The Mary Tyler Moore Show was one of the most popular sitcoms of the 1970s, following newsroom producer Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore) and her coworkers and friends. But the series also featured a young child actress in a recurring role.
Lisa Gerritsen played Bess Lindstrom, the daughter of Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman) in 10 episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The 12-year-old made her debut on the CBS sitcom in the premiere episode, “Love is All Around,” on Sept. 19, 1970.
Gerritsen’s character was smart and precocious—the opposite of her self-absorbed, eccentric mother. She also called her mother “Phyllis” instead of “mom” and formed a friendship with Mary and fellow neighbor Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper).
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The Mary Tyler Moore Show was a dream gig for any actor, let alone a pre-teen. Rolling Stone once ranked the series among the greatest television shows of all time, writing that the sitcom was “the gold standard for ensemble comedy, blending sparkling dialogue with unexpected heart and a cast of actors who seemed born to trade punchlines with one another.”
RELATED: ‘Mary Tyler Moore’ Episode Featured a Rare Cameo by Johnny CarsonGerritsen already had several acting credits on her resume before The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She appeared in The Odd Couple, The Doris Day Show, and Bonanza as well as the short-lived My World and Welcome to It.
By the time she appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Gerritsen was famous enough to score a cover photo on the May 1971 issue of TV Guide with a feature story titled, “Can a child actress lead a child’s life?”
An April 1970 Times Daily column noted that Gerritsen began acting at age eight. “She started her career in plays, then her family hired a drama coach and an agent began looking for TV roles,” the outlet shared, adding that “somewhere between TV appearances, Miss Gerritsen managed to break into movies in Airplane as Burt Lancaster’s daughter.”
CBS Photo Archive / Getty Images
After The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Gerritsen went on to appear alongside Leachman in 24 episodes of the spinoff sitcom, Phyllis.
Her final acting credit came in 1978 on the TV series Insight, just one year after Phyllis was canceled. Gerritsen was just 20 years old when she walked away from Hollywood.
Decades later, she remains out of the spotlight. A Chicago Tribune reporter in 2000 tried to track down Gerritsen by calling Moore’s old production company and contacting the Screen Actors Guild, Actors’ Equity and AFTRA. The reporter found that Gerritsen worked at a software company in the 1990s. She also married John Rustan in 2000 and has one son, Jonathan. At age 68, Gerritsen lives a private life in the San Francisco area, according to Medium.
While she was once one of the most promising young actresses of her era, Gerritsen bowed out just as she was beginning to transition into more adult roles. Decades later, fans can look back on her catalog of work with nostalgia—and wonder what might have been.
Related: Iconic ‘Mary Tyler Moore’ Christmas Episode Featured a Legendary Voice Actor — Now You’ll Never Unhear It
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