Life is unfair: Frankie Muniz and the strange fates of child actors

Christopher Knight, aka Peter Brady, mostly dropped out of acting as an adult to work in the computer industry. He had his own computer graphics company and sold his own TV tuner business in 2000. Of course, he got back into TV through the reality show door, appearing on "The Surreal Life," where he fell in love with an "America's Next Top Model" winner, and they decided to make beautiful spinoff reality shows together.

Shirley Temple was a gigantic box office star during the Depression, but her career didn't outlast World War II, thanks in part to her studio refusing to let her star in "The Wizard Of Oz." Temple retired from acting at age 22 but later boarded the Good Ship Diplomacy as a UN delegate under President Nixon, President Ford's Ambassador to Ghana and the first President Bush's ambassador to Czechoslovakia during the fall of the Soviet Union, which was also a job that involved delicate choreography. 

At age 14, Frankie Muniz was the star of a hit sitcom, "Malcolm In The Middle," then went toe-to-toe with Paul Giamatti in "Big Fat Liar." But after six years of "Malcolm," Muniz took a break to pursue his dream of race car driving – after all, he was the last person to speak to Dale Earnhardt before his fatal crash. But his injuries from the crash and a series of mini-strokes at age 26 derailed both his acting and racing career. Aside from his third-place finish on "Dancing With The Stars," Muniz has been focused on his weird Twitter account and his new store, Outrageous Olive Oils & Vinegars in Scottsdale, Arizona. 

Ron Howard transitioned from child actor on "The Andy Griffith Show" to a young adult actor on "Happy Days," but in 1982 he had a hit as a director with "Night Shift," starring his Happy Days pal Henry Winkler. That movie also featured Howard's last acting work for 16 years, playing the dual roles of Annoying Sax Player and Boy Making Out With Girlfriend. Since then Howard became an Oscar-winning director and prolific producer, including "Arrested Development," which he also narrated.

Gary Coleman's short stature (due to kidney problems) and great comic timing made him a huge star on "Diff'rent Strokes," but no one wanted to hear an adult Gary Coleman asking Willis what he was talking about. It didn't help that Coleman's parents misappropriated the money from his acting career or that Coleman had expensive chronic health issues, but somehow he managed to place eighth in the California gubernatorial race in 2003. Coleman ran on the HECK (Homelessness, Education, Crime and Killers) platform. A puppet version of him appeared in the hit musical "Avenue Q," and the character continued ever after Coleman died at age 42 from a traumatic brain injury.

Mickey Rooney starred as "Mickey McGuire" in nearly 80 short films from age 7 to 16, but he hit it big when he began making musicals alongside Judy Garland. However, after World War II, Rooney had problems: He was gambling away all his money (a lifelong problem), and Hollywood doesn't make enough movies about jockeys for a 5-foot-2 adult to play a leading man regularly. Still, Rooney worked steadily, including one of history's most racist performances in "Breakfast At Tiffany's." Eventually he got married eight times, published a self-deprecating autobiography called "Life Is Too Short" and died at age 93 after appearing in the third "Night At The Museum" movie.

Christian Bale had his first starring role in Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" at age 13, where he played a British tween who ends up in a Japanese internment camp. Perhaps that experience led to his career-long commitment to dramatically transforming his body for roles, which is also a byproduct of alternating between playing Batman and Dick Cheney: You don't win Oscars for getting in really good shape, after all. Bale seamlessly transitioned to adult stardom, though he's mostly left behind the singing and dancing that anchored "Newsies" and "Swing Kids." 

Mason Reese was a kind of child star that doesn't really exist today. His stardom was based on starring in commercials, particularly ads for Underwood Deviled Ham. It's also rare for a child star to be so unconventional looking as Reese, even if he was precocious. But for a few years in the 1970s, Reese was a constant fixture in commercials and even on talk shows. Since retiring from acting, he opened a few restaurants in New York City. 

Fred Savage was the youngest person to get a Best Lead Actor Emmy nomination for "The Wonder Years," but after the show ended, he took a break and went back to high school and on to college. Though he has starred in a few short-lived sitcoms ("The Grinder," "Working"), Savage has made his name as a director. He started out primarily working on Disney Channel shows before moving on to legendary comedies like "Party Down" and "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" and leaving his younger brother, Ben, in the dust.

After making 15 films between age 7 and 14, Macaulay Culkin took a break from acting and only sporadically returned, in films like "Party Monster" and "Saved!" Still, he remains visible, whether it's in his "Home Alone"-themed commercial for Google, with his novelty band, The Pizza Underground or for his voice work on "Robot Chicken." Maybe he doesn't want to overshadow his brother Kieran, currently killing it on "Succession."

Robert Blake got his start as one of the last Little Rascals and ended up as one of Hollywood's worst rascals, going on trial at age 71 for murdering his wife. Along the way he played a murderer in "In Cold Blood," a disguise enthusiast cop in "Baretta" and a creepy "Mystery Man" in his final role, in "Lost Highway." Blake was eventually acquitted of the murder at his criminal trial but was held liable for her death in civil court. That didn't stop Blake from getting married again at 84 — and divorced again at 85.

Carl Switzer was better known as "Alfalfa" in his days with the Little Rascals, specializing in off-key singing and having a cowlick, but his role in Our Gang ended when he was 12. Spitzer continued to play small roles in significant films like "It's A Wonderful Life" and "The Ten Commandments" but was no longer a star. On the side, he trained hunting dogs, a pursuit that eventually led to his death. Switzer lost a hunting dog he was training for a client, and then ended up shot when he burst into the client's house and drunkenly demanded compensation for the reward money.

Jean Darling was a popular blond Little Rascal who went on to a career on Broadway as a grown-up, even though she was from the silent film incarnation of "Our Gang." But the career twist came in her early 50s when she moved to Ireland and began writing mystery stories. In addition, she started reading stories she wrote herself on Irish radio, in character as "Aunt Poppy."

Sheila Kuehl was a huge radio star as a kid but was best known for her role as Zelda, a girl hopelessly in love with Dobie Gillis. But after Dobie, her career dried up, likely because rumors spread about her lesbian relationships. Kuehl ended up going to Harvard Law School, working in anti-discrimination law and eventually becoming California's first openly gay legislator. She also served two terms in the state senate and she's currently on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.

Tony "Wally Cleaver" Dow enjoyed most of his fame in the cast of "Leave It To Beaver," though he took an unplanned hiatus spending three years in the National Guard at ages 18-21. Though he continued acting, Dow remade himself as an artist. He did visual effects for "Babylon 5" and "Doctor Who" and later became an acclaimed abstract bronze sculptor.

Jeff Cohen once said that most of his childhood acting roles had him wearing either a Hawaiian shirt or plaid pants, and "The Goonies" was a hit because it's the only film in which he did both. Sean Astin may have turned into Rudy and "Sam" Gamgee, but Cohen says "puberty hit hard" and destroyed his career. After leaving acting, the former Chunk was class president at UC Berkeley, where he did his famous "Truffle Shuffle" during an election speech. Now he has his own powerful entertainment law firm, and he's one of Hollywood's biggest deal makers, which is not bad at all for a Goonie.

Peter Ostrum played Charlie in "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," but he had no golden ticket for continued box office glory. It remains his only film role, after he turned down a three-picture deal. Instead, Ostrum became a large-animal veterinarian specializing in horses, which is a job that Willy Wonka assigns to Oompa-Loompas.

TV's Dennis the Menace, Jay North, was another child star who had difficulty making the leap to adult acting. Luckily his mother actually invested his Menace money wisely, so North didn't have to work, but he was disillusioned by the abusive treatment of kid actors. After joining the Navy and then working in the health food industry, North finally found his calling working as a juvenile corrections officer in Florida, presumably counseling kids who committed slingshot crimes.

Susan Olsen played Cindy Brady in "The Brady Bunch," then shifted gears to graphic design and making art using Marshmallow Fluff. She participated in other Brady-related projects, including a coffee table book about their variety show, but the strangest post-career rumor was that she'd gone into adult films. She hadn't, but she did somehow end up designing sound effects for a spaceship featured in "Love Probe From Another Planet," which is where the confusion came from. Olsen also had a career as a talk show host, but that ended when she went on a homophobic tirade on-air in 2016.

Mark Lester played Oliver Twist in Best Picture winner "Oliver!" but retired from acting at age 19 after "The Prince and the Pauper" bombed. Since this was the '70s, he became a black belt in karate and then became an osteopath. He also became close friends with Michael Jackson and was the godfather of his three children. Lester suggests he's the actual father of one of the children, as he claims to have donated sperm for the King of Pop in 1996.

Peter Billingsley found it hard to shake the role of Ralphie from "A Christmas Story," so he moved his attentions to behind the camera. He hooked up with Jon Favreau around the turn of the century and went on to produce films like "Iron Man" and "Made." Eventually he also started working on Vince Vaughn's projects, which is how he ended up directing the Vaughn-Favreau team-up "Couples Retreat." Technically Ralphie is now part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, since Billingsley has appeared in both "Iron Man" and "Spider-Man: Far From Home."

Ken Weatherwax, the original Pugsley Addams, had a future that Pugsley himself would respect, especially since "Weatherwax" sounds like it would be one of Addams Family's neighbors' names. Weatherwax joined the Army but didn't leave show business behind, though he couldn't shake Pugsley. Instead, he worked on the other side of the camera, building sets and working as a key grip.

It's hard to remember that Christopher Walken was ever young at all, much less a child star. Young "Ronnie" Walken made plenty of TV appearances and theater roles, but he didn't make his first feature film until age 27, probably because he needed to grow into his face. He's become a cult favorite thanks to his scene-stealing parts and off-kilter "SNL" hosting appearances, none of which would have been possible if he'd stuck with the name "Ronnie."

Veruca Salt was a vain, spoiled child, but the actress who played her, Julie Dawn Cole, seems much more balanced. Cole went on to become a fitness instructor, a psychotherapist and a mother who tells her children during tantrums that they should stop acting like Veruca.

Emmanuel Lewis didn't have many roles suited to him after playing the title role in "Webster," but he's still gone on to do interesting things. Lewis practices taekwondo, he ran his own limo service and he had an unsuccessful record company called Flex Floss Entertainment. Lewis is also an active Freemason, but his acting career really would have been helped if people were making more fantasy epics with dwarfs and hobbits in the early '90s.

Sarah Polley played Ramona Quimby as a 9-year-old on the Canadian series of the same name, but in the last 10 years, she's left acting behind in favor of writing and directing. She wrote and directed "Away From Her" and "Take This Waltz," plus a documentary called "Stories we Tell" about learning her biological father was not who she thought and an adaptation of "Alias Grace" for television. Polley may not be acting due to her other interests, but it also probably has a lot to do with her speaking out against Harvey Weinstein.