A perky, Emmy Award-winning juvenile lead, Kristy McNichol is perhaps best recalled as Buddy, the young tomboy of the Lawrence clan, on TV's "Family" (ABC, 1976-80). Her attempts to translate her small screen success to features were generally unsuccessful, although she did score opposite Tatum O'Neal and Matt Dillon in the teen comedy "Little Darlings" (1980) and offered a variation of her TV persona as Marsha Mason's daughter in "Only When I Laugh" (1981). After several unsuccessful films (e.g., "Just the Way You Are" 1984), McNichol returned to the small screen in 1988 as Richard Mulligan's policewoman daughter in the NBC sitcom, "Empty Nest", but after four years, she withdrew from the series when she was diagnosed with a bipolar disorder. Although she more or less abandoned her show business career, she did return for the final episode "Empty Nest" in 1992 and provided a character voice for The WB's animated series "Invasion America" (1998).