Bridgette Andersen

Bridget Marriah Andersen (July 11, 1975 – May 18, 1997) was an American child actress and child model. She starred in 1982's Savannah Smiles, for which she received her first of four Youth in Film Award nominations.

Bridgette Andersen
Born	Bridget Marriah Andersen (1975-07-11)July 11, 1975 Inglewood, California, US
Died	May 18, 1997(1997-05-18) (aged 21) Los Angeles, California, US
Occupations	Actress model
Years active	Late 1970s – 1987

Personal life

In Inglewood, California, Bridget Marriah Andersen^[1] was born on July 11, 1975, to Frank and Teresa Andersen.^[2] By April 1982, she lived in Malibu, California,^[3] with her parents, younger sister Angelica,^[2] and two brothers. As an infant, Angelica appeared in television advertisements for Bank of America and Mervyn's.^[4]

A reader since age two-and-a-half, the Havre Daily News reported that six-year-old Andersen had "a staggering IQ". Her favorite author was Ernest Hemingway, and her favorite book was The Old Man and the Sea.^[5] A fan of the television series Diff'rent Strokes and Silver Spoons, she decided to pursue acting, and aspired to produce and direct films as well.^[4]

Career

During a February 1983 interview with Johnny Carson on his late-night show, Andersen related a family anecdote of her trying to climb into the television and play with Our Gang ("The Little Rascals") at age two. Caught by her father, she was taught about actors and acting, whereafter she secured a talent agent and began acting.^[4] She spent three years fashion modeling and acting in television advertisements. She also appeared in television shows including King's Crossing and Washington Mistress.^[3]

In 1982, Andersen starred as Savannah Driscoll in the film Savannah Smiles. Writer and co-star Mark Miller was inspired by^[6] (and wrote the part for) his daughter, Savannah Miller. However, when the film began production, Ms. Miller was too old for the part at age eleven,^[5] so Mark Miller auditioned almost 150 children before discovering and choosing Andersen for the part.^[6] In a contemporary interview, Andersen opined that she and the Driscoll character were "like twins! We do the same things."^[5] According to The Cumberland Times, only three months after the release of Savannah Smiles, Miller was already writing another script to star Andersen.^[6]

That same year, Andersen portrayed the six-year-old Mae West in the biographical television film, Mae West.^[3] In 1983, Andersen explained that she preferred working in films versus television because they gave her more to do.^[4] During the 1983–84 run of The Mississippi, Anderson was nominated for a Youth in Film Award ("Best Young Actress - Guest in a Television Series") for her work thereon.^[7] Andersen went on to star in the short-lived CBS sitcom, Gun Shy; she portrayed Celia, one of two children won in a card game by Barry Van Dyke's character, Russell Donovan.^[8]

Credits

Film performances

Year	Title	Role	Citation(s)
1982	Savannah Smiles	Savannah Driscoll	[6]
1983	Nightmares	Brooke Houston	[9]
1985	A Summer to Remember	Jill
1985	Fever Pitch	Amy Taggart	[10]
1987	Too Much	Suzy	[9]

Television performances

Year	Title	Role	Episode(s)	Citation(s)
1982	Washington Mistress	Jenny Reynolds		[9]
1982	King's Crossing			[3]
1982	Mae West	Mae West (age six)	Television film
1983	Gun Shy	Celia	Six episodes	[8]
1983	Faerie Tale Theatre	Gretel	"Hansel and Gretel"	[5]
1984	The Return of Marcus Welby, M.D.	Alison Lattimer	Television film	[9]
1984	Remington Steele	Angel	"Blood Is Thicker Than Steele"	[11]
1986	The Golden Girls	Charley	"The Truth Will Out"
1986	Between Two Women	Kate Petherton	Television film	[9]
1986	The Parent Trap II	Mary Grand		[12]
1987	CBS Summer Playhouse	Jamie Wilde	"Doctors Wilde"	[9]

Awards nominations

Year(s)	Award	Category	Title of work	Result
1981–82	4th Youth in Film Awards	Best Young Motion Picture Actress	Savannah Smiles	Nominated[13]
1982–83	5th Youth in Film Awards	Best Young Actress in a Comedy Series	Gun Shy	Nominated[14]
1983–84	6th Youth in Film Awards	Best Young Actress - Guest in a Television Series	The Mississippi	Nominated[7]
1984–85	7th Youth in Film Awards	Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress in a Television Special or Mini-Series	A Summer to Remember	Nominated[15]

Death and legacy

Andersen died of a heroin overdose^[16] in Los Angeles, California, on May 18, 1997,^[17] at the age of 21.^[18]

In 2015, actress Amber Tamblyn published her third book of poetry, Dark Sparkler, which features eulogies and poems dedicated to numerous deceased actors. Andersen is the subject of one such poem, as is pornographic film actor Shannon Michelle Wilsey (1970–1994),^[19] whose stage name "Savannah" was derived from her favorite film, Andersen's Savannah Smiles.^[20] Wilsey's poem is written as "a meta-poem, where she's writing for Bridgette Andersen, and telling her how they're the same."^[19]

When MVD Entertainment Group published Savannah Smiles on DVD in 2018 as part of their MVD Rewind Collection, among the bonus materials included was "a featurette about the memories of Andersen".^[21]