[6][7][8] As a child actor, Foster appeared in a regular role on the 1967 TV western Hondo and Mayberry, R.F.D.

He appeared on the Dragnet TV series in the 1969 episode "Burglary Auto: Juvenile Genius" as James "Watermelon" Chambers.

[a] He made his final screen appearance with a small role in the film Foxes (1980) starring his sister Jodie Foster.

[10][11] The book saw Foster allege that Jodie was a lesbian or bisexual, many years before she came out, and claim that their mother had once had a same-sex relationship.

[12] Jodie called the book a "cheap cry for attention and money, filled with hazy recollections, fantasies, and borrowed press releases [...] Buddy has done nothing but break our mother's heart his whole life".