Good as Gold Trivia Quiz

Answer: Brigitta von Trapp (juvenile; 1965)

Born in England in 1952, Angela Cartwright played both of these roles. Brigitta was the middle of the five von Trapp daughters in "The Sound of Music", with both sons being older. Her first entrance was memorable, as she wandered in carrying a book, instead of marching in like her siblings. Penny was the middle child of the Robinson family in "Lost in Space" (the original TV series), said to be eleven when the series began, slightly younger than Cartwright herself. Cartwright had earlier appeared in a number of movies and television shows, beginning at the age of four.

She continued to work into the 2020s, often doing voice work, and reprising her Penny Robinson role in "Lost in Space: The Epilogue" (2015).

Answer: Arliss Coates (juvenile; 1957, 1963)

Kevin Corcoran (1949-2015) made his first film appearance at the age of four, playing Jimmy Stewart's son in "The Glenn Miller Story" (1954). He played a number of characters called Moochie, sometimes with different surnames, both on TV and in some movies. The television role referred to here is the annoying little kid Moochie in "The Further Adventures of Spin and Marty" (1956) and "The New Adventures of Spin and Marty" (1957).

He first appeared as Arliss Coates in "Old Yeller" (1957), reprising the role in "Savage Sam" (1963). Arliss was the younger brother of Travis (Tommy Kirk) in both films, both of which were named for the family dog. The former had the sadder ending.

Kevin appeared in a number of movies, often for Disney, throughout his youth, eventually moving behind the cameras to act as an assistant director for both movies and television shows.

Answer: Helen Keller (juvenile; 1962)

Patty Duke (1946-2016) played multiple roles in her television series, "The Patty Duke Show" (1963-1966), including "identical cousins" Patty Lane and Cathy Lane. The show was a comedy, with the cousins getting into typical teenage misadventures. She had not long earlier won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker" (1962), a much more serious role.

She continued working in both films and television well into adulthood, sometimes billed as Patty Duke Astin, during her marriage to actor John Astin. She was mother to actors Sean Astin and Mackenzie Astin.

Answer: Winthrop Paroo (juvenile; 1962)

Before he was an award-winning director and producer, Ron Howard was the successful child actor billed as Ronny Howard, who became a familiar face playing Sheriff Andy Taylor's son Opie on "The Andy Griffith Show". This childhood role has followed Howard into adulthood, with "Opie" references often cropping up in modern television shows. I've always been partial to the character Winthrop Paroo, who suffered from a terrible lisp and was rather shy because of it. That all changed when "The Music Man" (Prof. Harold Hill played by Robert Preston) came to town and encouraged confidence in the boy.

As a slightly older, but still young, actor Howard appeared in "Happy Days" (1974-1984) as Richie Cunningham, and in movies like "American Graffiti" (1973) and "The Shootist" (1976). His directorial credits include "Apollo 13" (1995), "A Beautiful Mind" (2001) and "Rush" (2013) among many others.

Answer: Gabriel Mackay (juvenile; 1960)

When "My Three Sons" debuted, Stanley Livingston played the youngest Douglas son, Chip, with Tim Considine and Don Grady playing older brothers Mike and Robbie. Mike eventually left and got married, so Stanley's real brother, Barry Livingston, joined the cast as the now-youngest (adopted) brother, Ernie, keeping the number of sons at the three of the title.

Stanley played one of the four sons of Kate and Lawrence Mackay (Doris Day and David Niven) in the comedy "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" (1960). Gabriel, David and George, were constantly thinking up new ways to put their baby brother Adam in precarious situations, though never with the intention of harming him.

Answer: Pollyanna (juvenile; 1960)

Born in 1946 to actor John Mills and his playwright wife, Mary Hayley Bell, Hayley Mills had already impressed in the British film "Tiger Bay" (1959) before playing the eternally optimistic Pollyanna in Disney's film of the same name a year later. She was given a Juvenile Academy Award for "Pollyanna". She went on to make several films with Disney, and with other companies, sometimes co-starring with her father.

Her role in the British television mini-series, "The Flame Trees of Thika" was that of the mother of the series' narrator (an eleven-year-old girl), and wife of a coffee planter in Kenya just before the First World War. The series is based on the memoir of Elspeth Huxley, and as such is largely true.

Answer: Freda's baby (juvenile; 1942)

Juliet Mills, born in 1941, is the older sister of Hayley Mills. Juliet's first credited role came at the age of one, as the infant son(!) of Ordinary Seaman Shorty Blake and his wife Freda, in Noel Coward's masterwork "In Which We Serve". Shorty was played by baby Juliet's father, John Mills.

Fast forward over eighty years to her six episode guest role on "Grey's Anatomy" as Max, housemate of one of Grey-Sloan's junior doctors who becomes a patient. In between she appeared in many films and on TV, notably as the Nanny in "Nanny and the Professor" (1970-1971) and in "The Rare Breed" (1966) with James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara.

Answer: Erasmus Leaf (juvenile; 1965)

Born in 1954, Billy Mumy played Will, the son of the Robinson family who were "Lost in Space". The family robot was once heard to proclaim "Danger, Will Robinson!" in an effort to keep the youngster safe. Erasmus Leaf, known as Ras, was the math-whiz son of a poet (James Stewart) in "Dear Brigitte". The boy, who was eight, professed to be in love with French actress Brigitte Bardot, with comic consequences.

Later credited as Bill Mumy, he has had a long career in acting, voice work and as a writer. He is also a talented musician, playing several instruments and releasing a number of albums.

Answer: Gordie Lachance (juvenile; 1986)

California-born Wil Wheaton was a teenager when he began playing Starfleet officer Wesley Crusher on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in 1987. In all, Wheaton appeared in 86 episodes of the series, though he was a regular for only three-and-a-half seasons. He had earlier appeared as one of the four boys who set out to see a dead body in "Stand by Me", directed by Rob Reiner and based on a story by Stephen King.

Fans of "The Big Bang Theory" will recall Wil Wheaton's love/hate relationship with Sheldon, with Wheaton portraying a version of himself in 17 episodes over a number of seasons.

Answer: Mary Jane Patterson (juvenile; 1939)

As a child actor, Jane Withers (1926-2021) got top billing on many of her movies, including "The Arizona Wildcat" in which she played Mary Jane Patterson, a young girl who helped her foster father (Leo Carrillo) when he was falsely accused of a crime. Her appearances as Josephine in a series of commercials for a leading cleaning product brought her back into prominence, and may well be more memorable than any of her childhood roles.

Later in life she made occasional appearances in television programmes, and as a voice actor for animated films.