Hearne: Iconic Child Star, KC Refugee Parties On

Most wannabes are more than happy to get their 15 minutes of fame….

In the case of former Overland Parker Karolyn Grimes she doesn’t need to settle. The child actress many know as ZuZu Bailey – from her role as Jimmy Stewart‘s cute-as-a-button daughter in the Christmas classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life” – is beyond celebrity.

She followed that role as David Niven and Loretta Young‘s very young daughter in another holiday classic, “The Bishop’s Wife.”

However, the Hollywood born, child star’s promising movie career was cut short by the death of her mother, and a year later her father via a car accident. All of which resulted in her being farmed out to a troubled uncle and his wife in Osceola, Missouri. After which followed a career as a medical technologist courtesy of the University of Central Missouri and her eventual migration to Kansas City.

While some knew of Grimes tres glam holiday past, it wasn’t until 1993, after her second husband’s death, that she began to realize her ties to those films could translate into a lucrative, post Hollywood life.

“Target decided to reunite the Bailey kids in their stores,” Grimes says. “They sent us all around the country. That’s when I realized all those people standing in line to get our autographs really loved that movie and it had an importance in their lives.”

Overnight the 50-ish Grimes career as a classic movie, child star was born.

Having worked with Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant, “I didn’t really meet any of them,” Grimes says. “But Loretta Young contacted me. She used to send me Catholic prayers.”

These days – at the ripe young age of 82 – Grimes spends her holidays (and year round) making appearances, celebrating her role as Zuzu and “It’s A Wonderful Life” at events and festivals world wide.

It’s the perfect storm of celebrity.

“I have the best of both worlds,” she says. “Because people don’t recognize me from the movie, but when I tell them their faces light up. It’s really a lovely opportunity for me to meet new people and see how happy it makes them. Mostly it’s in the fall and winter, but I do autograph shows like the Cherry Blossom Festival in Marshfield, Missouri.”

Meanwhile, back-at-the-ranch, Grimes has a daughter in KC and friends she likes to visit.

That said, to this day, she’s yet to throw the switch on KC’s infamous Plaza Lighting.

“I was supposed to do it one year, but then they gave it to someone who won some Ryan Seacrest reality show. I just think it’s so funny because whoever heard of him today, but I’m still going.”

Grimes wildest Zuzu story?

“Oh wow, nobody’s has ever asked me that,” she says. “I know I have some good ones, but let’s see.”

How about any Zuzu groupie action?

“Uh, yeah, but I don’t talk about that,” she says coyly. “I was a little  younger, but I had them. Remember the Righteous Brothers? The blonde one hit once one time in San Antonio in about 1998. he was fun.”

One night stand fun?

“No, no, no – he just hit on me,” Grimes laughs.”He wasn’t my kind of guy – he was kinda drunk – I didn’t find him attractive.”

Speaking of ZuZu’s romantic life, the one local dude she did find attractive and dated, was the now-deceased, alcoholic former KY102 deejay Paul Fredrocks.

“I dated him for about a year. It was interesting; he’d play organ and I would sing. He helped me start my show.”

Other than a pair of marriages and raising seven kids, “I didn’t have a lot of fun,” Grimes says. “I was a Baptist – you don’t go out to bars and you don’t drink. But that all changed after I met my second husband in 1969 – he was Catholic, so anything went.”

In other words, you’d have to look long and hard to dig up dirt on ZuZu.

“I had fun, but I was pretty careful,” she says. “I didn’t leave trails. My only blatant sin was Fredrock’s.”

The “end game” for the former child star ZuZu?

“I’m going to keep going until I can’t go any more,” she says. “People need this movie. You know what? The world isn’t so great any more and people need a reason to  go on.”