Who is Christina Ann McNichol?

Who is Christina Ann McNichol? The entertainment and acting world know her as Kristy McNichol is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Leticia “Buddy” Lawrence on the television drama series Family and as Barbara Weston on the sitcom Empty Nest.^[1] She is also the sister of former child actor Jimmy McNichol. McNichol retired from acting when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1992.^[2]

Early life and career

McNichol was born September 11, 1962 in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Carolyn McNichol Lucas, a business manager and actress, and Jim McNichol, a carpenter.^[3] She has two brothers from that marriage: Thomas and Jimmy McNichol. Her parents divorced when she was six years old. When McNichol was 19 her mother married Siegfried Lucas. In the same year Lucas and McNichol's mother adopted McNichol's sister Jennifer Lucas.
McNichol appeared with her brother Jimmy in commercials and later, on her own, in guest appearances on such other series as Starsky and Hutch, The Bionic Woman, Love American Style and The Love Boat, thanks to family friend Desi Arnaz. Her first stint as a series regular came in the role of Patricia Apple in the short-lived CBS television series Apple's Way (1974).

In 1976, McNichol was cast as Buddy in the television drama series Family (1976–80), for which she earned two Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Dramatic Series (1977 and 1979). Many actors and actresses guest-starred on the show, including Helen Hunt, Michael J. Fox and Leif Garrett. Family, produced by Aaron Spelling, was considered a breakthrough for television drama that dealt with "real life" issues.

In December 1977, McNichol appeared on The Carpenters at Christmas TV special, performing several musical numbers with the duo. In 1978, McNichol and her brother Jimmy made their own foray into music, recording an album, Kristy & Jimmy McNichol, for RCA Records. The album included the single "He's So Fine" (a cover of The Chiffons' 1963 hit)

, which peaked at #70 on the Billboard chart. The McNichols promoted the album at New York's Studio 54 discothèque, with such other big-name celebrities in attendance as Brooke Shields. In December 1978, McNichol would appear in another Carpenters holiday special, The Carpenters: A Christmas Portrait, this time with Jimmy.
By this time, McNichol was one of the biggest teen stars of the era and appeared on various chat shows, including The Mike Douglas Show and Dinah!, as well as making several appearances on Battle of the Network Stars and other celebrity-based shows. Also in 1978, she starred in the acclaimed made-for-television film adaptation of Bette Greene's Summer of My German Soldier.
McNichol began her feature film career in the Burt Reynolds comedy The End in 1978. She later co-starred with Tatum O'Neal, Matt Dillon, and Cynthia Nixon in the hit coming of age movie, Little Darlings, in 1980. Her critically acclaimed performance in that film was considered to be of Academy Award caliber by many reviewers. She appeared with Dennis Quaid and Mark Hamill in The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (1981), for which, at age 19, she received an unprecedented six-figure salary. The same year, she co-starred in Neil Simon's Only When I Laugh, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

By 1982 McNichol's fortunes began to decline. She starred in the multi-million-dollar-budget musical spoof The Pirate Movie alongside Christopher Atkins, but the film flopped at the box office. Later that year, McNichol failed to return to the set of Just The Way You Are after the production had halted for Christmas vacation. By this time, unfounded rumors of McNichol's alleged drug use were rife and it was often speculated to be the cause of her increasingly problematic behavior later attributed to bipolar disorder. Although McNichol eventually completed the film, her reputation was severely damaged by the incident. Just the Way You Are underperformed at the box office, despite a healthy opening weekend. After one more unsuccessful starring vehicle, 1986's Dream Lover, McNichol was subsequently offered only B-film titles and television movies. She supported lead actress Susan Sarandon in the 1986 TV movie Women of Valor, about American nurses incarcerated in a Japanese concentration camp during World War II, and also appeared in cameo roles in two theatrical films of 1988: You Can't Hurry Love and Two Moon Junction.
In 1988, McNichol played Barbara Weston on the NBC sitcom Empty Nest, a spin-off of The Golden Girls, along with Richard Mulligan and Dinah Manoff. But McNichol's attendance once again became a problem, and she left the series in 1992 when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.^[4] She returned to the series for its final episode in 1995, her last screen appearance as an actress to date, though she went on to voice characters in the animated TV series Extreme Ghostbusters (1997) and Invasion America (1998).

Post-acting life

Elisabeth Brooks

The untimely death from cancer of her long-time friend Elisabeth Brooks in 1997 was a great blow to McNichol, who had a near-death experience herself while scuba-diving in Hawaii in 1992.
In March 1999, McNichol was the subject of an edition of E! True Hollywood Story, in which she spoke candidly about her career, alleged drug problems, and her mental health problems. McNichol's last public statement was in June 2001, when she said:

"A lot of people have wondered what I've been up to. I retired from my career after 24 years. My feeling was that it was time to play my biggest part – MYSELF! I must say that it has been the best thing that ever happened to me. So many fans are disappointed that I'm not currently acting, however some may not realize that the process I'm in at this time is necessary and vital for my personal happiness and well-being."^[5]

McNichol resides in Los Angeles, California. Since retiring from the screen, she has taught acting at a private school in Los Angeles and devoted much of her time to charity work.^[6]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	Love, American Style	Steffi	Segment: "Love and the Unsteady Steady"
1974	Apple's Way	Rachel	Episode: "The Lamb"
1974-1975	Apple's Way	Patricia Apple	12 episodes
1975	ABC Afterschool Specials	Jenna McPhail	Episode: "Fawn Story"
1976	ABC Afterschool Specials	Nina Beckwith	Episode: "Me and Dad's New Wife"
1976	Starsky and Hutch	Meg Molly Edwards	Episode: "The Hostages" Episode: "Little Girl Lost"
1976	Sara		Episode: "Grandpa's Girl"
1976	The Bionic Woman	Amanda Cory	Episode: "The Ghost Hunter"
1976-1980	Family	Letitia 'Buddy' Lawrence	86 episodes
1977	The Love Boat II	Linda Morley	TV movie
1977	Black Sunday	(scenes deleted)
1977	The Love Boat	Kelly	Episode: "Graham and Kelly"
1977	ABC Afterschool Specials	Carlie Higgins	Episode: "The Pinballs"
1978	Starsky and Hutch	Joey Carston	Episode: "The Trap"
1978	The End	Julie Lawson
1978	Like Mom, Like Me	Jennifer Gruen	TV movie
1978	Summer of My German Soldier	Patty Bergen	TV movie
1979	My Old Man	Jo Butler	TV movie
1980	Little Darlings	Angel
1980	Blinded by the Light	Janet Bowers
1981	The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia	Amanda Child
1981	Only When I Laugh	Polly
1982	White Dog	Julie Sawyer
1982	The Pirate Movie	Mabel
1984	Just the Way You Are	Susan Berlanger
1985	Love, Mary	Mary Groda-Lewis	TV movie
1986	Dream Lover	Kathy Gardner
1986	Women of Valor	T.J. Nolan	TV movie
1988	You Can't Hurry Love	Rhonda
1988	Murder, She Wrote	Jill Morton	Episode: "Showdown in Saskatchewan"
1988	Two Moon Junction	Patti Jean
1988-1995	Empty Nest	Barbara Weston	100 episodes
1989	The Forgotten One	Barbara Stupple
1990	Children of the Bride	Mary	TV movie
1991	Baby of the Bride	Mary	TV movie
1991	The Golden Girls	Barbara Weston	Episode: "Witness"
1992	The Golden Girls	Barbara Weston	Episode: "A Midwinter Night's Dream: Part 2"
1993	Mother of the Bride	Mary	TV movie
1997	Extreme Ghostbusters	Girl in Sub (voice)	Episode: "Dry Spell"
1998	Invasion America	Sgt. Angela 'Angie' Romar (voice)	13 episodes

Awards

Wins

1977 

Emmy, for Family

1979 

Emmy, for Family

1980 

People's Choice Award for "Favorite Young Motion Picture Actress"

1982 

Young Artist Award, for Only When I Laugh

1989 

Razzie Award, for Two Moon Junction

Nominations

1978 

Emmy, for Family

1979 

Golden Globe, for Family

1980 

Emmy, for Family

Young Artist Award, for Family

1981 

Young Artist Award, for My Old Man and Little Darlings

1982 

Golden Globe, for Only When I Laugh

1983 

Razzie Award, for The Pirate Movie

 

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