Ruined child stars are a cliche in Hollywood, and Diane Allred was determined it wouldn't happen to her son. She sat on movie sets for 10 hours a day, reading books, eating, watching TV in a trailer, talking to the other mothers (who are required by law to be on the set until their child is 18). On Sundays, she marched the family past the crowded apartment pool on the way to church. Over the years, they saw some of Allred's childhood contemporaries fall to the temptations of the industry.

"There is that ugly element to it," says Diane Allred, "but I was very protective and savvy to what was going on. One of the kids on Corbin's TV series was busted for drugs and never worked again, and he's gone from worse to worse. It breaks your heart. He was a good kid. Drugs were certainly available if you wanted them.

"We would see other kids and the way they treated people. I would tell Corbin, 'If I see you treat anyone that way, I will kick your behind all the way home and you'll never see a camera again.' "

Allred liked to invite the other child actors to his apartment for weekend parties because he knew they would be better off in a place where there was no alcohol or drugs. He tended to attract girls, who attracted boys, so the Allred apartment was popular.

"He was hit on as many times by guys as he was by girls," says Diane Allred with a laugh. "It would go right over his head. I'd take him aside and tell him, 'That guy's hitting on you.' He'd say, 'No he's not.' 'Yeah, he is.' "

Allred attended Hillcrest High School when he was home, but that wasn't often. By law, studios are required to provide tutors on the set. Allred missed out on school sports and most extracurricular activities. He barely had enough credits to receive his diploma.

The Allreds, who met as a family at the outset to determine if they would support Corbin's acting career, strived for some degree of normalcy, but it wasn't easy. They negotiated contracts that required the studio to fly the family to the set for visits, but there were long separations anyway.

Allred and his mother lived for six months in Romania to shoot "Josh Kirby . . . Time Warrior," which included only one visit home for three weeks. When they arrived in Bucharest, they were shocked. The buildings were riddled with bullet holes and reduced to rubble. Their hotel was a converted mental institution (the beds had rings on them to hold the straps that confined patients). Not only couldn't they drink the water, they had to shut their eyes in the shower. They had to wear flip-flops in their room to protect themselves from worms. The food was unpalatable — Allred's weight fell from 130 pounds to 113.

"My mom started crying when we got there," says Allred. "She was saying, 'What have I done?' We were under contract for six months. I remember my dad swapped with my mom once. He flew 24 hours with a cooler filled with Taco Bell food. It was so good. We cooked it up at 2 a.m."