Wednesday, August 31, 2011

1982 Savannah Smiles | Bridgette Andersen


I loved Bridgette Andersen 
in Savannah Smiles.
When I was a kid in the early 1980s, HBO repeated the same five movies over and over again and Savannah Smiles was one of them. The film introduced us to the most adorable little blond child, Bridgette Andersen as the precocious Savannah who runs away from her overly occupied, rich parents and stumbles on two idiotic petty criminals. 
The precocious Savannah.
I'm sure NOBODY remembers this flick, but I do and I loved it. Here's a sweet scene from Savannah Smiles I never quite understood, but thought was cute. Hey, I was like 11, what do you expect. I'm sad to discover that the young actress Bridgette Andersen (who also appeared in many TV shows including Golden Girls) died of a drug overdose.



14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you kidding? This was my all-time FAVORITE movie when I was a kid! I loved it so much I swore I was going to name my own daughter after Savannah!

Margie said...

Aww, that's so sad. I remember though.

Thanks to HBO, I grew to despise Superman 3. It's a crappy movie but dang, every day, maybe twice, for a year?

Angela said...

I watched Savannah Smiles over and over on HBO! As a kid, I loved how HBO repeated movies over and over. Love your blog btw!

soccergidg21 said...

Of course I know this movie! Classis 80's flick. My sisters and I loved that movie and still quote it to this day. If I have a daughter, the name Savannah, thanks to this movie is most def. in the running for her name.

Lawfrog said...

Cute movie for sure and so very sad how she died. I looked up Bridgette and found out about her death awhile back when I was researching the actresses who appeared as the kids in Parent Trap II. Turns out the other girl in that film went on to become a lawyer and is now a writer. Sad that her co-star went down such a different path.

bestie said...

I was obsessed with this film. Her adorableness was hard to resist. thx for the reminder!

Baby Sister said...

I LOVE this movie!! She was so cute!! Sad that she died though, I didn't know that.

~ Noelle said...

NO!
I did not know she died..
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie...
Really wish I could find it on dvd.
One of my first email addresses was savannahsmiles !

Sheila said...

if the ocean was whiskey and i was a duck *quack* i'd swim to the bottom and never come up :)

Sheila said...

if the ocean was whiskey and i was a duck *quack* i'd swim to the bottom and never come up :)

Cinnagirl76 said...

This was my favorite movie as a kid!She was about my age and I thought she was so pretty. I ended up naming my daughter Savannah after this movie...she's 17 now. So sad how Bridgette ended up. I found out about it back around 1999 and couldn't believe it!

Unknown said...

I loved this movie! About a yeat ago I found the movie in a $5 dvd bin, grabbed it right up, and introduced my 6-year-old to this feel-good movie favorite. My daughter, now 7, watches it often and loves it!

helen725 said...

This is the best scene in the movie! I love the way she does her little gestures and that song at the end is so cute!! "I was born and raised in the briar patch, born and raised in the briar patch!! Dan, dan da dan!!"

Savannah must have memorized all those TV shows she watched in her room while her parents ignored her.

By the way, I love the Snoopy suitcase that she used to run away. It reminds me of my childhood and all the cool Snoopy items I had in the 80's.

Unknown said...

I absolutely loved this movie as a kid & like everyone else watched it over and over again on HBO. My oldest daughter is named after Bridgette's charater Savannah, my daughter is 15 now and she came out with the same hair color! Which is neat bc myself and husband are dark haired brunette, as are my other kids (all frm my husband) It saddened me that such a promising actress is gone. But she dose live on in the role she played as Savannah which still touches our lives.

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