The Life of Judith Barsi Trivia Quiz

Answer: June

Judith Eva Barsi was born on June 6th, 1978, to Jozsef and Maria Barsi. Her parents were Hungarian immigrants, who immigrated to Los Angeles shortly before Judith was born. Judith did, however, speak Hungarian fluently.

Answer: At a skating rink

Judith was only five-years-old in 1983 when she was "discovered" at a San Fernando Valley skating rink. She had actually been mistaken for a three-year-old, due to her very small stature. Judith then went on to film her first commercial, for Donald Duck Orange Juice. That was a dream come true for Judith's mother, Maria, who had dreamed of her daughter being famous someday.

After that, Judith appeared in over 70 more commercials, including ones for peanut butter, Pledge, Tide, and McDonalds.

Answer: Ducky

Ducky was a Parasaurolophus dinosaur, nicknamed a "big mouth" or a "swimmer" in the film. She was a very innocent and sweet dinosaur, who was very protective of the other characters. Judith once stated, in an interview, that Ducky was her favorite role. After Judith died, actresses Heather Hogan and Aria Noelle Curzon took on the role of Ducky for the continuation of the series.

Answer: Growing Pains

Judith was in the season three finale of "Growing Pains". Playing a four-year-old Carol Seaver in a flashback scene, Judith was actually nine-years-old at the time. The scene had a six-year-old Mike Seaver struggling to read his first book - young Carol then leaned over his shoulder and began to read it with no trouble at all, causing friction between the two.

Judith also had the privilege of appearing in "Punky Brewster" and "Remington Steele" in 1986, and "St. Elsewhere" in 1988, amongst other television appearances.

Answer: She was abused.

Judith's father, Jozsef (pronounced YO-seff) was an unemployed plumber, so when Judith began bringing home over $100,000 he got insanely jealous, instead of being happy. He started physically, emotionally, and mentally abusing Judith and her mother, Maria. He commonly called Judith a "little brat" and threatened to kill her and her mother countless times, if they left him.

Judith was under so much stress psychologically, that she wound up pulling out her eyelashes and her cat's whiskers, in a fit. She also gained a lot of weight in the last year of her life, due to stress.

Answer: Slam Dance

"Slam Dance" (1987) starred Tom Hulce and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. It was about a man framed for the murder of a woman. Judith played the role of Bean, Tom Hulce's character's daughter.

Judith was completely unaffiliated with "Back to the Future II" (1989), "Spaceballs" (1987) and "Poltergeist III" (1988).

Answer: True

Judith stood less than four feet tall. The petite child had received hormone injections at age ten to hopefully have her grow taller, but she never had a chance to - she was only three feet, eight inches when she died. Judith often played characters younger than herself; she commonly played three or four year olds, even when she was ten.

Answer: Fatal Vision

Directed by David Greene, "Fatal Vision" (1984) was a true story about a man who was accused of murdering his wife and two children. Judith played Kimberley, one of the man's children. Also appearing in this miniseries were Karl Malden, Andy Griffith, Barry Newman, and Gary Cole.

The miniseries and its actors won several awards, including an Emmy for Karl Malden for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special".

Answer: She was murdered

The story goes that on the night of July 25th, 1988, Jozsef Barsi found out that his wife, Maria, and Judith, were indeed leaving him. So he went into her room, late at night, and shot his daughter - she died instantly. He then killed his wife, Judith's mother. He waited about two more days before igniting the house on fire (bodies still lying where they were shot) and killing himself. The fire was put out, and the bodies found. A few of Judith's toys survived the fire, and were donated to the local Goodwill.

Judith and her mother were buried at Hollywood Hills Cemetery on August 9th, 1988, originally sharing an unmarked grave. It was not until August of 2004 that they were given headstones, by loyal fans of Judith's. Also buried in Hollywood Hills Cemetery were Bette Davis, Ricky Nelson, and Frank Gumm (Judy Garland's father).

Answer: All Dogs Go to Heaven

Judith's last film, "All Dogs Go to Heaven", was not released until November 17, 1989. The animated film was about a dog named Charlie (voiced by Burt Reynolds) who died. The dog needed to do some good things on Earth before going to Heaven, so he went back to Earth and saved an orphan girl, Anne-Marie (voiced by Judith).

The film was made by Don Bluth, who Judith had worked with on "The Land Before Time" (1988). "All Dogs Go to Heaven" (1989) was released on the same day as Disney's "The Little Mermaid" (1989), and did not garner much theatrical success, but ended up becoming one of the biggest-selling VHS releases ever