Johnny Whitaker

In a world of rambunctious TV children, Jody Davis was a reliable source of responsibility, made all the more memorable thanks to his red hair and freckles. Viewers fell in love with the cast that made up the blended family of Family Affair, but what happened to Jody’s actor, Johnny Whitaker, after the series ended?

Family Affair star Johnny Whitaker was everywhere back in the 1960s into the early 70s. Of course, there was his role as Jody on Family Affair. He’s 62 now, but fans always will know him as the red-headed twin of Buffy, who came to live with Uncle Bill and Mr. French in NYC. But there were other projects besides Family Affair, a show Whitaker started when he was a seasoned 6 years old.

The Family Affair twins were the cutest first graders on TV. The country fell in love with Buffy and Jody, along with the entire premise of the show. On the series, Bill Davis (Brian Keith) was a single man who traveled the world as a civil engineer. He employed a British valet named Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot). And the two resided in a penthouse apartment in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Then one day he learned his brother and sister-in-law were killed in a car crash back home in Indiana. Bill now was the guardian of 15-year-old Cissy and 5-year-old twins, Buffy and Jody. It truly became a Family Affair as Uncle Bill needed to tweak his bachelor life, while Mr. French became the de facto nanny.

Maybe Family Affair star Johnny Whitaker aged out of acting. Perhaps the break he took for college and a mission trip he took in the 1970s really did impact his career in Hollywood. But for whatever reason, Whitaker didn’t transition well from child to adult actor. He was everywhere as...

Being a child star is a ton of pressure, but Family Affair actor Johnny Whitaker didn’t mind it because of his large family. Before Johnny Whitaker played Jody on Family Affair, he appeared on Gunsmoke shortly after the sitcom premiered. As just a kid, Whitaker was in pretty high demand in the entertainment industry.