Acting and Appearances

Ferdin in a promotional shot for Blondie (1968)

Ferdin played the Bumsteads' daughter Cookie in the 1968–1969 CBS revival series Blondie. She was subsequently cast as Felix Unger's daughter Edna in the 1970s ABC series version of The Odd Couple^[2] and Paul Lynde's daughter Sally on the short-lived The Paul Lynde Show.

She appeared on Star Trek in 1968 as one of a group of orphaned children led by an alien with sinister motives in the episode "And the Children Shall Lead"^[7] and in the 1977 series Space Academy as Laura Gentry.^[8]

Ferdin's distinctive voice secured her voiceover roles,^[2] and she was cast to provide the voice of Lucy van Pelt in three Peanuts cartoons: the 1969 TV special It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown, a 1969 feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown and the 1971 TV special Play It Again, Charlie Brown.^[9] She provided the voice of Sally, the little girl in the 1971 animated TV special of Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat. Ferdin was a frequent guest star on episodic television in the 1960s and 1970s, with appearances on Bewitched, Green Acres, The Andy Griffith Show, Branded, Daniel Boone, Custer, The Monkees, The Flying Nun, The Second Hundred Years, Gunsmoke, Shazam!, The High Chaparral, Mannix, The Brady Bunch, Family Affair, Love, American Style, Marcus Welby, M.D., Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Apple's Way, The Streets of San Francisco, Baretta, CHiPS, and 240-Robert.^[7]

She had a brief and uncredited role in The Reluctant Astronaut (1967) and was featured in the Walt Disney musical The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968). Her association with Walt Disney earned an appearance with him in a color TV magazine advertisement, looking over Disney's right shoulder.^[10] She appeared as Mary Constable in the supernatural TV movie Daughter of the Mind and as Abby Clarkson in the horror film The Mephisto Waltz (1971) with Alan Alda. The same year, Ferdin appeared in The Christine Jorgensen Story, based on the life of the first person in the United States to undergo sex reassignment surgery,^[11] and in The Beguiled^[12] alongside Clint Eastwood and Geraldine Page. She then appeared in the Kurt Vonnegut adaptation Happy Birthday Wanda June,^[13] and in the exploitation horror film The Toolbox Murders (1978).

She voiced Fern Arable, the little girl who raises Wilbur the pig, in the 1973 animated film Charlotte's Web.^[14][15]

Ferdin was considered for the role of Regan MacNeil, the demon-possessed girl in the 1973 William Friedkin film The Exorcist, but casting directors decided she was too well-known and cast the less familiar actress Linda Blair.

Her last acting roles were as the voice of the character Shelley Kelley in the Kids' WB series Detention in 1999 and as Christmas the Horse in the feature film Elf Sparkle Meets Christmas the Horse in 2008.^[1]

In 2020, Ferdin co-hosted two episodes of the television talk show "Ken Boxer Live" on TVSB TV, originating in Santa Barbara, California.

Activism

After leaving her job as a public relations director in the mid-1990s, Ferdin began working for the Center for Animal Care and Control in New York City.^[16] In August 2004, Ferdin accepted the presidency of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), according to statements filed under oath in U.S. District Court in New Jersey. The incumbent, Kevin Kjonaas, resigned after being indicted on charges of conspiracy and interstate stalking.^[17] When Kjonaas and six other SHAC activists were jailed in 2006, Ferdin vowed to continue the campaign. According to salon.com, she defined her role as "a squeaky-clean representative for SHAC USA," but warned that if the SHAC seven were convicted, "[P]eople, I think, are going to get hurt. There's going to be a lot of violence."^[18]

In 2004, she accused the parents of Kelly Keen, a three-year-old child killed in a coyote attack, of murdering their daughter and using the story of an animal attack to cover up the crime. This was part of her protest against public efforts to control the coyote population near suburban homes.^[19]

On June 22, 2006, Ferdin was sentenced to 90 days in jail for trespassing and "targeted demonstration" outside the home of an employee of the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services. She stated that the conviction "is not going to affect my speaking out and exposing the atrocities occurring at our six city shelters".^[20] She served 36 hours and was released before serving the full sentence due to prison overcrowding.

In December 2006, Ferdin's group, the Animal Defense League, Los Angeles (ADLLA), announced that it had been awarded $75,000 against the city of Los Angeles for an anti-strategic lawsuit against public participation motion.^[21]

Her ex-husband, Jerry Vlasak, "sits on a precarious perch within the animal rights movement," according to a profile in The Los Angeles Times in 2006. "Through his Animal Liberation Press Office, he is the spokesman for shadowy groups that sabotage labs, vandalize homes, firebomb properties and make death threats via late-night phone calls. But he works in the wide open, operating a website, issuing press releases, talking to journalists."^[22]

In 2008, Ferdin was found in contempt of court, after allegedly violating an injunction. The conviction was overturned and she filed a federal lawsuit against UCLA for harassment.^[23]

Film

Television