TOS ACTRESS SHERRY JACKSON STARTED OPPOSITE JOHN FREAKIN' WAYNE. WHO KNEW?

So the other day I'm watching yet another old movie on AMC, this time a little-known John Wayne movie from 1953 called "Trouble Along The Way". It's a movie I've seen several times before and always enjoy. It features The Duke in an unusual kind of movie: a RomCom. That's right, America's hero, John Wayne, in a romantic comedy with Donna Reed, the great Charles Coburn and, as The Duke's daughter, a young girl named Sherry Jackson.

Wait, what? Sherry Jackson? Sherry Jackson?!? 

In the countless times I'd seen the movie, I had never noticed the actress' name before. And I recognized it instantly. An actress with that name played the character of Andrea on the classic Star Trek TOS Season 1 episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?". And here was a girl who was 10 years old in 1953 with the same name. Could it be?

I grabbed my iphone and opened my IMDB Ap (hey, I'm a classic movie nerd, what can I say?), typed in the film and there it was – it was the same actress! Here she was in beautiful black and white  as the precocious daughter of John Wayne's football coach character. And she wasn't just in the movie – she was one of the main characters! I had always enjoyed her performance but now it took on a new aspect. I watched with a new-born interest. She was great!

 

 Here's Sherry with her daddy, The Duke himself, John Wayne!

And here's Sherry as the android Andrea in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"

Between "Trouble" and Star Trek, Sherry did a lot of growing and in all the right places! Her performance in Star Trek was very reined in and rather wooden. But it had to be – she was an android, after all. But her performance in "Trouble" really showed off her acting abilities. She holds her own with an all-star cast of Hollywood greats. And "Trouble" wasn't her first film. She began four years earlier at the age of six!

Sherry Jackson is one of those actresses that connects us to Hollywood's golden age actors like Wayne, Reed and Coburn. Though no longer acting, Ms. Jackson is alive and well, and I for one am grateful for her great turns in both Star Trek and "Trouble Along The Way".

LLAP

Don

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