Kyle Richards was famous decades before she joined “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” The longtime Bravo star started as a child actor in the 1970s and she racked up an impressive resume alongside her older sister Kim Richards.
As a child, Richards had recurring roles on “Little House on the Prairie” and “Carter Country.” She was also a main character in the 1980s sitcom, “Down to Earth,” in which she appeared in 105 episodes.
“The haters will be, like, ‘Oh, please. You didn’t even do anything,’” Richards told the Los Angeles Times in a 2021 interview. “I’m not going to respond, but I do think, ‘If you’re bored you can check out my IMDb’.”
In honor of Richards’ January 11 birthday, read on for five of her earlier TV roles you may have missed.
1.“Police Woman” (1974)
NBC/Wikimedia CommonsRichards began her credited acting career at age 5 in the Angie Dickinson police procedural, “Police Woman,” in an episode titled “The Cradle Robbers.” The future RHOBH star played a missing little girl named Julie Faulkner in a story about an adoption racket.
2. Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas (1977)
In 1977, Richards turned up as one of the grandchildren in two long-awaited “Father Knows Best” reunions. The first TV movie special, titled “Father Knows Best Reunion” aired In May 1977 and featured the future reality star as Ellen, the youngest grandchild of Jim and Margaret Anderson (Robert Young, Jane Wyatt) from the beloved 1950s sitcom.
The reunion was such a hit that producers rushed to make a second film for the holiday season, according to Herbie Pilato’s book “Christmas TV Memories.” In December 1977, an 8-year-old Richards reprised her role as Ellen for the holiday-filled NBC family movie, “Father Knows Best: Home For the Holidays.”
The wholesome “Father Knows Best” reunions helped give Richards a positive experience as a child actor. “A lot of the things I did were in a very family-friendly environment,” she said in an interview with San Diego Entertainer.
3.“Fantasy Island” (1979)
In 1979, Richards played an orphan named Rebecca in the “Fantasy Island” episode “Cornelius and Alphonse/The Choice.” In one scene, she appeared as an assistant in a magician’s (Regis Philbin) magic trick.
In 2017, Richards posted a throwback photo from the episode and wrote, “9 year old me on an episode of Fantasy Island. I remember how much I loved that show & was so excited to be on it 😊.”
4. “Beverly Hills, 90210” (1999)
No longer a kid, but well before her “Real Housewives” years, Kyle appeared in an episode of “Beverly Hills, 90210,” playing a woman named Anna Murphy in the episode “Bobbi Dearest.” The role came after Richards took a nearly 10-year break from acting to focus on raising her young children.
5. “The Simple Life” (2007)
Not an acting role, but Richards made a foray into reality TV with several cameos on her niece Paris Hilton’s reality series “The Simple Life” in the early 2000s. In one episode, a young girl mistook her for Hilton’s grandmother! Not a fair assessment considering Richards looks great and is only 12 years older than her famous niece.
Richards once said that acting is easier than doing reality TV. “I love acting, it’s what I’ve done all my life and to me, it’s a lot easier than doing reality television because you get into a character, you remember your lines and you go home and leave it all behind at the end of the day,” she told The Daily Dish in 2012.
Comments
Top 5 Kyle Richards Classic TV Moments You May Have Missed