Key Points
- Jodie Foster began acting young, appearing frequently on 1970s television shows.
- Foster recalls unusual childhood acting moments, like eating fennel for the first time on set.
- She recently narrated a Netflix documentary about classic 1975 films.
Jodie Foster’s career is unique. She started as a child actor on television, was nominated for an Academy Award at 12 years old, and continues to work in the industry as a director. Her early memories include acting in a scene, and her childhood photos are part of television history. Foster, 63, revealed one of those memories to Conan O’Brien.
Jodie Foster Ate Fennel for the First Time for TV Role
In the 1976 comedy Freaky Friday, starring Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris, a mother and daughter switch personalities and must live one day in each other’s bodies.
O’Brien, 62, said he watched Westerns on TV in the ‘70s from previous decades on his podcast, “Conan Needs a Friend.” “And you were a fixture on these shows, and it’s fascinating,” he told Jodie Foster. The child star played Bluebird in Bonanza and Joey Kelly in The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. She also played Patricia, Susan Sadler, and Marieanne in Gunsmoke.
“They’re iconic, but I don’t know how good they were,” Foster admitted. “I was on every kind of bad television show in the ‘70s.” However, she knows they were important to people for a different reason. “There was something really comforting about that,” The Silence of the Lambs star told the host. “It doesn’t feel the same way anymore when you lie in your bed with your covers on watching TV the way it did in the old days.”
The actress has strange memories from acting during that time. Foster played a child living in the wild, and there were edible plants around her. “I remember going through the weeds in a scene,” she said. “I pulled out this thing, and I ate a bite of it, and it was fennel.” The plant was “delicious” and new to her.
Foster doesn’t look back at her old guest star appearances. But her friends show her videos of her work as a child star sometimes on social media. “It’s kind of cute because my mom didn’t take pictures of me,” the Oscar winner explained. “I think taking pictures of your kids got expensive at that era.” Her first roles are the only “pictures” she has of her childhood. Foster recently helped people look back at history by narrating the Netflix documentary, Breakdown: 1975. It focuses on the classic movies from that year.
About the author
Nicole Weaver has covered entertainment news since 2014. She is passionate about well-written television and film. This led to her screenwriting spec scripts. Her Big Brother interviews started to go viral for offering a Black perspective on the game and advocating for women in the game.
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