Judith Barsi : One of Too Many Concrete Angels

No one likes death. There is something utterly gut wrenching about a child's death. It makes you think of all the evil in the world. It makes you question things you will never know the answer to, such as simply WHY? And HOW? Why do these things happen? How can these things happen? They are just children. They have not lived their lives yet. These children were robbed of their adulthood. Robbed of growing up. One of these children, was Judith Barsi.

You may recall a hyperactive little dinosaur named "Ducky" from the 1988 movie The Land Before Time. (That's right, the first and BEST one, not one of the millionth sequels.) If you are having a hard time remembering, perhaps this will help. "Yep! Yep! Yep!". Did that help? I thought it might. You may also recall the sweet little orphan girl named Anne-Marie who befriends Charlie the dog in the movie All Dogs Go To Heaven. The little girl who voiced both of these parts, and had many guest appearances on shows like Growing Pains, Punky Brewster, and Cheers, as well as a small role as the daughter in Jaws: The Revenge, was Judith Barsi.

Until about two years ago, I thought she was still alive. I was looking through my favorite website, Internet Movie Database, trying to see what she might look like today. Often times they have an updated picture, even if the actor or actress is no longer working. Well, to my surprise I found out she was dead. Not only is she dead, but she died in 1988. 19 years ago. At the age of 10. Even worse still, is how she died. On July 7^th, 1988, Judith and her mother were both shot to death by Judith's father, who then set the house on fire and shot himself. It's a story that makes you hold your children a little tighter at night.

Judith was born on June 6^th, 1978 in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angelis California. She was small for her age, and was "discovered " at a skating rink .in 1983. Though she was close to 5 ½, people mistook her for a three year old toddler. She started out doing commercials, appearing in close to 100 of them. Then came guest appearances on shows like St Elsewhere, Cagney and Lacey, and The Twilight Zone. She appeared in three major motion pictures before her death. She would say before her death that "Ducky" was her favorite role.

Her home life started to take a turn for the worst in 1985 when her father,

I was amazed to find that since Judith's death, there have been many, many fan sites devoted to her. Often times calling her a "Concrete Angel". The title is so fitting when compared to the Martina McBride song. Judith's fans lover her so much, that they raised money through their websites and in 2004 purchased a marker for Judith and her mother's unmarked grave plot. The marker reads "In memory of the lovely Judith Eva Barsi 1978-1988 'Our Concrete Angel' Yep! Yep! Yep!"

It touches my heart that people care that deeply for people they admire, but have never met. Rest in peace little angel, your light lives on.Jozsef Barsi would choose getting drunk daily over going to his work as a plumber. He also refused to allow his wife Maria Benko to work. The family was put on welfare because of this for a short period of time, until Judith really started getting roles. Soon, by the time she was a fourth grader, she was pulling in $100,000 a year and was able to buy her family a nice comfortable house in a nice area. Sadly, as Judith's career widened, her father become more and more of a drunken recluse, constantly verbally abusing the family, threatening to kill them. Poor Judith Barsi suffered so much emotional stress that she often bit her nails until there was nothing left, plucked her eyebrows constantly as well as her eyelashes and plucked her cats whiskers. Apparently CPS was called many times, but Maria Benko was too afraid to press any charges. Since the reports were of verbal abuse and nothing physical, CPS did not follow up on the case. We all know what happened next. It is very sad that Maria was not strong enough to leave in time.