Kami Cotler and Rachel Longaker remained life-long friends

[carol]

Kami Cotler and Rachel Longaker remained life-long friends after The Waltons

On TV, Elizabeth Walton was considered a bad influence on Aimee Louise Godsey.

March 11, 2022, 10:31AM By MeTV Staff



There’s a sweet subplot in The Waltons episode "The Long Night" that centers on two little girls just trying to have fun, only to be divided when it’s deemed one of them is less ladylike than the other.

In the story, it’s Elizabeth Walton whom Corabeth Godsey deems a bad influence on her adopted daughter Aimee.

On The Waltons, Aimee appears in 16 episodes, established as Elizabeth’s best friend. The character was played by a child star named Rachel Longaker, who landed the role on The Waltons after appearing as a girl with ESP in an ABC after-school special.

For Longaker, this stint on The Waltons was hitting the bigtime.

As a child, she longed to be an actor, and not just someone with "a lot of teeth and hair" as 13-year-old Longaker told the Baltimore Sun in 1979, but a star performer with real acting chops like her heroes, Jane Alexander and Joanne Woodward.

Although her parents disapproved of her dream, they moved to Los Angeles in 1977, shortly after Longaker got the recurring role on The Waltons. Up until then, she’d been rising as an actor, appearing as John Denver’s daughter in the movie Oh, God and taking guest roles on popular TV programs like Little House on the Prairie and Roots.

But burnout came quick for the young star, who by 1979 was sick of going to auditions where a casting director asks, "Send in about 50 little blondes."
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Instead of seeing herself as a budding star, she saw herself as nothing more than "Rachel the schoolgirl" in the eyes of these casting directors.

So when her dad got appointed provost at Johns Hopkins University and moved the family to Baltimore, she didn’t know how much longer her acting career would last. She likely didn’t realize just yet that 1979 would be her last year on The Waltons.

Despite being moved away from the action, Longaker continued to appear on TV occasionally in the Eighties, including doing a few more ABC Afterschool Specials, but by 1996, she retired from acting, never achieving the stardom she dreamed of as a little girl.

Before retiring, she did make time to return for 1993’s A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion, despite ceding the role of Aimee to another actor named DeAnna Robbins for the prior three reunion movies.

Perhaps what brought her back was memories of hanging out with her old onscreen best friend Kami Cotler, who played Elizabeth.

Cotler wrote on Facebook in 2020 that the pair of pals continued to see each other from time to time, becoming life-long friends over the years since The Waltons ended.

She said that after quitting acting, Longaker became a librarian.

For Cotler, it was cool having Longaker around, because she saw her as another young girl joining her TV family.

"Rachel was enormous fun to have on set," Cotler wrote. "I think we were both about 11 when she joined our show. It can't be easy joining a cast that has been working together so closely, but Rachel fit right in."


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[sdw]

I read that on facebook.

[Kyle]

I loved Rachel Longaker - she was such a likable, appealing little actress. I would have preferred her to have a bigger role on the show instead of bringing in Jeff and Serena to beef up the younger set. And it would have made sense, story-wise - Aimee was Elizabeth’s best friend and Walton kin. But I guess that wasn’t an option if her family moved away.

I was also happy to see Rachel back in the 1993 reunion after that disgraceful, faux Aimee appeared in the 1982 movies.

[nedandres]

I wrote to Rachel when she was on THE WALTONS and she answered me and said that she wanted to be an actor when she grew up. At that time it wasn't so easy to be in the industry without living in LA or NYC. I guess it might be a bit easier now. But child actors often find success in other careers after they grow up.

[Emmy]

I think it is so cool they remained best friends after all of these years. I have seen videos of them together at reunions and they looked like they were having a blast together. 

[Deleted]

You could really see the chemistry between Kami and Rachel on screen even for such young actresses. I am glad they remained good friends until today.

One funny note is in an interview with Kami everyone thought she was this really tall girl when actually she is not tall at all. The thing is being next to Rachel who was so tiny she did look tall. 

[goodnight]

I remember her from 2 afterschool specials. One called, My Mom's Having A Baby and My Mother Was Never A Kid. In the second one called My Mother Was Never A Kid, she played the teenage version of woman who has a rebellious daughter. This rebellious daughter ends up going back in time after she hits her head to the 1940's when her mom was a teenager. The mother character was played as an adult by Holland Taylor, Janet's Aunt Flo.

[Deleted]

Apr 15, 2023 18:07:23 GMT -5 goodnight said:

I remember her from 2 afterschool specials. One called, My Mom's Having A Baby and My Mother Was Never A Kid. In the second one called My Mother Was Never A Kid, she played the teenage version of woman who has a rebellious daughter. This rebellious daughter ends up going back in time after she hits her head to the 1940's when her mom was a teenager. The mother character was played as an adult by Holland Taylor, Janet's Aunt Flo.

Wow, I wouldn't have even recognized Rachel. She is really putting on the New York City accent. 

[goodnight]

You don't see Rachel until about 9 minutes in.

[Deleted]

Apr 15, 2023 19:36:32 GMT -5 goodnight said:

You don't see Rachel until about 9 minutes in.

I thought she was the Victoria character at first and I was like "Boy she changed". Now I see her as the movie goes along. 

[goodnight]

Apr 15, 2023 19:50:50 GMT -5 @jaybez2 said:

Apr 15, 2023 19:36:32 GMT -5 goodnight said:

You don't see Rachel until about 9 minutes in.

I thought she was the Victoria character at first and I was like "Boy she changed". Now I see her as the movie goes along. 

No she plays Victoria's mother CeCe (whose full name is Felicia) as a teenager in the 1940's. Victoria hits her head when the subway train lurches. When she comes to, she walks out into the station and runs into CeCe.