Dawn Lyn Nervik (born January 11, 1963) is an American former child actress who acted from age 4 to 15. She is best known for her role as Dodie Douglas during the last three seasons of the sitcom ''

My Three Sons ''My Three Sons'' is an American television sitcom that aired from September 29, 1960, to April 13, 1972. The series was filmed in black-and-white and broadcast on ABC during its first five seasons, before moving to CBS for the remaining seve ...

''.Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows 1946 – Present'', Ballantine Books, 1979, pages 429-430.

Personal life

Dawn Lyn Nervik was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, to Carolyn Stellar and Rik Nervik.'' Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew'', Episode 4.7,

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

, 29 December 2010. Her brother is singer and actor

Leif Garrett Leif Garrett (born Leif Per Nervik; November 8, 1961) is an American actor, singer, and television personality. He worked as a child actor, then in the 1970s became famous as a teen idol in music. He later received much publicity for his drug ...

. Due to a hormonal deficiency Lyn remains small-of-stature and, as a child, looked younger than her actual age. Her adult height is 4 feet 10 inches.Garver, Kathy & Ascher, Fred, ''X Stars: Where Are They Now?'', page 89, Taylor Trade Publishing, 2016
/ref> On October 13, 2022, Lyn was hospitalized for five days for brain surgery to reduce a non-malignant tumor. On October 22, 2022, she fell into a coma caused by

bacterial meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasionall ...

. Lyn was comatose in ICU for a month before regaining consciousness. As of March 25, 2024, she remains hospitalized, making gradual progress toward recovery. Her EEG indicates she can eventually make a full recovery. Her progress is monitored by her television brother Stan Livingston and television sister-in-law Tina Cole, with multiple visits by Cole.

Career

Child actress

In 1969 Dawn Lyn was cast as Dodie Harper Douglas, the daughter of Steve Douglas' second wife, on the long-running family comedy television series ''

''. The show's storyline had Steve adopt Dodie, and Lyn remained with the series until it ended in 1972. Later, Lyn worked on many popular series including ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American Action fiction, action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing two situatio ...

'' and ''

Adam-12 ''Adam-12'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Robert A. Cinader and Jack Webb and produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. The series follows Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers Pe ...

''. In 1971 Lyn had a role in the

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 12th-greatest male ...

western ''

Shoot Out ''Shoot Out'' is a 1971 American Western film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Gregory Peck. The film is adapted from Will James's 1930 novel, ''The Lone Cowboy''. The film was produced, directed, and written by the team that delivered ...

''. She also appeared in the '' Walking Tall'' trilogy. She had a recurring role as Reagan in the 1974 NBC series ''

Born Free ''Born Free'' is a 1966 British drama film starring the real-life couple Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers as Joy and George Adamson, another real-life couple, who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood and released h ...

''. She also had a recurring role in the 1977 series '' The Red Hand Gang''. In 1974, Lyn appeared in the

cult classic A cult following is a group of Fan (person), fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some List of art media, medium. The latter is often cal ...

'' Devil Times Five'', where Lyn's character Little Moe dumps a bucket of

piranha A piranha (, or ; ) is any of a number of freshwater fish species in the subfamily Serrasalminae, of the family Serrasalmidae, in the order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, floodplains, lakes and reservoirs. Although ...

s into a bathtub to kill the character Lovely, played by Lyn's mother, Carolyn Stellar.Lord, T.S., ''Little Horrors: How Cinema’s Evil Children Play On Our Guilt'', page 174, McFarland Inc., 2016
/ref> In a 1978 episode of ''

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superheroine who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''All Star Comics'' Introducing Wonder Woman, #8, published October 21, 1941, with her first feature in ''Sensation Comic ...

'', Lyn played a teenage

groupie A groupie is a fan of a particular musical group who follows the band around while they are on tour or who attends as many of their public appearances as possible, with the hope of meeting them. The term is used mostly describing young women, a ...

to a

pop idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

played by her brother Leif Garrett (who also played the idol's twin brother).

Later career

While living in

Avalon Avalon () is an island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appeared in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' as a place of magic where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was made and later where Arthur was taken to recove ...

on Catalina Island, Lyn performed live voice acting with the Avalon Community Theater Radio Troupe from 1997 to 2006.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyn, Dawn American expatriates in Germany American film actresses American television actresses Actresses from Los Angeles American people of Norwegian descent Living people 1963 births American child actresses People from Avalon, California 21st-century American women