Kristy get to know showbiz. At age 7 Kristy makes her first commercial, for Kraft Cheese. Several would follow, for Hostess and McDonalds for instance.
1973
November 19 Kristy has a guest role in the comedy-show Love: American Style. The episode is called "Love and the unsteady steady".
1974
May 19 Kristy (credited as Kristie) has a guest role as Rachel in the CBS series Apple's Way. The episode is called "The Lamb". The series is about the Apple family (mom, dad, 4 kids) that moves from the big city to small Appleton, Iowa.
September 15 Kristy joins the main cast of Apple's Way. She takes over the role of one of the daughters, Patricia Apple, formerly played by Franny Michel (credited as Frannie Michel).
October 19 Run, Joe, Run is a saturday morning adventure series about a dog. Kristy stars in a guest role.
1975
January 12 The last episode of Apple's Way is shown. Kristy played in 16 episodes.
October 22 Kristy plays in an ABC After School Special, episode "The Fawn Story". She stars as Jenna, a young girl who discovers an injured deer, and with the aid of her younger brother nurses it back to health, only to learn that her well-meaning efforts are in conflict with the law.
1976
January 7 Makes her first appearance on Starsky and Hutch. It's the 15th episode "The Hostages" and she plays Meg.
February 18 Her second After School Special, "Me and Dad's New Wife" in the series The Teenage Years. It is based on the book "A smart kid like you", by Stella Pevsner. She plays Nina Beckwith. Her parents are divorced and she lives with her mom. On the first day of junior high her dad's new wife turns out to be her math teacher. Peace between the two is finally reached after a series of events in which her class tries to force the resignation of the teacher. (date also reported as January 7; published by Time-Life Video)
March 9 Kristy co-stars in the six-part mini-series Family, which is on ABC. She plays Buddy (Letitia) Lawrence. She has a sister Nancy, a brother Willie, mother Kate and father Doug, living in Pasadena. It is a huge success. Promos
April 13 The last episode of the mini-series Family is shown.
May 7 A guest role in the TV-series Sara, starring Brenda Vaccaro.
May 26 Guest role in The Bionic Woman, playing Amanda Corey in "The Ghost Hunter", the 13th episode.
September 28 ABC picks up Family as a full-time series. It will run 4 years.
December 25 She plays Molly "Pete" Edwards in Starsky and Hutch's 33rd episode "Little Girl Lost". It's about a difficult Christmas for a skid-row child whose father is shot dead.
1977
January 21 Kristy plays in The Love Boat II. This was a made for TV movie, the first with the later famous cast. She plays Linda Morley who has a crush on Gopher.
February 28 Defending the ABC team in ABC's Battle of the Network Stars. Highlight is beating Robert Conrad in a kayak race.
April 17 She competes in CBS' Celebrity Challenge of the Sexes.
May 18 The Pinballs is Kristy's third ABC After School Special. She plays Carlie, staying in a foster home with two boys. They feel like pinballs because of the way they get bounced around and they can't do anything about it. It is based on a novel by Betsy Byars. See my special page.
September 7 ABC presents their new schedule in "The magic of ABC starring David Copperfield". Many ABC star takes part in Copperfield's acts, including Kristy in a comedy-magic skit "the Maltese canary".
September 9 Kristy takes the challenge in another network sporting event: Us Against the World (NBC).
September 11  Kristy wins an Outstanding Continuing Performance By A Supporting Actress In A Drama Series Emmy Award for her role in Family. Her colleague Gary Frank (Willie) wins the Emmy for supporting actor. Kristy was also nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for her performance in The Pinballs, but unfortunately she did not win it.
Fall Kristy is a guest on Sha Na Na, a themed variety show with skits and music around a 50's style band.
October Kristy is on the Love Boat again, in the third episode of the first series. The segment is called "Graham and Kelly" and her love interest Graham is played by Scott Baio.
October 28 Kristy is a guest on The Donny & Marie Show.
November 4 The Battle of the Network Stars features both Kristy and Jimmy McNichol. Kristy is on the ABC team, Jimmy is on the CBS team.
November 20 She competes in another Celebrity Challenge of the Sexes.
December 5 Kristy and Jimmy join the circus in the 2nd edition of Circus of the Stars on CBS.
December 9 She is a guest on The Carpenters at Christmas special on ABC. Karen and Kristy sing the Christmas Alphabet.
? Kristy was supposed to make her debut on the big screen in Black Sunday about terrorists upsetting Super Bowl, but the small role she had was eventually edited out.
1978
January 31 It's ABC's Silver Anniversary Celebration and Kristy takes part.
February 1 Her third appearance in Starsky and Hutch. In the 60th episode called "The Trap" she plays Joey Carston who gets trapped with Starsky and Hutch in a barn to be set ablaze by an ex-con. Promo
February 14 NBC has a Valentine Special in which celebrities give opinions on love. Kristy and Jimmy are two of them.
March 8 Kristy is guest host on the Mike Douglas Show. Guests include Patti Smith.
April Kristy makes her debut on the big screen in Burt Reynolds' black comedy The End. She plays Julie, daughter of Sonny Lawson (Reynolds) who is terminally ill. Promo
June RCA Records issues the Kristy & Jimmy McNichol album and throws a record release party at New York's famous club 'Studio 54'. The single "He's so fine" enters the Billboard Hot 100 on July 22 and stays there 8 weeks. The highest position is no. 70. In the Cash Box top 100 singles chart it enters on July 29 and stays there four weeks. The highest position is no. 83, reached on August 12. The B-side is "He's a dancer".
Later the second single "Page by Page" is released (B-side "Girl you really got me goin'")
September 1 Kristy and Jimmy host the one hour ABC All-Star Saturday Preview Special. Guests include Donny Osmond singing "Love Will Find a Way"; Donny Most, singing "Here's Some Love"; Haywood Nelson, Danielle Spencer, Adam Rich, Joey Travolta, Maurice Gibb. Kristy sings "He's So Fine", Jimmy sings "Girl You Really Got Me Goin'." Both McNichols duet on "Boogie Oogie Oogie" and Donna Summer's "Last Dance". Promo
September 9 It's time for another Us Against the World and sporty Kristy is in the team again.
October 22 She plays in two TV-movies in a short time. In Like Mom, Like Me (CBS) she is Jenny. Her father has left the family. She and her mother are trying to pick up their lives. They also attract male interest. Promo
October The second TV-movie this month is Summer of My German Soldier (NBC). It is about Jewish girl Patty Bergen in Georgia during WWII who falls in love with an escaped German prisoner. Promo
Fall The televised version of People Magazine on CBS puts the spot on Kristy.

With Jimmy she makes an appearance on Dick Clark's Live Wednesday (NBC).
December 8 Kristy and Jimmy present Young and Foolish, a one hour special at CBS with guest Danny Thomas. Kristy shows her skateboarding skills.
December Kristy and Jimmy are guests in the Carpenters, A Christmas Portrait. Gene Kelly is one of the other guests.
1979
April 27 The last episode of Family, during its initial network run, is aired.
August Susan Katz releases an unofficial biography of Kristy and Jimmy McNichol: TV's Talented McNichols (139 pages). An abridged version (92 pages) contains some different photo's. The book contains errors, most notably Kristy's date of birth.
Also around that time an unofficial Kristy biography by Sylvia Resnick is published. It includes a look at her horoscope.
September 9 Kristy wins her second Emmy for Family. It's for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series.
November 2 Kristy makes her final appearance in a Battle of the Network Stars.
December 7 My Old Man is a CBS TV-Movie in which Kristy plays horse-loving Jo Butler. Her mother has died and she wants to live with her father (Warren Oates) at the race-track. The movie is filmed in Saratoga Springs, NY. Promo
December 24 Family returns to the ABC Network.
1980
March 21 The release of Little Darlings by Paramount Pictures. The movie also starred Tatum O'Neal, but Kristy outplays her as Angel Bright who competes with O'Neal who will lose her virginity first. A successful coming-of-age film. Promos
April 30 Kristy helps her brother in his The Jimmy McNichol Special (CBS). Among the guests are Magic Johnson and Ricky Schroder. Taped at KTTV Studios Feb. 21.
June 25 The last episode of Family is shown.
Fall Blinded By The Light is a CBS movie in which Kristy and Jimmy play sister and brother. Jimmy is in a cult, his parents try to get him out. His sister wants him home too, but also wants him to do what he wants. Still shots Promo
1981
January 31 Kristy's mother Carolyn marries Siegfried Lucas. Ten months before adopted daughter Jennifer was born, Kristy's half-sister. Picture
June
Another big movie: The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia. She plays Amanda Child, sister and manager of musician Travis (Dennis Quaid, left) who lacks her ambition. Also her dog Lulu plays in the movie (see picture left). It used to be a black dog. Promo
September Neil Simon's Only When I Laugh has Kristy playing Polly, the daughter of an alcoholic mother (Marsha Mason). It was loosely based on Simon's play The Gingerbread Lady and earned Kristy a nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best motion picture actress in a supporting role. Promo Academy Card (large file)
September 20 Kristy takes part in NBC's Get High on Yourself week, along with many other celebrities. "NBC is presenting a positive alternate lifestyle for the kids of America", initiated by Paul Newman in honor of his son.
1982
March 21 Kristy is one of the guests on the ABC Special I Love Liberty. "A star-studded entertainment salute to the freedoms that make our country great".
July 7 Kristy plays Julie Sawyer in White Dog. In this movie by Samuel Fuller (1911-1997) after a book by Romain Gary, Kristy runs over a dog with her car. It turns out that the dog is trained to attack blacks. She finds an animal trainer who tries to deprogram the dog.
Unjustifiably the NAACP sees this movie as an incitement to racism, and its release is deferred then dropped by the studio (Paramount) that had commissioned it. It was released in Europe to rave reviews, but ended up on pay television in North America. The date is for first release in Paris. It was produced in 1981.TV Promo with Burl Ives
August The Pirate Movie, the most expensive movie made in Australia, is crushed by criticism at that time. Blond haired Kristy is Mabel Stanley who falls in love with pirate (Chris Atkins). In her dream there is pirate action, romance, songs by all of the actors and humor. Turns out to be a cult hit until this day.
December Kristy leaves the set of Just the Way You Are (working title: I Won't Dance) due to "chemical imbalance". Later this is diagnosed as bipolar disorder or manic depression. After taking a long hiatus to recover, she will finish the movie in 1984.
date unknown The animated film Aladdin and the Magic Lamp has Kristy doing voiceovers, together with Christopher Atkins as Aladdin, John Carradine and June Lockhart. It was produced by Toei Animation Company Ltd., distributed by The Samuel Goldwyn Company. Still shots
1983
April Kristy is a host on Oscar Night (she also was in 1980 and 1982). The one problem she has is pronouncing the name of the winner in the category Best Short Animated Film Zbigniew Rybczynski...
April Little Darlings is showed on TV in a bizarre version. The movie is "edited for content": scenes with sexual references are badly cut or dubbed, making it an incomprehensible story about "becoming a winner". In an attempt to make up for this censorship, they added a couple of scenes that were not shown at the theatres. This version is showed a few times. Since then the theatrical version is back on.
1984
November Just the Way You Are is finally released. Kristy plays Susan Berlanger, a crippled musician who discovers a new life in a ski resort in France where no-one knows of her disease. A beautiful and funny movie.
1985
October 8 In the CBS TV-movie Love, Mary Kristy plays the true story of Dr. Mary Groda-Lewis. Mary Groda endured sixteen years of illiteracy because of unrecognized dyslexia, was committed to a reformatory on two different occasions, and almost died of a stroke while bearing a child. But she was committed to going to college and becoming a good doctor.
1986
February 21 Alan J. Pakula (All the President's Men) directs Kristy in Dream Lover, about Kathy Gardner who gets attacked in her apartment and suffers from nightmares since. A scientist has an experimental solution. One of her best movies.
November Kristy plays T.J. Nolan in the TV-movie Women of Valor. She assists army nurses in their fight against the Japanese on the Philippines during WWII.
1987
February 17 CBS airs Candid Camera! The First 40 Years. Kristy participates.
1988
January In the movie You Can't Hurry Love, a singles comedy, Kristy has a small part as Rhonda.
April 10 She has a guest role in the CBS series Murder She Wrote as Jill Morton, Jessica's niece. The episode is called "Showdown in Saskatchewan"
April 29 Kristy has a lively role as Patti-Jean in the sensual movie Two Moon Junction.
October 8 The NBC comedy series Empty Nest premieres. It's about a pediatrician Harry Weston (Richard Mulligan) and his two daughters: Kristy is Barbara, Dinah Manoff is Carol. A successful Witt, Thomas and Harris production.
1989
April 3 In People magazine Kristy describes her difficult time during Just the Way You Are, "to hell and back".
date unknown Kristy's last feature film is The Forgotten One, a horror-like thriller-drama. She plays Barbara Stupple, the neighbor of a settling writer (played by Terry O'Quinn) who discovers a ghost in his house. (it was made in 1989, but probably released in 1990)
1990
January 20 Kristy is one of the presenters at the 47th annual Golden Globe Awards show.
October 5 She stars in the TV-movie Children of the Bride as Mary, a nun who wants to leave the monastery because she is pregnant but does not know the father. Her mother wants to marry a 14 year younger man, but is afraid of the reactions of her children. In 1991 and 1993 sequels to this movie are made.
1991
March 9 In her role as Barbara Weston she appears as a guest in The Golden Girls (The two households are neighbors of each other). It's the episode "Witness" in which Rose's former friend is a protected witness and her new date turns out to be the wanted Karl the Cheeseman.
December 22 The first sequel for Children of the Bride is Baby of the Bride. Mary's not the only one who is pregnant...
1992
February 29 Her second "neighbor role" (very short) in The Golden Girls is in the double episode "A Midwinter Night's Dream"
October 24 The last episode of Empty Nest with Kristy is shown. It turns out that a month before she has left the series because her manic depressive illness is getting worse again. This marks the end of the acting career of Kristy. Giving interviews almost competely comes to an end also.
1993
February 27 The last in the sequel: Mother of the Bride. Mary meets biker Ken, while her sister Anne is getting married. Kristy and Rue McClanahan were co-executive producer of this movie.
1995
April 29 The final episode of Empty Nest, Kristy returns for the occasion.
1997
September 22 Kristy makes a guest appearance (voice) on Extreme Ghostbusters, a animated spin-off of The Real Ghostbusters, in the episode "Dry Spell". Her role is credited as 'Girl (in Sub)'.
1998
June 8 Kristy does the voice of Angie Romar in the prime-time animation series Invasion America, which is broadcast by WB. It consists of 6 episodes, the last broadcast July 5.
1999
January Wizard King, the band with brother James, release their CD Eco Warrior. Kristy sings along on a few songs.
Kristy and James also participate in a ecological project called PlanetView. On their web site Kristy presents the pilot episode, but nothing is ever heard again of this project.
March 22 E! Entertainment Television puts the spot on Kristy in their show True Hollywood Stories. She does not contribute. Her brother does, along with people Kristy has worked with.
2001
June Kristy has a message for her fans on a website presented by eMediastar. Unfortunately the website is never updated and finally dissolves. Also the celebrity tennis tournament for charity that Kristy had organised in the years before folds. One of the charities Kristy has supported most is The H.E.L.P. Group, which provides education and counseling for needly families.
2002-2006
No news whatsoever on Kristy McNichol.
2007
January 13 Kristy McNichol attends a Celebrity meet and greet in Buena Park, CA.

Note: dates are for release in the US.

About this biographical timeline:
This page is written by John Beuker for the "Kristy McNichol en ik" website. Copyright John Beuker 1998-2007.

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