How a former child star with ties to eastern Idaho got started in acting, overcame a 10-year battle with addiction
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IDAHO FALLS – Sporting a bushy white beard and slicked back hair, Johnny Whitaker looks much different today than audiences remember him.
The 63-year-old California man became famous as a six-year-old curly-haired redhead when he was cast in the 1960s TV series “Family Affair,” which ran on CBS for five seasons. He later appeared in multiple Disney films throughout the 1970s and gave Jody Foster her first onscreen kiss in the film adaptation of “Tom Sawyer.” The 1973 film celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
With a documentary and film project in the works, Whitaker is back in show business again. His memoir is slated for release sometime next year.
But what many people don’t know is that Whitaker has ties to eastern Idaho. His mom, Thelma, grew up in Clifton about 12 miles northwest of Preston. Whitaker grew up in southern California as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and attended the same congregation as the Osmond Family. He and Marie are the same age.
During a Zoom conversation with EastIdahoNews.com, Whitaker says his faith played a pivotal role in landing him his first acting gig at age three. It was 1963 and Whitaker’s mom, who was the children’s music chorister at church, was preparing for the children’s program.
“A song that’s very dear to most LDS people called ‘I Am a Child of God,’ had just come out that year,” Whitaker says. “She didn’t have time to teach it to all the kids, so she taught it to one young girl, who would sing the verses. My sisters, in three-part harmony, would sing the chorus.”
The girl who was supposed to sing the verses ended up getting sick and Whitaker was called upon to sing in her place because he was the only other child who knew the words.
On the day of the program, young Johnny made it through the first verse without a problem. On the second verse, he forgot the words.
“I just started making it up. There were all these people looking at me and I didn’t want to mess up. My sisters were elbowing me, saying ‘That’s not right,'” he says. “I finished the verse. The congregation was crying and laughing because it was funny to watch.”
After the program, a member of the congregation whose son had appeared in several TV commercials, stopped Thelma and said that a 3-year-old who wasn’t scared, wasn’t crying and kept the program going was impressive. The woman connected Thelma with her son’s agent, and Johnny won a part in a used car commercial.
He appeared in a movie with his future “Family Affair” co-star Brian Keith in 1966 called “The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming.” Impressed with Whitaker’s abilities, Keith recommended him for the part of Jody Davis. Whitaker played one of three kids on the show who went to live with his uncle after their parents died. Keith played the uncle.
“We became one of the highest-rated shows of the time,” Whitaker recalls. “I’m very proud of the work that I did. I look at it today — you can watch it on just about any streaming service — and it still holds up, even after 50 plus years.”
A lifelong friendship
In their private lives, the Whitakers and the Osmonds had a lot in common. Both were large families (Whitaker is the fifth of eight siblings and there are nine Osmond siblings) and they spent a lot of time together. Whitaker has fond memories of going over to the Osmond’s house on Sunday night to watch “The Twilight Zone.”
He and Marie became good friends and he met up with Donny years later when he was attending Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. The Osmonds were building a studio in Orem at the time, where they filmed “The Donny and Marie Show” in the 1970s.
Whitaker and Marie have remained friends over the years, and the two run into each other “all the time” as adults.
“I (recently) saw Marie in Seattle at one of her concerts. I went backstage and talked with her. It was very nice. I’d seen them (Donny and Marie) a few times when they were in Las Vegas and went back to see them afterward,” says Whitaker.
Turning to drugs in times of tragedy
Despite having what many would consider a glamorous childhood, Whitaker says life as an adult hasn’t been easy. For 10 years, Whitaker struggled with a drug and alcohol addiction. A lifestyle that Whitaker describes as “sex, drugs, rock and roll” led to his excommunication from the LDS Church.
Three tragedies occurred in his life that led him down this path.
“My wife divorced me after three years so she could marry the man who gave me my bachelor party. That was strike No. 1,” says Whitaker.
He later met a woman who had a four-year-old daughter. He grew to love them both and wanted to marry the woman, but it wasn’t in the cards. Whitaker says the woman had some mental issues and killed herself.
“The day after I found out about her passing, I got a letter stating that my divorce was 100% final and done, and that was strike three. I said ‘God doesn’t exist. I’m leaving all the beliefs I have because God wouldn’t do this to me if he were God.’ I went to the dark side,” he says, referencing the line from “Star Wars.”
After years of going into a downward spiral, Whitaker’s family intervened in 1997. They threatened to cut off contact with him unless he got help. He agreed and joined a twelve-step program.
He later became a certified drug counselor and founder of a nonprofit organization for Spanish-speaking addicts.
Whitaker has been clean for 25 years, and in 2019, was re-baptized into the LDS Church.
WATCH OUR ENTIRE CONVERSATION WITH WHITAKER IN THE VIDEO ABOVE.