There are many stories of former child stars having horrible lives.
While very few of them have come out of Tinsel Town unscathed, others never can find fulfillment after being in the spotlight at such a young age.
But this Land of the Lost Child star lived a real Yellowstone life after leaving Hollywood for good.
Kathy Coleman skyrocketed to fame playing Holly Marshall in the classic Sid and Marty Croft show Land of the Lost.
From Burger King to the hog farm
But the pig-tailed blonde star didn’t last much longer in Hollywood, by choice.
Coleman was just 18 years old and filming Burger King commercials when she said, “I do,” and left Hollywood behind.
The former child star left Tinsel Town behind and worked on her father-in-law’s Fallon, Nevada ranch.
The now 62-year-old actress turned rancher is now back in California but still carries fond memories of life out of the spotlight.
“It was very hard work, but it was also very rewarding,” the actress told Fox News Digital. “It’s funny, I watched Yellowstone, recently – the whole series. I lived that life! I lived that exact life.”
Land of the Lost was a Saturday morning favorite for millions of children in the 70s, and it is now available for streaming on The Sid and Marty Krofft Channel.
The award-winning producing pair were known for their imaginative and ground-breaking children’s programming.
The show followed the adventures of the Marshall family, trapped in a land of dinosaurs, lizard men called Sleestak, and cryptic pylons that seemingly offered the family hope of a way back home.
Land of the Lost, which also starred Wesley Eure, Spencer Milligan and, Phillip Paley, and others, aired on Saturday mornings from 1974 to 1976.
We wanted to be just like her
“When Land of the Lost was first introduced, my sisters and I fell in love with the character Holly [played by Coleman],” Marty’s daughter, Deanna Krofft Pope, told Fox News Digital. “We wanted to be like her, and we weren’t alone. I believe most little girls looked at her as a role model. She was strong, independent and fearless.”
“Holly didn’t just stay in the cave and make stone soup,” Krofft Pope said. “From dinosaurs to aliens, Holly boldly faced the dangers of Land of the Lost, proving she was a survivor. Kathy did a remarkable job bringing the character of Holly to life, making her a fan favorite.”
She was certainly a fan favorite of pre-pubescent boys, with her long blonde pigtails and girl-next-door looks.
But, like all child stars, Coleman grew up.
And life on the farm was a real blessing for her, she said, one that taught her the importance of no-nonsense hard work.
And there was no special treatment, despite her Hollywood fame, she insisted.
“The farm was gigantic,” Coleman recalled. “We had a hog farm where we produced 12,000 hogs a year. We were milking 24-hour double shifts. Because my father-in-law owned the ranch, we were brought in, and we started at the bottom of the totem pole. We had to learn everything. You messed up; God help you.”
“[My father-in-law] said, ‘You can never ask anybody to do something you don’t know how to do or haven’t done yourself,'” she said.
“So I did everything. I fed the cows, I milked them. I worked the hay, the grains. I worked the front loaders, all kinds of stuff. I really had to learn everything. There are 150 steps to cleaning the milk barn after every milking session. And all 150 steps had to be done just right.”
While cleaning up the milk barn wasn’t glamorous, Coleman said there were some great perks.
“We had baby calves all over the place,” she gushed. “We also used to have nice parties. It was a small town, so we knew everybody. We put everybody to work in the town. I was only 18. I was raised in Los Angeles and put on a farm in Nevada at 18. It was a culture shock… But my mother taught me something that I think has been a valuable lesson in [surviving child stardom] – ‘Stay true to your word.’ If you’re going to do something, follow through. Fame is not an easy club to belong to. It’s taxing. But if you stay true to your word and what you’re going to do, what you’re going to achieve, you can survive anything.”
Even Hollywood.
Read All About It will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
