What Happened to Officer Sindy Cahill on ‘CHiPs’ — And Brianne Leary, the Actress Who Played Her?
The very first thing that I remember seeing actress Brianne Leary in was Buck Rogers. Sure, I’d seen some CHiPs episodes featuring Brianne, and I thought Officer Sindy Cahill was an OK character, but that Buck Rogers episode, for so many reasons, made me wonder: Who is Brianne Leary?
CHiPs ran for six seasons on NBC from 1977 to 1983, and the California highways, I have to believe, were just a little bit safer because of this show.
Even though Erik Estrada seemed to get more coverage in terms of magazine covers and publicity, I always felt like Larry Wilcox was every bit Erik’s equal. They were both very good on the show, which was extremely popular with both adults and kids, especially during the early seasons.
Everett Collection
And it was during the second season that the character of Officer Sindy Cahill was introduced. On the show, Sindy wanted to be the California Highway Patrol’s first female motorcycle cop. Now, I must admit that I haven’t seen every episode that Sindy was in, but to my recollection, that never happened. Why? Because after appearing in over 20 episodes during the second and early third season, Sindy disappeared without a trace, and no one ever mentioned her again.
MGM Television/screen shot
During Season 3, a new character, Officer Bonnie Clark (played by Randi Oakes) was introduced, and she proved to be every bit as popular as Sindy. Still, fans were left scratching their heads regarding Sindy’s whereabouts.
What happened exactly? Well, the truth is, we don’t know all of the answers. At least I don’t; I couldn’t find a definitive one while doing research for this piece.
I did find some clues, however, and I’m happy to share them here. One of the CHiPs fan-based wiki sites on the internet says that it’s not known why she disappeared from CHiPs, but then it does go on to mention Bonnie Clark. Could it really be that the folks involved with putting the show together only wanted one steady, recurring female character? It’s possible.
Another CHiPs wiki site points the finger squarely at Erik Estrada, saying that he didn’t like that Sindy was becoming such a popular character, and that he and Brianne didn’t get along all that well. So, he gave the network an ultimatum: get rid of her, or he was going to leave himself.
Could that be the reason? I guess it’s also possible.
MGM Studios/Screen Shot
Whatever the reason, the good news is that Brianne landed on her feet. In fact, she has done remarkably well for herself, both in front of the camera as well as behind it.
The 1980s were filled with appearances on a variety of well-known TV shows like Archie Bunker’s Place, Voyagers!, Night Court, and Simon & Simon. But it was during the ’90s that Brianne really hit her stride: she co-created the award-winning animated program Stickin’ Around, which ran for three seasons. Like The Simpsons, this show, produced by the well-known animation house Nelvana, started out as a handful of animated shorts that ran on CBS.
Around the same time, Brianne was discovering that her favorite character to play was Brianne Leary. Along with J.D. Roth and George Foreman, Brianne hosted a show on the Disney Channel that went behind the scenes at both Disneyland and Disney World called Inside Out. And then, just for good measure, she hosted a program over on Animal Planet called Petsburgh USA.
In an article published by the Buffalo News during the mid-1990s, Brianne says that she was in Los Angeles covering an event when she learned that the Los Angeles Police Department was celebrating its 125th anniversary. Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox were there, along with a bunch of other actors from various TV shows. And at some point, after trying to get their attention, the two of them saw her and asked her to join them for photos.
So, getting back to this whole idea about Erik Estrada getting Brianne dismissed from the show, I’m just not sure that it holds water. And even if there was a smidgen of truth to the rumor, I think it’s fair to say that Brianne, along with anyone else who may have been involved, has moved on.