I would be intersted in hearing who you guys think were the best child actors and characters on sitcoms of all time.

I would vote for Ron Howard as Opie on The Andy Griffith Show! He was so natural and believable!
Also Wally and The Beaver were very good too!

[This message has been edited by NEWHART FAN (edited 07-20-2001).]

Top five:

Ron Howard "Opie" in The Andy Griffith Show
Danny Bonaduce "Danny" in The Partridge Family
Gary Coleman "Arnold" in Diff'rent Strokes

Uh...I can't think of anymore at the moment...

------------------
"...Better watch out for those man-eatin' jackrabbits, and that killer cacti..."

1. Gary Coleman "Diff'rent Strokes"
2. Fred Savage "The Wonder Years"
3. Sara Gilbert "Roseanne" (Technically not a kid when the show started, but played one anyway).
4. Jonathan Taylor Thomas "Home Improvement"
5. Jerry Supiran "Small Wonder"

1.Danielle Brisbois (AiTF)
2.Melissa Joan Hart (CEIA)
3.Kelly Brown (Hey Dude)
4.Danny Ponce (THF)
5.Gary Coleman (DS)

1. Fred Savage ("The Wonder Years")
2. Ronny Howard ("The Andy Griffith Show")
3. Angela Watson ("Step By Step")
4. Jerry Mathers ("Leave It To Beaver")
5. Jaleel White ("Family Matters")

If there were more than five selections available I would nominate all six children on "The Brady Bunch."

1. Fred Savage (The Wonder Years)
2. Johnathon Taylor Thomas(Home Improvement)
3. Kirk Cameron (Growing Pains)
4. Candace Cameron (Full House)
5. Raven Symone (The Cosby Show)

Leave it to Beaver kids - I thought they were all just fabulous in their
parts.

Ron Howard - AGS

I thought Buffy & Jody were good too on Family Affair

The guys from My Three Sons

Patty Duke

I thought the Cosby Show kids were good in the first couple of years of that show

Gary Coleman & Dana Plato (Coleman did a
magnificent job with his character, and Dana
seemed very real).

All 4 main characters on the Fax of Life,
stereotyped though they were.

all of the Brady Kids (amazing when you consider they were picked mostly for their looks, specifically their hair color). And you can really tell how good they all were when you compare them to the kids who guest starred on the show and played their friends. I think most of the kids who played their friends were terrible actors by comparison.

Thelma from Good Times.

Kim Richards

Valerie Bertinelli

The gang from "What's Happening". I liked
all of them.

The girl who played Hillary on "Fresh Prince". I don't know how she is
in real life, but she played that role fabulously

Bud and Kelly from Married with Children..you can see a big difference
between the early and later shows, and
I think they both got better as they got older.

Sara Gilbert - I hated "Rosanne" but always liked her as an actress.

I may be forgetting a few...I used the shows by decade lists on this site to refresh my memory. I'm also not sure that all of the above folks could truly be considered "children". Some of them might have been older than their parts, but I liked all of them.

One I forgot...I thought MJ Fox and J. Bateman both played their parts very well in Family Ties.

Mine are

Christine Lakin Step by Step
Janeel White Family Matters
Ben Savage Boy Meets World
Fred Savage The Wonder Years
Rick Schroder Silver Spoons
Jeremey Miller Growing Pains

Nancy Mckeon from FACTS OF LIFE

Valire bertinelli from ONE DAY AT A TIME

Soleil Moon Frye from PUNKY BREWSTER

Rick Schroder from SILVER SPOONS

Mellissa Joan Harte from Clarissa and Sabrina

i would also like to mention-
Claire Danes on My so-called life
Tracey Gold on GROWING PAINS
Keshia Knight Pullman on THE COSBY SHOW
Tatiana Ali on FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR
Tiffiane Amber Thissen on Saved by the bell and 90210
and Mendy Cohen, Kim Fields, Lisa Whelchel on FACTS OF LIFE.

1. Danny Bonaduce
2. Gary Coleman
3. Fred Savage
4. Sarah Gilbert
5. The Olsen TWins

1.Ron Howard (Richie Cuningham Happy Days)
2.Barry Williams (Greg Brady The Brady Bunch)
3.Fred Savage (Kevin Arnold The Wonder Years)
4.Theo on The Cosby Show
5.Tiffani Amber Thiessen (Kelly Kapowski Saved By The Bell)

1. Gary Coleman
2. Fred Savage
3. Kim Fields (the only FOL-er I'd count since the rest were at least 13 when FOL started)
4. Keisha Knight-Pulliam
5. Ron Howard

Some people like Valerie Bertinelli, Nancy McKeon, etc.. that made other lists I left out, not because they were bad (I thought they were great), but they were already teenagers when the series' started, which to me was too old.

1. Rusty Hamer as Rusty Williams on "Make Room for Daddy" from 1953-64.
2. Jodie Sweetin as Stephanie Tanner on "Full House" from 1987-95.
3. Ronny Howard as Opie Taylor on "The Andy Griffith Show" from 1960-68.
4. Gary Coleman as Arnold Drummond on "Diff'rent Strokes" from 1978-86.
5. Soleil Moon Frye as Punky Brewster on "Punky Brewster" from 1984-89.

In my opinion, Rusty Hamer was the greatest child actor ever!

1 gary coleman DS
2. Kirk cameron GP
3. Jaleel white FM
4. Dustin diamond SBTB
5 Candace cameron FH
100th post

1. Sara Gilbert (Roseanne)
2. Michael Fishman (Roseanne)
3. Lecy Goranson (Roseanne)
4. Kenan Thomson (Kenan & Kel)
5. Kel Michelle (Kenan & Kel)

Ron Howard(The Andy Griffith Show)
Tina Yothers(Family Ties)
Keshia Night Pulliam(The Cosby Show)
Lilly Lambert(Step by Step)
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen(Full House)