Kim Richards

You can take the girl out of Beverly Hills, but you can't take the Beverly Hills out of the girl.

—Kim Richards

Kim Erica Richards (born September 19, 1964) is an American actress, socialite and television personality. What The Olsen Twins were during the 1990s and 2000s and Hayden Panettiere was in the 2010s, she was in the 1970s and 1980s: a young actress of undeniable beauty and talent, whose screen presence inspired less-than-wholesome thoughts in an entire generation of teen boys -- and their fathers. While she won her first role before she was a year old (for a TV commercial), and was a regular on a TV series by the time she was six (as Prudence in Nanny and the Professor), Richards is probably best remembered for the Witch Mountain movies she made for Disney in her pre- and early teens.

Besides working for Disney on Witch Mountain and several other projects, she was one of the busiest child actresses of her era. Between 1970 and 1983 she accumulated a list of credits that included guest appearances in some of the biggest TV shows of the period, as well as a number of major motion pictures.

In addition to her numerous guest roles on TV, she also had regular roles on several more series following Nanny and the Professor. The last of these was a Spin-Off of Diff'rent Strokes starring McLean Stevenson, called Hello, Larry, in which she and Donna Wilkes played Stevenson's teen-aged daughters. After Hello, Larry was cancelled, she shifted entirely to film for the last four years of her early career. Her last role was as "Frankie" in the 1985 drama Tuff Turf, in which she costarred with Robert Downey, Jr. After its release she took a hiatus from acting.

Richards has been married three times: In 1985 she wed supermarket franchise heir and professional poker player Monty Brinson. The marriage lasted only three years; they divorced in 1988 on good terms and remained friends until Brinson died of cancer in 2015; she took care of him as he fought the disease in his final years.

Shortly after her divorce from Brinson in 1988, she married Gregg Davis, son of petroleum mogul Marvin Davis. Her first two children, Whitney and Chad, came from this marriage. This relationship, too, lasted only three years, with the couple divorcing in 1991.

In 1991 Richards was then engaged to John J. Collett, a commodities salesman who was a major figure in an investment scam targeting some 8000 investors to the tune of $150 million. On October 28, 1991 he was murdered by a hitman, shot twice in the head from point-blank range, while on the phone with her.

Other than reprising her role as Tia Malone in the 2002 short parody film The Blair Witch Mountain Project, Richards maintained her acting hiatus until 2006, when she was cast as Christina Ricci's estranged mother in Black Snake Moan. Three years later in 2009 she made a Remake Cameo appearance in Race to Witch Mountain with Witch Mountain co-star Ike Eisenmann.

She became a regular cast member on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in 2010. After an arrest in 2015 for shoplifting that revealed her alcoholism and addiction, she was let go from the show but returned multiple times as a guest star.

For those interested, she has a Twitter feed here.

Not to be confused with the British-Malaysian content producer for the Yogscast of the same name, or the horror/SF/fantasy author, also of the same name.

Kim Richards has performed in the following roles:

Nanny and the Professor (1970-1971) as Prudence Everett
Nanny and the Professor (film) (1972) as Prudence Everett
Nanny and the Professor and the Phantom of the Circus (1973) as Prudence Everett
Here We Go Again (1973) as Jan Standish
The Whiz Kid and the Mystery at Riverton (1974) as Daphne 'Daffy' Fernald (on The Wonderful World of Disney)
Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) as Tia Malone
The Whiz Kid and the Carnival Caper (1976) as Daphne 'Daffy' Fernald (on The Wonderful World of Disney)
No Deposit, No Return (1976) as Tracy
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) as Kathy
Raid on Entebbe (1977) as Alice
The Car (1977) as Lynne Marie Parent
James at 15 (1977-78) as Sandy Hunter
Return from Witch Mountain (1978) as Tia Malone
Diff'rent Strokes (1979) as Ruthie Alder
Hello, Larry (1979-80) as Ruthie Alder
Meatballs Part II (1984) as Cheryl
Tuff Turf (1985) as Frankie Croyden
Escape (1990) as Brooke Howser
The Blair Witch Mountain Project (2002) as Tia Malone
Black Snake Moan (2006) as Sandy
Race to Witch Mountain (2006) as Tina
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (2010-2020) as herself
Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (2015) as Babs Jensen
Numerous one-shot appearances on TV shows between 1972 and 1983 including The Love Boat, CHiPs, Magnum, P.I. and The Dukes of Hazzard, to name a few.

Kim Richards provides examples of the following tropes:

Amicable Exes: With first husband Monty Brinson, until his death in 2015.
Contractual Purity: Despite first making her mark as a frequent Disney player, she somehow managed to avoid this, moving from innocent pre-teen to sassy teen to adult in one smooth transition.
Former Child Star: A classic example until she re-appeared on screen nearly twenty years after initially leaving the business.
Remake Cameo: Her appearance in Race to Witch Mountain verges on a Continuity Cameo, given the character's name.
Rich in Dollars, Poor In Sense: She gives this impression at times in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, especially in the wake of her 2015 arrest.
The Woobie: There's a strong current of this in her life, especially when it comes to romance and marriage. One of her fiancés was murdered while she was on the phone with him, just to start.