Season 10's (1968) episode "Little Girl Lost" featured child actress Linda Sue Risk (age 10).   

 

Storyline:  Ben receives a packaged shipped via Wells Fargo. It is a little girl, Samantha Dorcas. She is the daughter of a cousin of Ben. The Cartwrights soon find she is a firebrand who doesn't want to stay on the Ponderosa. (IMDB)

 

Ben, the boys, Candy, and Hop Sing struggle to control "Sam" and get to the bottom of why she is there.

 

 

 

All is eventually resolved and Samantha is reunited with her mother and grandfather.

 

 

Linda was born June 19, 1958.  Her other TV show credits include:  

 

The Red Skelton Hour

That Girl

Mission Impossible

The Outcasts

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

Here Come the Brides

 

She appeared in two movies:   " Maryjane" with Fabian, Diane McBain and Patty McCormack (1968) and "The Trouble with Girls" with Elvis (1969).

 

She has no other screen or acting credits and I could not find any further information about her.   

 

 

 

 

wahoo, with Elvis Presley ? What a lucky little girl. 

 

She did a super great job in her scenes, facing Lorne Greene. She was funny and very professional in her so large "Hoss' shirt". 

 

I thank you for opening the topic about her. She was a cute little girl and it's a funny episode. I like this one, Ben Cartwright dealing with this little girl, that"s very funny. 

very sweet moment. I'm sure, they both enjoyed this moment, as Lorne just had become a father again  

She is adorable and very pretty. 

She looks cute sitting on top of Ben's desk.

I love this episode and adored her relationship with the boys. That was so cute how she wanted to marry them all, I didn't blame her one bit! 

A so touching episode with this adorable little girl. A view what a daughter would have brought at the Ponderosa . She's so small compared to the Men, but she's got courage and determination. She's a Cartwright : stubborn and sure of herself. But we know, she wanted to be accepted and loved. Ben gave her that kind of reassurance.

I noticed all the actors looked especially happy when there were children in the episode.

2 hours ago, kathym said:

I noticed all the actors looked especially happy when there were children in the episode.

Just guessing, but most of them were dads, so that may have played a part in it. Or the storylines were enjoyable. Or both! 🙂

She's such a cutie. She was also in a funny episode of Here Come the Brides which aired the same year, but her part was a lot smaller because she was one of three siblings.

6 hours ago, CareBear said:

Just guessing, but most of them were dads, so that may have played a part in it. Or the storylines were enjoyable. Or both! 🙂

They had 16 children and 10 wives between them! (Not all at the same time obviously - the wives that is!) 😂

On 3/6/2026 at 3:24 AM, Daisy Roots said:

They had 16 children and 10 wives between them! (Not all at the same time obviously - the wives that is!) 😂

Good grief, I hadn't considered counting all that. 😁 I loved all the 'kid' episodes. So wished some had been Cartwrights.

9 hours ago, AC1830 said:

Good grief, I hadn't considered counting all that. 😁 I loved all the 'kid' episodes. So wished some had been Cartwrights.

Actually I underestimated. It was actually 17 children (I undercounted Lorne's!)