Some Child Stars Were Victors, Not Victims

As a bona fide former child star, I read “When Early Acting Careers Careen to an End” (Calendar, Jan. 5) with great interest. I consider Paul Petersen a friend, having taught with him last summer at the Donna Reed Foundation Performing Arts Festival in Denison, Iowa. (I also guested on a “Donna Reed Show” in the late ‘50s.) While I respect what he is trying to accomplish through his support group, I am compelled to add a positive note to his rather depressing findings.

My first film was “Madame Curie” in 1943--I played the baby--and I continued working in more than 40 films, 100 TV shows and theatrical productions through the 1960s. My brother Peter Miles, a.k.a. Richard Miles, was the young boy in “The Red Pony,” among many other roles, and my sister, Janine, also worked frequently as a child. My brother is now an author (“That Cold Day in the Park,” “Angel Loves Nobody,” etc.), a retired teacher and an international art appraiser. Janine, never crazy about acting, is married and a very successful businesswoman, working for the Housing Authority of the city of Los Angeles.

I chose to marry and raise a family, but never felt I gave up my career. I used my visibility to give back some of the many blessings and recognition I had received. I have volunteered for the past 28 years as a spokesperson for the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, served on several other boards, including Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum, have directed some community theater productions and, most important, have been teaching drama for the past eight years at Immaculate Heart High School, my alma mater, in Hollywood. I love the opportunity to share my almost 50 years experience with my students.

Did our careers “careen to an end”? I don’t think so! We made choices to continue our lives and careers, based on the future, not on the past. I value the years of working with some of the greatest stars and directors ever.

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I appreciate the dedication of studio teachers, especially the late Gladys Hoene, who worked closely with my schools, to assure that I did get a well-rounded education, and along with my parents, most definitely assured that I was never treated as “chattel.” I enjoy the memories of my own railroad car touring the East Coast on behalf of Universal Studios, being grand marshal of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, lighting the Christmas tree at New York’s Central Park, staying at the penthouse apartment of Cecil Beaton at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel, having J. Edgar Hoover personally escort me through the FBI building in Washington and explain its workings.

A deprived childhood? Not for me! An incredible opportunity is how I truly feel. Would I like to work again as an actress? You bet! Why? Because I love it, and I’m very good. (I still am amazed at the amount of fan mail I receive from all over the world.)

Would I prefer to be directing television or films? Absolutely! But in the meantime, life goes on, and I will continue to share my experiences with my students, work on my book and look for an agent, as I continue to thank God for the lifetime of extraordinary opportunities that few children have ever had, and for my parents, husband and children who somehow managed to keep all these things in proper perspective.