Pamelyn Ferdin was one of the most recognizable child stars of the 1960s and ‘70s. She worked prolifically as a young child actress, appearing in episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, My Three Sons, Green Acres, Blondie, The Odd Couple, The Brady Bunch, The Paul Lynde Show, and more, per IMDb. She was also a well-known voice actress, providing the voice of Lucy in A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969) and other Peanuts specials.
Between 1966 and 1971, Fredin also appeared in four episodes of the CBS sitcom Family Affair. The series starred Brian Keith as a New York City bachelor who raises his late brother’s children Cissy (Kathy Garver), Jody (Johnny Whitaker) and Buffy (Anissa Jones) with the help of his butler Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot). Ferdin played various characters during her guest appearances on Family Affair, but she recently revealed she actually auditioned for the main role of Buffy.
In an October 2025 Facebook post, Ferdin recalled that in the spring of 1966 she was interviewed for a main role on the then-new sitcom Family Affair. “My mother was determined that I get the part of the younger girl, named Buffy," she noted.
“My initial interview went very well, and they called me back for a few follow-ups," she continued. "Ulltimately, the choice for the part came down to me and eight-year-old Anissa Jones, who had done a few commercials but never acted before on TV."
Both Ferdin and Jones did screentests with Johnny Whitaker, but producers decided to cast Jones for the role due to her “striking physical resemblance” to Whitaker. “They got the idea to redraft the roles of the two younger siblings and make them twins. Anissa and Johnny got the parts and I was the odd one out,” Ferdin shared.
While she didn’t get the part, Ferdin noted that she was “invited back on Family Affair every season it was on the air" in a guest capacity. “In all, I appeared four times on the show, the most I guest-starred in any series,” she wrote.
“There was just one catch,” she added. “The producers liked Anissa for the part, but they liked my hair."
Ferdin noted that her mother had perfected a corkscrew pigtailed hairstyle that she often wore on-camera. "Before production began on Family Affair, the show's hairstylist was instructed to put Anissa’s wavy, shoulder-length hair into pigtails 'like Pamelyn Ferdin’s,'" she recalled. "With the success of the show, my signature hairstyle became Anissa’s too. I wore my hair in pigtails in my first appearance on the show but when I returned for my second, my mother was told that on Family Affair those pigtails now belonged exclusively to Anissa.”
While she never “begrudged” Jones for getting the role, Ferdin shared that she once overheard series star Brian Keith tell someone that she “would have made a great Buffy.”
'Family Affair' stars Anissa Jones, Brian Keith, Kathy Garver, Sebastian Cabot, and Johnny Whitaker. (Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)Photo by CBS Photo Archive on Getty Images
Jones had very few acting credits before or after Family Affair. And unlike Ferdin, she didn’t seem to enjoy the entertainment business. During a 1971 appearance on the Dick Cavett Show, Jones said she didn’t agree with women’s liberation because she didn’t want to work. “No I want to stay home and watch TV,” she joked at age 11.
Her co-star Whitaker gave more insight in a recent interview with Remind magazine. “Anissa liked to act, but she was more like Brian,” he recalled. “She didn’t like doing the publicity. They had a Buffy and a Jody line of clothing and on our hiatuses, we would go around the country doing fashion shows. She did not really like the adulation.”
Jones died in 1976 at age 18 of a drug overdose. Ferdin retired from on-camera acting in the 1980s. Today she is an animal rights activist.
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