Before 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills': Kim Richards' Top TV Moments

Before She was a 'Real Housewife,' Child Star Kim Richards Had a Real Career

Victoria Leigh Miller
This week's emotional "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" finale focused a lot on actress Kim Richards and her former child stardom. Richards attributes a lot of her problems in life to the fact that she worked "every single day" of her childhood.

But while the episode ended with a huge blowout between Kim and her sister Kyle- with Kyle accusing Kim of being an alcoholic- let's not forget that Kim has had some way better TV moments than that one. We hope she comes back to TV - because we don't want to see her go out that way.

Here are some of Kim Richards' top TV moments:

Prudence Everett- "Nanny and the Professor." Back in 1970, when she was still a wee tot, Kim started out her career on the ABC sitcom "Nanny and the Professor," playing youngest child, Prudence.

Watch Kim Richards on "Nanny and the Professor"

Olga Nordstrom- "Little House on the Prairie." In this tearjerker episode from 1974, Kim played a little girl who was born with one leg shorter than the other. Enter jack of all trades Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon), who whipped up a pair of special shoes for her so she could play with the other kids. You think Camille and Kyle are hard to deal with? As Olga, Kim had to deal with that witch Nellie Oleson!

Watch Kim Richards on "Little House on the Prairie"

Tia- "Escape to Witch Mountain." This was actually a big screen Disney movie, but since it's been rerun countless times on TV we can count it as a TV moment. Because you really can't have a Kim Richards list without this 1975 classic.

Watch Kim Richards on "Escape to Witch Mountain"

Ruthie Alder- "Diff'rent Strokes." Kim's 1979 appearance on the Gary Coleman sitcom led to a spinoff series, "Hello Larry." It flopped, but Kim kept working.

Watch Kim Richards on "Diff'rent Strokes"

Nancylou- "The Dukes of Hazzard." Kim took on a Southern girl accent for this role back in 1983.

Watch Kim Richards on "The Dukes of Hazzard"

Gail- "The Love Boat." Like all stars of the time, Kim did the obligatory "Love Boat' guest stint. In this clip from 1982, she played- ewww- Gopher's date.

Watch Kim Richards on "The Love Boat."

Carrie Reardon- "Magnum P.I." In 1982 Kim was the "It Girl" guest star, appeared on everything from "Alice to CHiPs." This "Magnum" episode was one of her more memorable roles. And she really brought out the actor in Selleck!

Watch Kim Richards on "Magnum P.I."

You can catch 'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Reunion" on January 27th at 9:00 p.m. ET on Bravo.

*****

Sources:

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, January 20, 2011, Bravo TV

Internet Movie Database- Kim Richards

Published by Victoria Leigh Miller - Featured Contributor in Arts & Entertainment

Victoria Leigh Miller is a freelance writer specializing in arts and entertainment articles and informational web content. She is a Featured A&E Contributor for Yahoo and the recipient of the 2011 Y!CA Award...  View profile

5 Comments

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  • Sandy Rothra1/23/2011

    I remember her in a few of these. Good article.

  • Tiffany Booth1/22/2011

    Great article =0)

  • TRESA PATTERSON1/21/2011

    nice cumulation!

  • Jeff Rogers1/21/2011

    Great time line.

  • Patti Walden1/21/2011

    Interesting!

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