50 Fun Facts About Family Affair

What name does Buffy give the bespectacled doll she carries almost everywhere on Family Affair?

Mrs. Beasley was such a hit with young viewers that a talking version went on sale in toy shops. Buffy only gives her up in the final season, when friends say she is too old for dolls.

Which character in Disney's The Jungle Book was voiced by the actor who played Mr. French on Family Affair?

Bagheera the wise black panther reached cinemas a year after the sitcom began, so its butler was a Disney voice and a prime-time star at the same time.

Which actor, the father of the twins in Disney's The Parent Trap, played bachelor Uncle Bill on Family Affair?

Brian Keith earned three Emmy nominations as Uncle Bill. He was more than the star, too: he held part ownership of the series.

The actor who played Mr. French on Family Affair released an album of spoken recitations of which songwriter's songs?

Bob Dylan's songs became solemn spoken verse on the 1967 album, whose title billed one man as actor and the other as poet. Two tracks later landed on a compilation of celebrity singing oddities.

Which Rocky Horror Picture Show star took over as Mr. French in the 2002 remake of Family Affair?

Tim Curry played the butler opposite a new Uncle Bill, but the remake lasted less than a season. Two finished episodes were never broadcast.

Which future sitcom daughter played Buffy's gravely ill schoolmate in a Christmas episode of Family Affair?

Eve Plumb took the role a year before she became Jan on The Brady Bunch. With the girl's prognosis poor, the Davis family sets out to do something special for her.

In which city does Uncle Bill share his luxury high-rise apartment with the children on Family Affair?

New York is the setting, with the apartment placed on the Upper East Side, yet the series itself was filmed in a California studio.

Buffy's young actress from Family Affair made her only film appearance in The Trouble with Girls beside which superstar?

Elvis Presley was the star of the 1969 film, shot at the height of her fame as Buffy. She never made another, and stopped acting when the sitcom ended.

The opening credits of Family Affair appear over gems and precious stones viewed through which kind of optical toy?

A kaleidoscope of multicoloured jewels fills the screen behind the titles. In the final season the cast went further and greeted viewers on camera before the story began.

Which toy company turned Buffy's doll from Family Affair into a talking toy sold across the United States?

Mattel sold the talking doll once the show proved a hit with girls. It then added two dolls modelled on Buffy herself, each with a miniature copy of her companion.

Which English actor, the narrator of Disney's Winnie the Pooh featurettes, played Mr. French on Family Affair?

Sebastian Cabot knew the job first-hand: as a teenager in London he worked as chauffeur and valet to a British actor before going on the stage himself.

Which American network bought Family Affair before a pilot had even been filmed and aired it for five seasons?

CBS committed on the strength of its producer's track record. The gamble paid off: in its second season the show tied for fourth place in the national ratings.

What is the profession of Uncle Bill on Family Affair, whose projects send him all over the world?

Civil engineer Bill Davis develops major projects abroad. In one episode a bridge his company built collapses, and the children rally round as he faces the consequences.

Which future sitcom dad played Julian Hill, the philosophy teacher Cissy becomes obsessed with on Family Affair?

Robert Reed appeared three years before The Brady Bunch made him Mike Brady. He was the first of two future Brady stars to guest on the series.

On Family Affair, how did Buffy, Jody and Cissy lose their parents a year before moving in with Uncle Bill?

A car crash killed Uncle Bill's brother Bob and his wife Mary. The other relatives decided the wealthy bachelor was the one best able to support the three children.

From which Midwestern state do Buffy, Jody and Cissy move to live with Uncle Bill on Family Affair?

Indiana is Uncle Bill's home state as well. The family returns to Terre Haute for a reunion, where an aunt again tries to persuade the children to live with her.

The actor who played Uncle Bill on Family Affair later starred as a retired judge in which 1980s crime series?

Hardcastle and McCormick made him Judge Milton Hardcastle, partnered with an ex-con racing driver. It gave the one-time sitcom uncle a second hit nearly two decades later.

What surprise present do Buffy and Jody buy for Uncle Bill with their own savings in an early Family Affair episode?

A horse, an elderly one that came with its own carriage, was the twins' answer when they could not settle on a gift. The episode is called The Gift Horse.

Which future M*A*S*H regular plays a hippie in Flower Power, a Family Affair episode about Cissy's new friends?

Jamie Farr was still three years from playing Klinger when he turned up as the hippie. Cissy decides she might like to join them, and Uncle Bill disagrees.

In a three-part Family Affair story, Mr. French loses Buffy and Jody on a bus during a vacation in which country?

Spain leaves the twins stranded for most of the story, cared for by a poor farming couple while the rest of the family searches frantically for them.

Which actress, cast at the last minute while the pilot was already filming, played teenage Cissy on Family Affair?

Kathy Garver was 20 and a university student when she took the part of the 15-year-old. No scenes had been shot with the actress first chosen for the role.

Which red-haired child actor, later the lead in the 1973 musical Tom Sawyer, played Jody on Family Affair?

Johnny Whitaker got the part because the show's leading man had just made a film with him and recommended him to the producers.

Which child actress, eight years old but small for her age, was cast as six-year-old Buffy on Family Affair?

Anissa Jones had made her first commercial at six. Buffy and her brother were written as different ages until producers saw the two children together and made them twins.

Which actress, later Rhoda's mother Ida Morgenstern, joined Family Affair in its final season as housekeeper Emily?

Nancy Walker's Emily is hired to assist the butler and is his opposite in every way, to his great frustration, until she wins over the whole household.

Family Affair shot Uncle Bill's scenes in two 30-day blocks, a trick borrowed from which sitcom by the same producer?

My Three Sons had used the schedule to land Fred MacMurray. It let film stars commit to television and still make movies, with co-stars filling in their scenes afterwards.

Which actor, the droning boss Bill Lumbergh in Office Space, played Uncle Bill in the 2002 Family Affair remake?

Gary Cole was no stranger to remade sitcom fathers: he had already played Mike Brady in the Brady Bunch films of the 1990s.

What is the seldom-used first name of Mr. French, the gentleman's gentleman on Family Affair?

Giles French is nearly always addressed as Mr. French or simply French. His brother, who covers for him for nine episodes, is called Nigel.

In a second-season Family Affair episode, Jody's invisible friend Arthur is what kind of animal?

A bear called Arthur keeps landing Jody in trouble. Uncle Bill grows worried enough about the unseen companion to take the boy to a psychologist.

An advertising agency courts Mr. French on Family Affair to promote which very British breakfast spread?

Marmalade nearly cost Uncle Bill his butler: the obligations of the advertising contract threatened to pull Mr. French out of service with the family.

Which star of The Thin Man films guest starred on Family Affair as a woman hired as housekeeper and cook?

Myrna Loy played a woman so unsuited to the job that Nigel, the stand-in butler, had to coach her through it. When the arrangement still failed, she blamed him.

Which Hollywood leading man, star of Gilda and Blackboard Jungle, turned down the role of Uncle Bill on Family Affair?

Glenn Ford said no, and the part went to an actor who took a share of the show's ownership along with the lead.

Which actor, the chief inspector in Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, played Mr. French's brother Nigel on Family Affair?

John Williams filled in for nine episodes in 1967. Rather than recast the butler, the writers gave him a brother in the same line of work.

Which producer of The Millionaire created Family Affair and cast his own son as Cissy's boyfriend Gregg?

Don Fedderson's son played Cissy's steady boyfriend for four seasons, and the two young actors began dating in real life while working on the show.

Which composer, who also wrote the theme for The Brady Bunch, composed the Family Affair theme tune?

Frank De Vol was a deadpan comic actor as well, best known on screen as the gloomy bandleader Happy Kyne in the talk-show parody Fernwood 2 Night.

Which youth-oriented network, home of Dawson's Creek, aired the short-lived 2002 remake of Family Affair?

The WB built a new Thursday comedy block around the remake, then pulled it from the air within months as its audience shrank.

Which English king does Mr. French play on Family Affair for a film producer secretly planning a farce?

Henry VIII looked like a dignified starring role until the producer's real plan emerged, and Uncle Bill stepped in to protect his butler's reputation.

Which real injury to Buffy's actress was hastily written into a Family Affair episode where the circus comes to her?

A broken leg in real life could not be hidden, so Buffy breaks hers in a baseball game and misses the circus she had planned to see.

Which Pacific island so charms the family in a two-part Family Affair story that Uncle Bill considers moving there?

Tahiti's easygoing way of life enchants everyone at first, but the family soon finds it misses the structured routine it left behind.

Which director spotted the future Cissy of Family Affair as a child extra and wrote her into his 1956 epic?

Cecil B. DeMille noticed her among the extras on The Ten Commandments and wrote her a part as a young slave girl, which became her best-known film role.

Before playing Jody on Family Affair, the young actor originated the role of Scotty Baldwin on which daytime soap?

General Hospital introduced Scotty in 1965 with the future Jody in the part. The character later grew into one of the soap's long-running villains.

While Mr. French was absent from nine Family Affair episodes in 1967, whom was the character said to be touring with?

The Queen was the story given on screen: he was away on a Commonwealth tour, and his brother Nigel ran the household until he came back.

Which brothers, the creators of H.R. Pufnstuf, produced the 2002 remake of Family Affair?

Sid and Marty Krofft already had a link to the show: the original Jody had starred in their 1970s series Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.

Which future Pretty Little Liars star began her screen career at six as Buffy in the 2002 Family Affair remake?

Sasha Pieterse was six when she played Buffy. Her breakthrough came years later as Alison DiLaurentis, the role that made her famous worldwide.

Which hit NBC variety hour, scheduled opposite Family Affair in its final season, sent the sitcom's ratings plummeting?

The Flip Wilson Show was the second most-watched programme of that season. Both shows opened their 1970 runs on the very same September evening.

Jody's dare to join a boys' club on Family Affair involves which trademark feature of Mr. French?

His beard was the actor's own trademark, worn since 1957. He finally shaved it after the sitcom ended, to play Santa Claus in a 1973 television film.

In the final episode of Family Affair, Buffy and Jody fight city hall to save a site for children from becoming what?

A parking lot was the city's plan for the spot the twins had picked out for a children's park. The 1971 episode, You Can Fight City Hall, closed the series.

Uncle Bill's actor on Family Affair flew in World War II as a dive-bomber tail gunner with which service?

The Marine Corps trained him as a radioman and rear gunner in a two-seat Dauntless dive bomber, and he came home with an Air Medal.

What is the real first name of Cissy, the eldest Davis child and big sister to the twins on Family Affair?

Catherine is her given name, and her siblings hide theirs too: Jody is really Jonathan, and Buffy's full name is Ava Elizabeth.

In which comedy sequel does Bobcat Goldthwait's gang leader Zed weep while watching Family Affair in his hideout?

Police Academy 2 plays the gentle sitcom for a laugh: the erratic boss of a street gang called the Scullions is moved to tears by it.

Which friend of Mr. French, a fellow servant played by Heather Angel, appears regularly on Family Affair?

Miss Faversham is in service like him, and in the final season the new housekeeper tries her hand at matchmaking the two old friends.