Aired 1965-66
DAD: Hank Dearborn (Dick Kallman) / Single
DAD’S JOB: Student-in-disguise
KIDS: Tina Dearborn (Katie Sweet) (5)
WHERE’S MOM?: Parents are dead.
STAND-IN “MOM”: Franny (Kelly Jean Peters) / babysitter
Okay, adult brothers can be TV Single Dads, too! (See “Kirk” on my ’90’s page.) Hank Dearborn’s parents died when he was 15, leaving him to support his little sister, Tina. Hank’s determination to go to college despite his situation turned him into an “undercover student,” sneaking into college classes using a variety of disguises. Of course, Hank was always trying to stay one step ahead of the registrar, Dr. Royal (Howard St. John).
Another waggle of the Songbird Memorial Wings for Shaul Ceder (ceder@netvision.net.il) for pointing out this ’60’s show. Thanks again, Shaul!
Update: Alert Viewer Valerie Ellis chimes in with some Sweet (as in Katie) info:
One role Katie Sweet did was on Bonanza. She was Peggy Dayton, the 9 (or so)-year-old daughter of the airhead (played by Kathie Browne) they tried to saddle Adam with when Pernell Roberts was giving them a hard time about his contract. She eventually went off with Guy “Zorro” “Lost in Space” Williams, who played Cousin Will Cartwright, when the female fans raised bloody hell about marrying off her and Adam. Katie Sweet was the best thing about those four episodes (The Waiting Game, The Cheating Game, The Pressure Game, Triangle Dec.1963-May 1964). She was a better actress than Browne and she and Roberts had much more chemistry than Browne and Roberts. But she must be closer to 45 or 50 than 40. I’m 43 and I was 7 when she was in those episodes. I only saw them in reruns. Hope this helps with the filmography. It does indeed, Valerie – thanks!
More updates: Alert Viewer Janet Roy relates a childhood experience with Katie Sweet:
…Could not resist the urge to forward a bit of info about Katie Sweet. She should be 45 years old and going on 46.
When I was in the 7th grade at Turkeyfoot Jr. High in Edgewood, Kentucky,(Greater Cincinnati area), she came to our school for awhile because she was staying with her grandparents for some reason. (Never thought about the reason). She was in our grade but not my class. This was the school year 1967 – 1968. She had that super long hair and it flew around a lot. She made a few class plays until one day she announced she was going back to Hollywood to do a movie. That was the last time I heard of Katie Sweet.
It was around 1973 or so after graduation she did appear again in the Northern Kentucky area to attend NKU for drama. (Not sure whether to teach or further education).
She again stayed with her grandparents in Ft. Wright, Kentucky.
After reading the article in the Kentucky Post newspaper, no mention of her ever again that I heard of.
I wished always I kept that newspaper article. I never forgot the time she portrayed a ghost in the class play. She looked so cute and was never a shy person.
Thanks for the look back, Janet!
Update, 29 June 2005: And the finale? Katie Sweet herself writes in!
I used to be Katie Sweet. And I’m alive and well and 49 and an insurance agent in Central Oregon — go figure… I never did sneaky things behind the teacher’s back but I did get in trouble for my skirts being too short at Turkeyfoot Jr. High in Kentucky. I can’t believe people remember me or have any interest in whatever became of me. I have three daughters – 27, 8 and 6 and this stuff on the internet blows them away almost as much as it blows me away. I enjoyed my career and must admit, for all the cool jobs I had and all the cool people I met( like Alfred Hitchcock when I worked on The Birds) the highlight was when I met Sean Connery with whom I’d fallen in love from watching Darby O’Gill and the Little People on to James Bond.
A huge tip of the Ben Cartwright Memorial Ten Gallon Hat to Katie Sweet for filling in the details after all this fan mail. Thanks, Katie!