How Did This Little Girl Fall Through The Cracks??????????????????

                                  Who is this little girl???????  If you, my readers, were to say Patty McCormack, you would be wrong in identification, but right in assumption.  Indeed, when I saw this child for the first time, in my teens, back in the Seventies, I too thought it was Patty.  But this child looks about the same age when Patty made "The Bad Seed," and this story was shot several years after that, so Patty still could not look this way; she would be older, taller and more physically mature.

                                       This is Terry Burnham, born in 1949, (Patty was born in 1945) and who died tragically in obscurity and poverty. Her birth date was August 8, 1949, and she died on October 7, 2013, from a combination cardiac arrest, hypertension, diabetes, and depression. She was only 54 years old. What she did when she outgrew the business is not known.  Which is sad, because, as sad as Bobby Driscoll's story was, at least it was known--eventually.  Not much is known about Terry.

                                         She left two memorable legacies.  The above is her best--her performance as "Markie," the childhood self in the "Twilight Zone" episode, "Nightmare As A Child," first aired in 1961.  It should be seen.  It involves the consequences of blocked memory, and when that memory suddenly comes back.  Terry is brilliant in it.

                                          Two years before that, in 1959, she played Susan Meredith, as a child, aged 6, in the Lana Turner "Imitation Of Life," directed by Douglas Sirk.  No actor knows how their career will turn out, or if it will, but at least Terry left behind two admirable gems of work.  Though I am sure she did not know they would become such, at the time of filming.

                                            Now, many of us know the tragedies of such ex-child stars as Dana Plato, Anissa Jones, and Trent Lehman.  They are very well known.  But how come Terry fell through the cracks.

                                              Even more, what about that organization "A Minor Concern," created by Paul Petersen, to help ex-child actors.  Why couldn't they have done something for Terry?

                                                 She may be a footnote in show business, but she was someone's daughter, and she left behind two performances I would be proud to call my own--if I had any of my own!

                                                  Here, watch "Nightmare As A Child," and see how wonderful Terry was!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                  Why didn't someone help her?