Pictures of kids with acting credits
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on this list if their picture is when they were young.
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Born before 1965.
Picture, age 20 or younger.
on this list if their picture is when they were young.
Included a few with pictures older than 20 years.
Born before 1965.
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- Born in the film capital of the world near the end of World War I, he made his film debut under the name John Henry Jr. in a Valentine's Day film short. During the 1920s he was considered to be one of the most popular film stars of the decade, alongside Mickey Rooney, Peggy Montgomery, and the many "Our Gang" cast members. When the Depression came, however, Marion found himself getting fewer parts, and when he resumed his film career at the start of his adulthood he was often subjected to less-than-desirable roles, in some of which he would only have one sentence to speak. Despite his film setbacks in adulthood, he made a name for himself by performing in a handful of radio shows, even though he was almost always uncredited. He left acting in 1953 to focus on family and his church.1917 - 2012, 94.
24 credits, 19-25. 2-18 years old.
Tennessee Hunter, The Golden Princess (1925). 1925. 8 years old. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Billie Thomas was an African-American child actor who was best-known for appearing in the "Our Gang" film series from 1934 to its end in 1944.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Thomas auditioned for an "Our Gang" role when he was three years old. He was cast as a background player in the short films "For Pete's Sake!", "The First Round-Up", and "Washee Ironee", all from 1934.
With the short film "Mama's Little Pirate" (1935), Thomas became the third actor to portray the character "Buckwheat", who had at first been depicted as a bowed-pigtailed female character at first, portrayed by Carlena Beard (1929-1972) and Willie Mae Walton (1918-2018); Thomas was effectively cross-dressing for the role. Buckwheat eventually became a more masculine character, and was first credited as male in "The Pinch Singer" (1936). He gained an entirely-new costume for "Pay as You Exit" (1936), where he played a slave in search of a master. Thomas kept this new look--overalls, striped shirt, oversized shoes, and a large, unkempt Afro--for the duration of playing this role, until 1944.
Thomas performed in "Our Gang" for 10 years. During this time, he was only absent for a single film, "Feed 'em and Weep" (1938), because he was ill. His character was paired with that of Eugene "Porky" Lee: they were "the little kids" who outsmarted "the big kids": George "Spanky" McFarland and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer.
As a young child, Thomas had a speech impediment; this was transferred to his character and used as a comic device. Both Buckwheat and Porky spoke in "garbled dialogue" and pronounced "OK" as "O-tay!"
The series' original short films were produced by Hal Roach Studios, but production was taken over by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1938. From 1938 to 1944, MGM produced 52 "Our Gang" short films and Thomas was the only cast member to appear in all of them. He was the only holdover from the Hal Roach era to remain in the series until its end.
Thomas' team-up with Eugene Lee ended when Lee was replaced by new cast member Robert Blake. By 1940 Thomas had outgrown his speech impediment, and Buckwheat started speaking clearly as well. The series' final film was "Dancing Romeo" (1944), and Thomas was 12 years old during its production.
While Buckwheat became synonymous with the "pickaninny" stereotype of African-American children, Thomas himself was well-liked for being depicted as a playmate and equal to the white children of the series. "Our Gang" featured a desegregated cast during the Jim Crow Era.
Thomas largely retired from acting following the 1940s. He served in the United States Army from 1954 to 1956 and received both a National Defense Service Medal and a Good Conduct Medal. Following his discharge, Thomas was offered new acting roles but he rejected them. He viewed an acting career as "a rat race ... with no security". Instead, he chose a more modest career as a film lab technician for the Technicolor corporation.
In the summer of 1980, surviving "Our Gang" cast members appeared in the second annual meeting of the fraternal organization the Sons of the Desert (named after a Laurel and Hardy film). Thomas received a spontaneous standing ovation by 500 fans, and cried in response. On October 10, 1980, he suffered a heart attack and died. He was 49 years old.
Thomas was survived by his son William Thomas Jr. In 1992, the younger Thomas created the Buckwheat Memorial Scholarship for students of California State Northridge University. The scholarship was named in honor of his father and his best-known role.1931 - 1980, 49.
100 credits, 34-45. 3-14 years old.
Buckwheat, Mama's Little Pirate (1934). 1934. 3 years old.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Ronnie Cosby was born on 22 December 1927 in Alhambra, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Boulder Dam (1936), Little Men (1934) and Telephone Operator (1937). He died on 13 February 2010 in Huntington Beach, California, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Betty Brewer was born on 23 November 1923 in Joplin, Missouri, USA. She was an actress, known for Rangers of Fortune (1940), Juke Girl (1942) and Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1942). She died on 2 December 2006 in Oakland, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Tommy Bupp was born on 10 February 1924 in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. He was an actor, known for It's a Gift (1934), Piccadilly Jim (1936) and Little Men (1934). He died on 24 December 1983 in Santa Ana, California, USA.1924 - 1983, (59).
106 credits, 1934-1942, 10-18 years old.
Barty Walton, The Cherokee Strip (1937). 1937. Soundtrack credit. 13 years old.
Timmy McCarrol, The Man from Hell (1934). 1934. 10 years old.
Joey Martin, Naval Academy (1941). 1941 17 years old.- Malcolm Sebastian was born on 4 November 1923 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for My Kid (1926), Baby Be Good (1925) and Raisin' Cain (1926). He died on 18 July 2006 in Oceanside, California, USA.1923 - 2006, 82.
31 credits, 24-30. 1-7 years old.
Open Spaces, 1926. - Josephine Adair was born on 27 June 1916 in Lamar, Prowers County, Colorado, USA. She was an actress, known for More to Be Pitied Than Scorned (1922), Only a Shop Girl (1922) and Children of Dust (1923). She died in 1966 in Miami, Florida, USA.
- Early Gorman better known as 'Baby Early' was born in New Jersey in 1906. Pretty blonde child star who made her film debut at the age of 5 appearing in nearly 50 short silent comedy and drama films, first under the direction of Harry C. Mathews in 'When First We Met' at the Powers Picture Plays studios in 1911, she also had her own 'Baby Early' comedy series including 'Early Awakening' with Matty Roubert in 1912, she was last seen on screen in 'The Gift of the Fairies' at the Rex Motion Picture studios in 1918 retiring at the age of 11. Died in New Jersey in 1982 age 76. Married name is Earle E. Gehrig.1906 - 1982, 76.
A Waif of the Plains (1914). 1914. 8 years old.
50 acting credits, 1911 - 1917. 5-11 years old.
When First We Met (1911). 1911. #1. Credit.
The Gift of the Fairies (1917). 1917. #1. Credit. - Warren Lindle Wade. Nickname "Lindy" derived from his middle name.
A good friend of both Spanky and Alfalfa of Our Gang comedy series. His family and Alfalfa's took the kids to Hollywood from their Midwest hometown and Lindy started out doing extra work on the Our Gang set.
Concerns about World War II and a rumored West Coast invasion led his parents to pull the budding young star out of Hollywood and back to the Midwest.
Wade went on to get a PhD in Education from UCLA, started the first public broadcast station in San Jose (KTEH Channel 54), and had a successful 36 year Reservist career with the US Navy with a final rank of Captain.
He has two children by his first wife, a boy and girl, and two adopted sons from his second marriage. He's blessed with a small passel of grandchildren. - Rex Downing was born on 21 April 1925 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Wuthering Heights (1939), Blood and Sand (1941) and The Escape (1939). He died on 18 November 2020 in Paso Robles, California, USA.
- Writer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
At the age of five Dean Riesner was a child actor (aka "Dinky Dean") in films such as The Pilgrim (1923) with Charles Chaplin. Dean's father, writer/director Charles Reisner, worked with and was friends with Chaplin and Buster Keaton, giving young Dean a foot in the door to a film career.
Dean would have continued as a child actor had his mother not told his father, "Let the boy have his childhood". Years later, when Dean reached adulthood, his father asked him if he wanted to return to the film business, and if so in what capacity. Dean said he preferred writing. Thus began a career that coined such lines as "Do you feel lucky? Well, do you punk?" from Dirty Harry (1971) and the original, "They'll tie you naked to a chair and get medieval with you" from Charley Varrick (1973).
Dean later developed a reputation as a script doctor, doing uncredited work on such films as High Plains Drifter (1973), Blue Thunder (1983) and The Godfather Part III (1990). His reputation for hard work was more than deserved--even in this 80s, he wrote every day.1918 - 2002, 83.
9 credits, 1921-1936. 3-18 years old.
Cadet, Square Shoulders (1929). 1929. 11 years old.- Actress
- Soundtrack
At just a few month old, Carmencita Johnson started appearing in the "Our Gang" shorts. As a child she appeared in some of the better-known silent features such as The Way of All Flesh (1927), The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926), and The Wind (1928).
In the 1930s and 1940s, she did some modeling, acted, and was an occasional stand-in for Lana Turner. She also swam in Esther Williams aquatic movies.
Her best-known scene was probably in the last movie she worked on, A Place in the Sun (1951). Besides being one of Elizabeth Taylor's friends, Carmencita doubled for Shelley Winters when the Montgomery Clift character murders Alice Tripp by pushing her into the lake (or does he?) in A Place in the Sun (1951).
Carmencita married Jack Robertson in 1949 and soon after retired from film work. They had four sons--Nicolas, Drew, Winslow, and Cullen--and a daughter, Sydney. In 1961, Carmencita and Jack moved to Ojai, California, where she became a tireless supporter of the arts and helped to establish the Ojai Studio Artists Tour and the Ojai Art Center.
She was selected Ojai Valley Woman of the Year in 1985, and was the longtime publicist for artist George Stuart.
A number of the films Carmencita appeared in have been "lost," including the Academy Award-winning movie The Way of All Flesh (1927).
On September 26, 2000, the Robertsons were traveling on Harbor Boulevard and turning onto Peninsula Street in Ventura when their 1990 Honda Civic was broadsided by a 1991 Chevrolet Blazer. The passenger side of their car, where she was sitting, received the brunt of the impact. She was taken to Ventura County Medical Center, where she died about five hours later.1923 - 2000, 77.
63 credits, 23-42. 1-19 years old.
71 credits total, 23-97.- Arlene Gray was born on 4 November 1938 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Strange Bargain (1949), Fantastic Studios, Inc. (1949) and Addition and Subtraction (1946). She has been married to John Jardine since 2 June 1956. They have four children.
- Baby Lillian Wade was born on 7 July 1907 in Denver, Colorado, USA. She was an actress, known for Little Orphant Annie (1918), When Lillian Was Little Red Riding Hood (1913) and The Lipton Cup: Introducing Sir Thomas Lipton (1913). She died on 5 May 1990 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1907 - 1990, (82).
58 acting credits, 1911-1918. 3-11 years old.
One of Nature's Noblemen (1911). 1911. 4 years.
A few genre credits - 48 drama, 4 westerns, 5 comedy, 4 romance. - In the late 1930s and early 1940s, cute little Baby Sandy was Universal's answer to Shirley Temple, and after appearances in a few films, she was given her own series. They were very popular with the public and made a ton of money for the studio. Her last picture was made at the ripe old age of 5, and she had no desire to become an adult actress. She married and had three children, and started a new career as a legal secretary for the county government in Los Angeles.Born January 14, 1938 --
8 credits, 39-42. 1-4 years old.
East Side of Heaven (1939). 1939. 1 year old. - Actress
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Silent moppet star Jackie Coogan, immortalized as Charles Chaplin's The Kid (1921), had only one screen rival during the early 1920s, and that was none other than Baby Peggy. She was "discovered" while visiting the Century Studios lot on Sunset Boulevard with her mother when she was a mere 19 months old and went on to appear in nearly 150 shorts (between 1920 and 1923) and nine feature films during her silent heyday. Often considered a precursor to Shirley Temple, Baby Peggy's most popular film vehicle was the child classic Captain January (1924), which would be made a decade later as a vehicle for Temple.
She was born Peggy-Jean Montgomery in 1918 in San Diego, California, of acting stock. She was the daughter of Marian (Baxter), from Wisconsin, and Jack Montgomery, a Nebraska-born cowboy for years all over the western states. He ended up in the movies as a stuntman and extra, driving stagecoaches and buckboards. He supported himself as Tom Mix's double, but never achieved the rugged stardom he yearned for. In fact, his daughter was the one who became the celebrity and chief breadwinner for the family.
Many of Baby Peggy's popular comedies were parodies of movies that grown-up stars had made, and she delightfully imitated such legends as Rudolph Valentino, Pola Negri, Mary Pickford and Mae Murray. Her first feature-length film was Penrod (1922); her first film with Universal, The Darling of New York (1923), shot when she was 3-1/2 years old, was a solid hit. A few more, including Helen's Babies (1924), were also certifiable winners. However, by the age of 8, she was finished.
Her fortune reportedly was depleted by her father Jack's stepfather, a banker to whom she had entrusted all her money. Within a short time, she was forced to turn to the vaudeville circuit for survival. A comeback in early talkies with the new moniker Peggy Montgomery was very short-lived. Her credits, as a result, are often mixed up with another actress named Peggy Montgomery, who was a western ingénue for many years.
The former child star lived in dire straits and suffered from nervous breakdowns and near poverty for many years until she found a new and unexpectedly successful career as a book publisher and writer, using the pseudonym "Diana Serra Cary". As the author of "Hollywood Posse" (1975) and (later) "Hollywood's Children", she wrote about her youthful career, post-stardom years, child stars in general, and Hollywood history in all its fascinating glory. Her own autobiography, "Whatever Happened to Baby Peggy?", was released in 1996.
In 2016, Diana was inducted into the Classic Film Hall of Fame at the Rheem Theater in Moraga, CA. Diana was present, at age 98, to receive the honor and answer questions. She is considered to have been the last living star of the silent film era. Per Robert Garfinkle, a board member of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont, CA, Diana now has the longest acting career of all time, from 1920 to 2015. Her last film was a silent film she made at the above-referenced museum. The film was actually made using one of their antique hand-cranked cameras!
Baby Peggy died on February 24, 2020 in Gustine, California. She was 101.- Baby LeRoy was born on 12 May 1932 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for A Bedtime Story (1933), Alice in Wonderland (1933) and It's a Great Life (1935). He died on 28 July 2001 in Van Nuys, California, USA.1932 - 2001, 69.
9 acting credits, 33-35. 1-3 years old.
The 'King', Tillie and Gus (1933). 1933. 1 year old. #3 credit.
Buddy, It's a Great Life (1935). 1935. 3 years old.
Thank you, Phil. LeRoy reminder appreciated. - 'Baby' Carmen De Rue was born on 6 February 1908 in Pueblo, Colorado, USA. She was an actress, known for The Squaw Man (1914), Cheerful Givers (1917) and Jack and the Beanstalk (1917). She was married to Fred Vincent Schrott. She died on 28 September 1986 in North Hollywood, California, USA.
- Robert E. Hutchins was born March 29th, 1925, in Tacoma, Washington. He was born to James Hutchins and Olga Hutchins (nee Roe). Robert was a very outgoing boy with a charming personality, because friends persuaded James and Olga to go to a Hollywood photographer and get his picture taken. The photographer was impressed by Robert's intelligence, and asked to take a few feet of film of him. The results were so good that the film ended up in the projection room at Hal Roach Studios. Hal Roach decided the boy would be a good addition to his "Our Gang" short films, and signed him to a five year contract.
On his first day at the studio, Robert didn't have an identity for his part in the movies, and he was running around so much that he began to wheeze. Such led to the coining of the "Wheezer" name, one he carried for the rest of his time in Our Gang. Robert played the perky, tag-along little brother that was always anxious to be part of the mischief that the gang was getting into. He played such a part in both the silent films and the talkies.
Jackie Cooper recalls, "You'd go to play with Wheezer, and his father would pull him away, very competitive. I didn't get a satisfactory answer from my mother or grandmother as to why, but he was to be left alone. I guess his father was trying to make him a star or something. Obviously it never happened as it did for Spanky or some of the other kids."
In trying to make Robert a star, his father malnourished him, and isolated him from the other kids when not filming. James had a plan to keep him small and employable by underfeeding him, and wanted to ensure that Bobby and his siblings never learned that normal kids got a lot more to eat than they did. Nobody ever intervened upon the children's behalf. It's made worse by the fact that his plan backfired. While Robert was incredibly photogenic, and had some fine moments on screen, he looked and acted more like the slow-witted, malnourished child he was, as he aged. Sharper boys were given the leading parts, while Robert spent the last portion of his contract as a background player.
After he left Our Gang with 1933's "Mush and Milk", his film career was essentially over -- with an appearance in Pie for Two, Yoo-Hoo, and Strange Roads outside of his Our Gang shorts -- and he did no more acting after that. His mother and father divorced, and he, his brother James, and his mother moved back to Washington. They lived in a household with their grandmother, and Olga's new husband.
Robert got a job as a gas station attendant in 1942, and enrolled as an air cadet sometime in 1943, with speculation being that he enrolled sometime in August. He was very close to completing his advanced flight training, until a very unfortunate event occurred May 17th, 1945, and he perished. He was killed in a mid-air collision while trying to land a North American AT-6D Texan, at Merced Army Air Field Base in California. The other pilot involved received only minor damage, and landed safely. - A child actress who showed heart-warming potential in the 1940s, child actress Sharyn Moffett (born Patricia Sharyn Moffett) was a cute presence in a number of sentimental tales. Closer to young Margaret O'Brien than Shirley Temple in type and demeanor, Sharyn was born on September 12, 1936 in Alameda, California to a show business family. Her mother was a dancer (billed as Gladyce Roberts) and her father, Bob Moffett, a singer and film bit player who once performed in burlesque shows and barbershop quartets. A younger brother, Gregory Moffett also went on to appear in films as a child actor.
Sharyn's parents, who met doing theater in Hollywood, left show business to raise their two children. The family eventually moved to Anaheim, California. They practically pushed her into a career from infancy with little results until the age of 8 when she won her first role, the lead in the animal movie My Pal Wolf (1944). From then on she added tyke charm and caring to a number of warm, sentimental tales that also featured animals, including A Boy, a Girl and a Dog (1946) and Rusty Leads the Way (1948). Her best role was a strong, dramatic part in her fourth film, Child of Divorce (1946) in which she was the focal point.
She had a central roles in Banjo (1947), Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) and in The Judge Steps Out (1948), which had brother Gregory making his film debut in an uncredited role. By her awkward teens, however, Sharyn's career had run out of steam and she departed after her second lead role opposite Margaret O'Brien in the slight summer camp tale Her First Romance (1951).
Sharyn eventually married and moved to Pennsylvania where she and her husband became Episcopalian ministers. Devoted to her spiritual work, she once was the national president of the "Big Sisters" organization.1936 -.
14 credits, 1944-1955. 8-19 years old.
Picture, 1947.
First movie, #1. credit:
My Pal Wolf (1944). 1944. 8 years old. - Tommy Kelly was born on 6 April 1925 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938), Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus (1938) and Irene (1940). He was married to Susie Burch. He died on 26 January 2016 in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA.1925 - 2016, 90.
12 titles, 38-42. 13-17 years old.
Willie, They Shall Have Music (1939). 1939. 14 years old. - Actor
- Additional Crew
Georges Poujouly was born on 20 January 1940 in Garches, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He was an actor, known for Elevator to the Gallows (1958), Diabolique (1955) and Forbidden Games (1952). He died on 28 October 2000 in Villejuif, Val-de-Marne, France.- Actress
- Additional Crew
This lovely, docile, sensitive-appearing blonde French leading lady started impressively in films at age 6, making a most notable debut in René Clément's Forbidden Games (1952). She abandoned acting a few years later for schooling and a normal upbringing. After a brief career as an interpreter and translator, she returned to the cinema as a young adult and met with great award-worthy success in mostly European movies, including François Truffaut's The Man Who Loved Women (1977), Chanel Solitaire (1981), etc.1946 -. France.
121 + credits, 1952-2016.
2. Forbidden Games (1952). Forbidden Games. 1952. 5 years old.- In 1931, a one-day effort by Marilyn Knowlden's attorney father led to an interview, a next-day screen test and a large part for four-year-old Marilyn in one of the early "talkies", Women Love Once (1931). A ten-year movie career followed, where she played the daughter of such stars as Claudette Colbert, Katharine Hepburn, Allan Jones and Norma Shearer.
She appeared in some of the screen's great classics, including Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), David Copperfield (1935) and Les Misérables (1935), in which she played the child Cosette. She appeared in six films nominated by the Academy for Best Production of the Year and performed with such distinguished actors as Fredric March, Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, Greta Garbo and Bette Davis.
College, marriage and four children followed. A composer and playwright as well as an actress, she wrote the music and lyrics for ten produced musicals, including three for which she also wrote the scripts. The latter included her musical, "I'm Gonna Get You in the Movies!" for which she drew heavily on her own early experience.
After a 50-year hiatus, Marilyn returned to acting in 1994. She appeared in over 20 plays and musicals in San Diego County, including the role of Aunt Abby in "Arsenic and Old Lace," the leads in "Sorry, Wrong Number" and "Quilters," and Prof. Higgins' mother in "My Fair Lady." In 2011 Bear Manor published Marilyn Knowlden's autobiography "Little Girl in Big Pictures." - Richie Andrusco was born on 21 July 1945. He is an actor, known for Little Fugitive (1953), I Spy (1955) and Omnibus (1952).
- Alain Emery was born on 5 August 1940 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France. He is an actor, known for White Mane (1953), Glamador (1958) and Les indiens (1964).
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Forever associated with a heroic TV collie whom he frequently had his arms lovingly wrapped around, blond tyke Jon Provost actually was a veteran performer by the time he won the role of "Timmy Martin" at age seven in the series Lassie (1954). Los Angeles born (March 12, 1950) and bred, Jon was just three years old when he was cast as Jane Wyman and Sterling Hayden's son in the film So Big (1953). He proceeded with The Country Girl (1954) as Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly's son, Back from Eternity (1956) starring Anita Ekberg, and co-starred in Escapade in Japan (1957), which featured an unknown (and unbilled) Clint Eastwood.
And then came Lassie (1954). Teenager Tommy Rettig, as Lassie's original young master "Jeff Miller", had become too old to be romping around with his dog after three seasons. In 1957, the producers had him moving away to college and his entire family sold the farm to a brand new clan -- the Martins and their 7-year-old son, Timmy. Timmy's parents were played by rangy Hugh Reilly and the ever-wholesome June Lockhart. For seven seasons, audiences grew to love Timmy and his perilous adventures with the invincible canine. By 1964, however, the Martin family decided to move to Australia and Jon's reign was over as a child TV star.
Jon's career slowed considerably following the canine series and, aside from a few minor roles in the films This Property Is Condemned (1966), The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969) and Philippine-made family adventure The Secret of the Sacred Forest (1970), found little work to sustain himself. By the time Jon turned 19, he'd worked in film and television for 16 years. The darker side of the 60s was beginning to take over; so, amid plentiful high-profile job offers, he escaped from the only life he'd known - showbiz. Jon headed for college in Northern California's wine country, studying psychology and eventually settling to raise a family in Sonoma County.
In 1990, Jon made a decision to return to television, performing in The New Lassie (1989) starring Dee Wallace. In one nostalgic episode, he appeared together with Lassie's original master, Tommy Rettig, who made a guest appearance. He also received a Genesis Award for Outstanding Television in a Family Series for a New Lassie story he wrote focusing on the inhumane treatment of research animals.
Since his early acting days - gracing screens from not-quite-three - Jon has seen it all: the trials of child celebrity; the social strain; the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll of the '60s on the Sunset Strip; and battles with near-crippling depression and dyslexia. For a while there, Timmy really was stuck down a well. But he got out - and these days Jon has a different story to tell. He began directing and hosting on-line videos about dogs and cats for a Purina website. Jon's career began afresh and has been burgeoning in a variety of surprising directions since.
A divorced father of two children, Jon is married to documentary writer Laurie Jacobson. 2008 marks Jon's 50th anniversary in the role of Timmy. He is celebrating with the release of his autobiography, Timmy's in the Well and a multi-city tour. He has done a few animated voiceovers and made an isolated film appearance in the family film drama Susie's Hope (2013).- John Michael Condon, known professionally as Jackie Condon, was born in Los Angeles, California. His acting career began in the silent film Jinx (1919) when he was a few months shy of two years old. He is most well-known for being one of the original cast members of the "Our Gang" short film series, as well as being the only member to appear in all sixty-six of the shorts during the Pathé silent era. After his final "Our Gang" appearance in the short Election Day (1929) at the age of eleven, he attempted to make a transition from silent pictures to talkies; however, he was unsuccessful. He continued trying to get back into acting well into his adult years, and in a 1953 interview on the program You Asked for It (1950), he stated that he was studying dramatics under the actress Florence Enright. Still, he never made it back onto the big screen, save for a few "Our Gang" reunions. As an adult he worked as either a file clerk or an accountant at Rockwell International, working alongside former "Our Gang" co-star Joe Cobb. He died of colon cancer on October 13, 1977 in Inglewood, California. He was 59 years old.
- Actor
- Editorial Department
- Executive
Larry Mathews was born on 15 August 1955 in Burbank, California, USA. He is an actor and executive, known for The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), Soap (1977) and The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited (2004). He has been married to Jennifer since 1987.- Her father, J. King Ross was a superb horse trainer, a dapper gentleman who was with numerous traveling circuses and shows. Betsy was born on 14 March 1921 (not 1922 which is the date most often given for her birth). She appeared in a few motion pictures but when she was about 13 she decided she did not want to be an actress and her parents honored her wish. She married a road building engineer named Day and lived on a 10,000 acre ranch in South American while her husband was building roads there. The couple had one son, who was born in the USA (as per Betsy's wish). She and baby returned to the ranch after his birth. Her husband was killed in a landslide, she and baby returned to California where she reentered college. (This bio courtesy of Mr. Donn Moyer who knew Betsy's father)
- Judson Melford born Judson Calkins Le Roy in New York in 1900, handsome young lad who appeared in westerns and dramas for the Kalem Film Company with his step-father George Melford in several films between 1910 and 1913, his first of which was 'The Touch of a Child' in 1910 and perhaps his best known 'On the Warpath' in 1911, his finale film appearance was 'The Mountain Witch' with well-known silent star Carlyle Blackwell in 1913. Judson mother Louise Marsland filed for divorced from George Melford in 1924 and so Judson dropped the name Melford back to his birth name of Judson Le Roy. later worked for thirty years as an electrician for Paramount studios using his real name of Le Roy. Judson died childless in Santa Paula, California in 1978.1900 - 1978, 77.
8 credits, 10-13. 10-13 years old.
Little Bobby Newcomb, On the Warpath (1911). 1911. 11 years old. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Michael Winkelman was born on 27 June 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Indian Fighter (1955), The Real McCoys (1957) and Science Fiction Theatre (1955). He was married to Diana Maria Bustillos. He died on 27 July 1999 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1946 - 1999, 53.
46 credits, 55-65. 9-19 years old.
Billy Castle, The Big Knife (1955). 1955. 9 years old.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Red-haired Mary Eilene Janssen was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Universal studios sound mixer Henry Janssen and his wife Mary Ellen Thompson, a singer with the L.A. Civic Light Opera. Eilene got her start in show biz early on, in fact, at the tender age of eight months, when a photographer urged her mother to enter her in a contest for Adhor Milk. She won and her image henceforth featured on the side of the company's milk trucks. Before long, Eilene became Hollywood's most photographed baby, her face appearing in ads on magazine covers and billboards for Franilla Ice Cream, Heinz 57, Challenge Butter and as the "Weber Bread Girl".
In 1940, she had a cameo in her first motion picture, Sandy Gets Her Man (1940), as an impromptu stand-in for Baby Sandy. Several small movie roles followed. In 1944, Eilene was crowned "Little Miss America", a title accompanied by USO tours and a flurry of publicity. Her subsequent career as a juvenile actress was, moreover, facilitated by her ability to also sing, dance, and, most importantly, ride horses (which she did on her Hungarian grandpa's dairy ranch from the age of eighteen months). When Republic studio went on a nationwide search for two kids to play the young Roy Rogers and the young Dale Evans, they eventually settled on Michael Chapin for the role of 'Red' and Eilene Janssen as 'Judy Dawson'. The pair ended up co-starring in four second feature westerns.
Eilene's other ventures on the big screen included supporting roles in About Mrs. Leslie (1954) and The Search for Bridey Murphy (1956). She had the female lead in a cheap and cheerful western, Escape from Red Rock (1957), produced by Poverty Row outfit Regal Pictures and released through 20th Century Fox. She also acted in diverse TV shows, including episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950), Sugarfoot (1957), The Beverly Hillbillies (1962), Perry Mason (1957) and Mister Ed (1961).
Eilene Janssen retired in 1968. Up to that point, she had essentially spent almost her entire life in show business.1938 -
88 credits, 40-58. 2-20 years old.
Child, Sandy Gets Her Man (1940). 1940. 2 years old.
#2 credit, Nancy Boggs, Mule Team (1958). 1958. 20 years old.- Jacqueline Taylor was born on 29 June 1925 in Compton, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Washee Ironee (1934), For Pete's Sake! (1934) and Hi'-Neighbor! (1934). She was married to Jack Fries and Ben Bard. She died on 5 May 2014 in Citrus Heights, California, USA.
- Norma Gene Nelson was born in 1931 in Tulare, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Seventeen (1940), Aloma of the South Seas (1941) and The Way of All Flesh (1940).
- Lorna Volare was born on 10 October 1911 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She was an actress, known for The Spell of the Yukon (1916), Motherhood (1917) and The Girl with the Green Eyes (1916). She was married to William Kenneth Ostrander. She died on 19 April 1998 in Tucson, Arizona, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Juanita Quigley was born on June 24, 1931 in Los Angeles. At age 3, she began appearing in films in small roles as an extra child; these parts were often uncredited, but when Quigley did receive credit, it was under the name "Baby Jane." Her career changed when she played Baby Jessie Pullman in Imitation of Life (1934). The role made her famous, and in her very next film, The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1934), she was given a large part and received fourth billing (still credited as "Baby Jane"). Over the next several years she had starring roles in many popular films. Around 1935, she dropped the pseudonym "Baby Jane" and began being credited by her real name. By 1938, she was one of the most famous child stars in Hollywood. But Quigley's career slowed down in the early 1940s; she was given smaller roles and appeared only as an extra in The Blue Bird (1940), Bachelor Daddy (1941), and Paper Bullets (1941). In 1943, she acted alongside her older sister, Rita Quigley, in Whispering Footsteps (1943). She made her last notable performances in 1944, in The Lady and the Monster (1944) and the classic film National Velvet (1944), in which she played the sister of Elizabeth Taylor and Angela Lansbury. Quigley left Hollywood in 1951. As an adult, she became a nun in the order of the Daughters of Mary and Joseph, but after several years in her convent, she decided that she had made a mistake, left the vocation, and married. In 1983, Quigley made her last film appearance as an uncredited extra in Porky's II: The Next Day (1983).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Darla Hood was born in the small town of Leedey, Oklahoma on November 8, 1931. Hood began her association with "Our Gang" at the tender age of 2 1/2, as she stated on the The Jack Benny Program (1950). Her father, James Claude Hood Jr., a banker, and especially her mother, Elizabeth Davner Hood, prodded their daughter's musical talents with singing and dancing lessons in Oklahoma City. She made an unscheduled, impromptu singing debut at Edison Hotel in Times Square when the band-leader invited her onto the stage, and the crowd roared in appreciation. By sheerest coincidence, Joe Rivkin, (an agent of Hal Roach) spotted the four year old scene stealer, screen tested her & signed her to a long-term (7 year) contract at $75 weekly.
Darla went on to perform as the leading "Rascals" actress in 51 of the popular short films plus a television movie. She recalled finding her off-camera time on set as lonely as the boys tended to group together and play such "boys" games as baseball and football. At the beginning of her association with the "Little Rascals", she appeared opposite Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in one of their handful of feature films, The Bohemian Girl (1936). Darla Hood's tenure as most popular "Little Rascals" actress, began in 1935's Our Gang Follies of 1936 (1935) and her finale, Wedding Worries (1941). Then, almost 40 years later, during the last four months of her life, she voiced her "Little Rascals" character with the animated off-screen special, The Little Rascals' Christmas Special (1979). She did not live to see it televised.
While very few of the "Our Gang" shorts were made during World War II due to the scarcity of film (a majority of them were saved for feature-length wartime propaganda films), by the time the series was to be finally revived in 1945, she had already outgrown her role. She had some trouble dealing with the inevitable transition into a teen actor and her career faltered badly. She graduated with honors from Fairfax High School (Hollywood). She found some work with Ken Murray's popular "Blackbirds" variety show on the Los Angeles stage as well as some behind-the-scenes work in the post-war years.
With her first husband, Robert W. Decker (whom she married when she was 17 years old), she formed the vocal group "Darla Hood and the Enchanters", which provided incidental background music for such classic films as A Letter to Three Wives (1949). She also made appearances in nightclubs and on television variety shows, The Ken Murray Show (1950), The Paul Whiteman's Goodyear Revue (1949), and she was also performed & or sang songs, on a few Merv Griffin's radio programs. Another successful outlet for her was in the field of voice-over work in cartoons and commercials "Chicken of the Sea" was her longest lasting commercial tenure, as the mermaid. She also did some "Campbell's Soup" commercials, at the same time, but fewer. In time, she became a well-oiled impressionist and trick voice artist.
In June of 1957, at the age of 25, she divorced her first husband after eight years of marriage and by whom she had her first two children (one son, Brett, and one daughter, Darla Jo). She promptly married her former manager, Jose Granson, a musical publisher. She and Granson had three children together. Hood remained small in show business until her untimely end, which came on Wednesday, June 13, 1979, when she died of congestive heart failure. She had recently had an appendectomy at Canoga Park Hospital, during which she received a blood transfusion. The transfusion caused her to contract acute hepatitis, which led to her heart failure. She passed away at a Hollywood hospital. Following her funeral, she was buried at Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, later renamed Hollywood Forever.1931 - 1979, (47).
77 acting credits, 1935-1979.
2. Our Gang Follies of 1936 (1935). 1936. 5 years old.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Sybil Jacobson was born on November 23, 1929, in Cape Town, South Africa. By age 2 she had learned to play the piano, and she also demonstrated a remarkable talent for singing, dancing and mimicry. She moved to Great Britain as a small child, and by age 5 was singing, dancing, playing the piano or doing uncanny imitations of Maurice Chevalier in London nightclubs. She also performed on radio with her uncle, Harry Jacobson, and his popular orchestra. During a show at the Palace Theater a movie producer noticed Sybil and cast her in her first film, Barnacle Bill (1935). Warner Bros. Pictures studio head Jack L. Warner was so impressed with her performance that in 1935 he brought Sybil to Hollywood as his studio's answer to Shirley Temple. Aware of Shirley's popularity and golden curls, Warner did not allow Sybil to see Shirley's films for fear that she might copy her. Despite her obvious talent, Sybil failed to achieve the success that Warner had anticipated, and in 1938 the studio did not renew her contract. However, during her time at Warner Brothers, Sybil made ten films and caught the eye of Darryl F. Zanuck, the head of 20th Century-Fox--the studio that had Temple under contract. Zanuck cast Sybil opposite Shirley in two films, The Little Princess (1939) and The Blue Bird (1940). Sybil's role in "The Blue Bird" was her most dramatic, and her older sister and guardian, Anita Jacobson, hoped that it would boost her career. However, many of Sybil's scenes were cut from "The Blue Bird", and it would be her final film.1927- South Africa to 2011, USA - (83).
30 credits, 34-44 and 2000-2009.
I Found Stella Parish (1935). 1935. 8 years.- Amazingly talented child star Jon Whiteley was born Jon James Lamont Whiteley on February 19, 1945 in Monymusk, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and put together an enviable, albeit brief, career in 1950s film drama. This precocious talent started things off winningly at age six by earning first prize for verse-speaking at the Aberdeen Music Festival when he was only 6. A BBC radio "Children's Hour" producer in Scotland visited the Monymusk Primary School, where his father was headteacher, to record the children's various talents. Little Jon's recitation of Edward Lear's nonsense poem "The Owl and the Pussycat" brought him to the attention of a talent scout, who successfully screen-tested him for a co-starring role in the suspenser The Stranger in Between (1952) in which he plays a young runaway abducted and subsequently befriended by fugitive Dirk Bogarde.
Although this intriguingly slim-eyed, offbeat-looking, tousled blond appeared in only five films during his brief reign, he made an award-winning impression. His astonishingly natural performance as Harry in only his second film The Little Kidnappers (1953) so captivated critics that he and fellow child co-star Vincent Winter were awarded an honorary, miniature "Juvenile Oscar" at the Academy Awards ceremony of 1954. In this touching drama, the two boys play orphaned brothers who secretly adopt an abandoned baby after their grandfather's refusal to allow them to keep a pet dog.
Other superb portrayals came Jon's way as Fritz Lang's young protagonist John Mohune in Moonfleet (1955) opposite Stewart Granger, and in The Weapon (1956) as a lad who accidentally shoots his friend with a gun used long ago in a murder. Jon also scored in The Spanish Gardener (1956) as the lonely son of a British consul living in Madrid who finds solace with (again) Dirk Bogarde as the title character. Following a tiny spat of TV appearances, his career ended as quickly as it began and he focused on schooling.
Jon studied at Inverurie Academy and Atlantic College at St Donat's Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, earning a degree in modern history from Pembroke College, Oxford, then an MA and a doctorate in the subject after writing a thesis on 19th-century French painting. At the University of Oxford, he began his new career in 1976 as assistant curator of Christ Church Picture Gallery. Two years later, he moved to the Ashmolean Museum, the Oxford University's home of art and archaeology, as an assistant keeper of the Department of Western Art, becoming its senior curator in 1993.
A respected art historian, Dr. Whitely authored and co-authored several books on artists including Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Claude Lorrain. He published a book on the Ashmolean's Stringed Instruments in 2009. Married in 1972 to a fellow art historian, Linda Whiteley, the couple had two children, William and Flora. He was made a chevalier (knight) of the French Order of Arts and Letters in May, 2009. Jon died at age 75 on May 16, 2020, in Oxford.1945, Scotland - - Charlene Wyatt was born on 13 July 1930 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. She was an actress, known for Under the Big Top (1938), Untamed (1940) and Valiant Is the Word for Carrie (1936). She died on 27 May 1969 in Visalia, Tulare County, California, USA.
- Actress Peggy Ann Garner was born Feb. 3, 1932, in Canton, Ohio. Her father was an English-born attorney, William H. Garner, who served as a U.S. Army officer during World War II. Virginia, her determined mother, got Peggy into summer stock and modeling before she was six. Estranged from her husband, Virginia moved with her daughter to Hollywood a year later. Peggy was cast in several films before gaining fame as Francie Nolan in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945). After years of separation and estrangement, her parents were divorced in 1947. Peggy, who had a falling out with her mother, went to court to have her father appointed as her guardian.
By the time she reached 20, she had moved from Hollywood to New York to try her talents on Broadway. She spent much of the 1950s living and working in New York, studying with the Actors Studio. She appeared on stage with Dorothy Gish in The Man in 1950, A Royal Family in 1951 and Home is the Hero in 1954. She also was in the road company of Bus Stop in 1955. She received Harvard's Hasty Pudding Award for Woman of the Year in 1956.
Her film career began to fade as she grew older, but she did stage and television work as well as a few other films, never recapturing her childhood fame. Even while earning her living as a real estate broker in the 1960s and as a fleet automobile sales manager during the 1970s, she dreamed of a return to the screen.
She was married and divorced three times. Her second husband was actor Albert Salmi, by whom she had a daughter, Catherine who died shortly after her mother Peggy's untimely death from cancer. Peggy's mother Virginia outlived both her only child and only grandchild.1932 - 1984, (52).
62 acting credits, 1938-1951. 6-19 years old.
Little Miss Thoroughbred (1938). 1938. 6 years.
In Name Only (1939). 1939. 7 years old.
Picture, 1945 from:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945). - Actress
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Having toured the world with husband, Kajar the Magician's Show 'Magicadabr', Jean Darling settled in Dublin and became an author of dozens of short mysteries for Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock, Mike Shayne Mystery Magazines and Horror Fantasy for Whispers Magazine, etc. In 1980 she became Aunty Poppy (named for her home State flower) writing and telling over 450 children's story on both RTE radio and TV. Jean has also written several radio plays broadcast on RTE.1922 - 2015, (93).
57 credits, 1927-2013.
USA. Germany.
Bring Home the Turkey (1927). 1927. 5 years old.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Joy Lane was born on 19 September 1927 in the USA. She was an actress, known for Our Gang Follies of 1936 (1935), Mike Fright (1934) and The Ray Anthony Show (1956). She was married to ? Van Ronkel. She died on 25 February 2018 in Laguna Woods California, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Marianne Edwards was born on 4 December 1930 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Beginner's Luck (1935), The Pinch Singer (1936) and Sprucin' Up (1935). She died on 8 November 2013 in California, USA.- Actress
- Make-Up Department
- Writer
Lisa Loring was an American actress and former child model. She is primarily known for having played Wednesday Addams in the comedy-horror sitcom "The Addams Family" (1964-1966). The sitcom was the first screen adaptation of the comic strip "The Addams Family" (1938-1988) by Charles Addams, which featured a wealthy aristocratic clan who took delight in the macabre. Wednesday was the perpetually gloomy daughter of the family in the comic strip. Loring's version of the character was sweet-natured, but eccentric. This version of Wednesday owned a collection of decapitated dolls, and named her favorite doll after Marie Antoinette, the executed Queen of France. Wednesday raised spiders as a hobby.
In 1958, Loring was born on the Kwajalein Atoll, the southernmost of the Marshall Islands. The island is located about 2,100 nautical miles (3,900 kilometers; 2,400 miles) southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. It has hosted an American naval base since World War II. Her parents were both personnel of the United States Navy. Loring's parents separated shortly after her birth, and Judith Loring (Loring's mother) received custody of Loring. Lisa Loring was initially raised in Hawaii, before moving with her mother to Los Angeles.
In 1961, Loring started working as a child model. She eventually took a few acting roles, and reportedly guest starred in a 1964 episode of the medical drama "Dr. Kildare". When cast to play Wednesday in "The Addams Family", Loring was only 6-years-old. It was her first regular role in television. The series lasted for 2 seasons and 64 episodes, ending in 1966.
Loring was cast in the role of Susan "Suzy" Pruitt in the short-lived sitcom "The Pruitts of Southampton" (1966-1967). The sitcom was the brainchild of David Levy, who had previously produced "The Addams Family". The series used much of the former cast of "The Addams Family". The premise of this sitcom was that the Pruitts were a formerly wealthy family who still lived in an aristocratic mansion in the Hamptons. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had found out about their loss of wealth, but instructed them to maintain their pretensions of great wealth in order to avoid a potential loss of confidence in the financial system. Episodes revolved about the family's efforts to raise money while maintaining secrecy.
In 1973, aged 15, Loring married her boyfriend Farrell Foumberg. She gave birth to her daughter Vanessa that year. The couple divorced in 1974. Judith Loring died in 1974 from alcoholism. Lisa Loring had to provide for herself. She appeared infrequently in television films during the late 1970s. Loring was cast as Wednesday Sr. in the television film "Halloween with the New Addams Family" (1977). Wednesday was depicted in the film as having a look-alike younger sister, known as Wednesday junior (played by Jennifer Surprenant). In 1980, Loring joined the cast of the soap opera "As the World Turns". She portrayed Cricket Montgomery, a half-sister of the regular character Margo Montgomery Hughes. Loring continued appearing in the series until 1984.
In 1981, Loring married the soap opera actor Doug Stevenson. They had daughter Marianne early in their marriage, but received a divorce in 1983. Loring's acting career was in hiatus until she agreed to play in the slasher film "Blood Frenzy" (1987). Its premise was that a killer stalked the patients of psychiatrist Dr. Barbara Shelley (played by Wendy MacDonald) during their trip through a desert. The film's plot reportedly combined plot elements from the earlier films "Ten Little Indians" (1974) and "Friday the 13th" (1980). The film was an early attempt by pornographic film producer Hal Freeman to create his own horror films.
Loring was an uncredited co-writer in the pornographic film "Traci's Big Trick" (1987). She was introduced to porn actor Jerry Butler (born Paul David Siederman; 1959-2018), and they started dating. They were married within 1987, but their relationship was tumultuous. They divorced each other in 1992, following failed a number of failed attempts in reconciliation.
In 1988, Loring co-starred in the slasher film "Iced". Its premise was that a group of old friends has received invitations to a new ski resort. They reunite there, but are stalked by a killer who has mysterious ties to their past. Loring's performance and humorous dialogue were reportedly among the highlight of the film. But the film has a relatively poor reputation among horror fans, due to soap opera-like plot elements and an inconclusive ending to its mystery. It was her last notable role for several years.
By the early 1990s, Loring was feeling depressed due to the decline of her career and her poor relationship with her husband. She tried to self-medicate her condition, leading to a drug addiction. In 1991, Loring was the first person to discover the corpse of her friend Kelly Van Dyke, who had committed suicide by hanging. Loring was in a fragile state of mind. She made a suicide attempt not long after. In 1992, she went to rehab and beat her addiction. She gave a few interviews in the mid-1990s, but semi-retired from acting. She resumed her acting career in the mid-2010s, with appearances in two different horror films. In 2023, Lisa Loring died, aged 64.1958 -
39 credits, 1964-2015+.
Maybe Love Will Save My Apartment House (1964). 1964. 6 years.
picture, 1964.- Thelma Salter was born on 15 January 1908 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for The Wasted Years (1916), Huckleberry Finn (1920) and The Crab (1917). She was married to Edward Kaufman. She died on 17 November 1953 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Erin Murphy is a former child actress from Encino, California. She is primarily remembered for portraying the underage witch Tabitha Stephens in the fantasy sitcom "Bewitched" (1964-1972). She portrayed the character for 103 episodes, between 1966 and 1972. She initially shared the role of Tabitha with Diane Murphy, her own fraternal twin sister. As the two sisters looked less alike as they aged, Diane left the series.
Following the end of "Bewitched", Murphy played guest roles in several television series. She also modeled swimwear for the brand "Hang Ten". Murphy was a cheerleader while attending the El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California. She was the high school's homecoming queen during her senior year. She graduated in 1981, at the age of 17.
As an adult, Murphy variously worked as a casting director, a makeup artist, a fashion stylist, an acting teacher, and a motivational speaker. She worked for a time as stunt double for the actress Virginia Madsen. She has also worked as a fashion, beauty, and luxury lifestyle writer for various magazines. Murphy has had 6 children from various marriages. She has been affiliated with several autism-related charities over the years, because one of her sons has the disorder.
During the early 2010s, Murphy was the owner of the company "Erin Murphy Knits". The company marketed hand knit eco-friendly alpaca wear. Murphy raised alpacas in her private ranch in Bell Canyon, California. In 2014, Murphy became the co-owner of the company Slim Chillers, which produced "low-calorie frozen vodka martini pops". In 2018, Murphy purchased a beach house in Malibu. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Edith Fellows was born on May 20, 1923, in Boston, Massachusetts. When she was a year old, she and her father and grandmother moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. As a toddler, Edith was pigeon-toed and had trouble walking, and one doctor suggested that dance lessons might cure this condition. At age four, Edith entered Henderson's School of Dance, where she was spotted by a man claiming to be a talent scout, who told her grandmother that he could get Edith into show business for a fifty-dollar fee. The dance school raised the money, but when Edith and her grandmother arrived in Hollywood, they discovered that the address the man had given them did not exist, and they realized he was a fraud. Stranded in Hollywood with no means to return to North Carolina, Edith's grandmother began doing housework to earn a living. While she worked, she left Edith with a neighbor and her young son. One day Edith was taken along when the neighbor's son had an audition for the film Movie Night (1929), and she ended up getting the part. Although she never become a child star, Edith appeared in many popular films of the 1930s, most notably Pennies from Heaven (1936). She also proved herself to be a very versatile actress, playing roles ranging from a spoiled rich girl, as in Heart of the Rio Grande (1942), to a poor orphan girl, as in Pennies from Heaven. Edith was even given her own series, The Five Little Peppers, while under contract to Columbia, and she made four of the Pepper films (the first was Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (1939)) in two years. Between 1929 and 1954, Edith appeared in some fifty films, mostly in juvenile roles due to her short 4' 10" stature. But her career suddenly slowed down in the mid-1950s. Between 1955 and 1980, she appeared in only one film, Lilith (1964), in which she had a bit part. During this time, Edith chose to focus on her family life; she had married producer Freddie Fields in 1946, and their only child, daughter Kathy, was born in 1947. But Edith and Fields divorced in 1955, and the end of her marriage, coupled with other factors, caused Edith to have a nervous breakdown. She recovered, and in 1981, she returned to acting in numerous supporting roles on television. In 1985, fellow former child actor Jackie Cooper announced plans to make a TV movie based on Edith's life, but this project never happened.- Actress
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Additional Crew
Marie Osborne was born on 5 November 1911 in Denver, Colorado, USA. She was an actress, known for Milady o' the Beanstalk (1918), Twin Kiddies (1917) and The Godfather Part II (1974). She was married to Murray F. Yeats and Frank J. Dempsey. She died on 11 November 2010 in San Clemente, California, USA.1911 - 2010, (99).
64 credits, 1914-1950.
Kidnapped in New York (1915). 1914. 3 years.
13 costume and wardrobe department credits, 1956-1976.
Stand-in, costumer, wardrobe supervisor.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Cora Sue Collins was born in Beckley, West Virginia. A chubby-cheeked, curly-haired child actress, she was nudged (or, rather, propelled) into show business by her ambitious mother. Though she was heavily in demand during the 1930s, Cora never posed a serious threat as a rival to Shirley Temple. Much of her popularity stemmed from an uncanny histrionic talent in being able to cry on demand. Cora Sue appeared in her first film, The Strange Case of Clara Deane (1932), at the age of five. Clark Gable's first wife, Josephine Dillon, was her voice coach.
Cora enjoyed a succession of small acting parts throughout the first half of the decade, by 1934 earning a respectable $250 a week. That year, she appeared in eleven films. Hand-picked by Greta Garbo to play the star's younger self in Queen Christina (1933), she developed a long-standing friendship with Garbo, as well as with Lucille Ball and other established stars, later saying "I was never intimidated by them because they were all actors, just like me".
One of Cora's notable performances was as the illegitimate daughter of Colleen Moore in The Scarlet Letter (1934). New York Times reviewer Andre Sennwald found her performance in the crime drama Evelyn Prentice (1934) 'agreeable', "in spite of the pretty-pretty lines with which the script writers have loaded her." She also commanded a rare leading role as the juvenile delinquent daughter of a court judge in Youth on Trial (1945). However, soon after, she left showbiz at the tender age of 18 in the wake of a small supporting part in Week-End at the Waldorf (1945).
The reason for her premature retirement from the screen came to light decades later, elicited through interviews with the former child star. The casting couch had always been an open secret in 1930s and 40s Hollywood. Dare to refuse and the message might well be that classic line "you'll never work in this town again!" In 2020, Cora Sue revealed that she had rebuffed the sexual advances of a screenwriter (33 years her senior) whom she had previously regarded as both friend and mentor. She later confronted MGM studio boss Louis B. Mayer, whose response was "nonchalant and dismissive". So she quit. In 2014, Cora reflected "To this day, I do think it's the best single decision of my life. I could have still been working in films or on the Broadway stage, but I learned the luxury of anonymity at a very early age; it's fun to be a housewife from Phoenix, I like it."
Post-Hollywood, Cora studied architecture and then lived the life of a socialite in Mexico for some years, hosting lavish parties. She was married three times, respectively to Ivan Stauffer, wealthy owner of a ranch in Nevada, to a James Morgan Cox and to a Phoenix theatre owner named Harry Nace.- Lucille Ricksen was born Ingeborg Erickson in Chicago, Illinois on August 22, 1910. She worked a child model and made her film debut at age 5. Her parents separated and her mother took her to Hollywood in 1920, and 10-year-old Lucille was offered a contract with Samuel Goldwyn and starred in a series of short films. She often had to work long hours but she always said she was having fun. In 1922 she starred opposite Marie Prevost in "The Married Flapper." The following year she was given a starring role in the drama "The Rendezvous"; although she was only 13, the studio lied that she was actually 16. The press called her "the youngest leading lady in movies". Lucille developed a close relationship with producer Sydney Chaplin (brother of Charlie Chaplin), who was 25 years her senior. She became one of Hollywood's busiest starlets and was chosen as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars.
In 1924 Ricksen made 10 films, including "Vanity's Price," "The Galloping Fish," and "The Valley Of The Wolf." Unfortunately, the 14-year-old started to suffer from exhaustion and malnutrition. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis and became bedfast. Her mother kept a bedside vigil, but the stress brought on a fatal heart attack. Following her mother's death, Lucille was looked after by family friends including actress Lois Wilson. During one of her conscious moments Lucille said "Mother wouldn't want me--die--Mother said--Wonderful future--Going to do big things--Won't die! I won't!" But on March 13, 1925, she passed away from complications of tuberculosis, still at only 14 years old. There were rumors that her death had actually been caused by a botched abortion. Lucille was cremated and she was buried with her mother at Forest Lawn in Glendale, California. Her final film, "The Denial," came out 10 days after her death. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Delightful child/juvenile actress Virginia Anna Adelaide Weidler (her friends called her "Ginny") had that knowing gleam in her eye that usually spelled trouble in one form or another for anyone nearby. She was born in Eagle Rock, California, in 1927, one of six children. Her mother was former Wagnerian opera singer Margarete Radon (born Margarete Therese Louisa Meyer), and her father was architect Alfred Weidler.
Virginia nearly made her acting debut at age 3 in John Barrymore's Moby Dick (1930) but was summarily replaced. A year later, she scored her first small movie bit in Warner Baxter's Surrender (1931) and was on her way. One of her brothers, child actor and musician George Weidler, was Doris Day's first husband (from 1946 to 1949).
RKO picked up young Virginia after learning that she could speak a bit of French. The average-looking youngster was ably cast as rural tomboy types in Laddie (1935) and Freckles (1935), the latter film allowing her to do a dead-on parody of Shirley Temple. She earned her first lead in Girl of the Ozarks (1936) and showed she could easily hold her own. After an unimpressive stint with Paramount, who tried to groom her as a rival to Fox's bratty Jane Withers, she was finally picked up by MGM and her film career blossomed. Co-starring with Mickey Rooney in Love Is a Headache (1938), she proved a natural young comedienne and precocious scene-stealer in such films as Out West with the Hardys (1938) (again with Rooney) and Too Hot to Handle (1938).
Little Virginia could also shine in dramatic outings, as she did with The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939) and Bad Little Angel (1939), but she was never a good choice for sappy roles, as demonstrated when she played Norma Shearer's whiny imp of a daughter in The Women (1939). Virginia's forte was providing comedy relief, and she reached her young peak with two classic MGM films: Young Tom Edison (1940), as Rooney's creative sister, and The Philadelphia Story (1940), as Katharine Hepburn's smart-alecky younger sister. Her tongue-in-cheek rendition of "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" at the piano was just one of many memorable highlights from this vintage classic.
The young actress's career started to slip away from her when the teenage Shirley Temple signed with MGM, abruptly bumping "Plain-Jane" Virginia back to secondary status. After rather disappointing receptions to Born to Sing (1942), The Youngest Profession (1943), and Best Foot Forward (1943), the awkward teen left films and turned to vaudeville as a song-and-dance comedy performer, utilizing her full-scale talents as a mimic. She made her legitimate stage debut in "The Rich Full Life" at the John Golden Theatre in 1945, but the show closed within a month.
Soon after, Virginia retired from show business, married, and had two children. She passed away from a heart ailment at 41. After her death it was learned that she had suffered from rheumatic fever as a child.- Actress
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Mary Ann Jackson was born on January 14, 1923. She was one of the earliest child stars of the twenties and thirties. Although she was better known as one of the child performers from the famed "Our Gang" comedies that are still popular today, Mary Ann began her film career at the age of four in 1927's "Smith's Pony." Although she didn't make any full length motion pictures during 1928, Mary Ann more than made up for it the following year when she appeared in six major pictures such as "Bouncing Babies" and "Lazy Days." After eight films in 1930 and six in 1931, Mary Ann left the film world after "Little Daddy" at the age of eight.- Zoe Rae was born on 13 July 1910 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Danger Within (1918), The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin (1918) and Gloriana (1916). She was married to Ronald Foster Barlow. She died on 20 May 2006 in Newberg, Oregon, USA.1910 - 2006, (95).
57 acting credits, 1915-1920.
Their Hour (1915). 1915. 5 years.
1917 - performed in movie requiring the use of "black face".
5 year Universal Studios contract. $100./week. - Actress
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Shirley Temple was easily the most popular and famous child star of all time. She got her start in the movies at the age of three and soon progressed to super stardom. Shirley could do it all: act, sing and dance and all at the age of five! Fans loved her as she was bright, bouncy and cheerful in her films and they ultimately bought millions of dollars' worth of products that had her likeness on them. Dolls, phonograph records, mugs, hats, dresses, whatever it was, if it had her picture on there they bought it. Shirley was box-office champion for the consecutive years 1935-36-37-38, beating out such great grown-up stars as Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Robert Taylor, Gary Cooper and Joan Crawford. By 1939, her popularity declined. Although she starred in some very good movies like Since You Went Away (1944) and the The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947), her career was nearing its end. Later, she served as an ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia. It was once guessed that she had more than 50 golden curls on her head.1928 - 2014, (85).
201 credits, 33-63 acting. All Credits to 2015.
Kid's Last Stand (1932). 1932. 4 years.- Joan Felt was born on January 18, 1931, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Her mother was quite a famous piano player in the 1930s. Six-year-old Joan made her film debut in Walking Down Broadway (1938). She played the role of Sunny, and changed her name from Felt to Carroll. A role in Two Sisters (1938) followed, and the next year she had supporting roles in Barricade (1939) and Tower of London (1939). It wasn't until 1940 when Joan had her breakthrough. She had important parts in Anne of Windy Poplars (1940) and especially Primrose Path (1940), as Ginger Rogers' younger sister. In 1941, she won her first lead role in Obliging Young Lady (1942) as Bridget Potter, a young girl stuck in the middle of her parents' divorce case. The film costarred Ruth Warrick.
In 1942, she was the first child star from Hollywood to appear in a Broadway play.This play, "Panama Hattie", garnered Carroll national fame, and she was featured in many magazine articles and newspapers. In 1943, she won her second lead role in Petticoat Larceny (1943), in which she played Joan Mitchell, a radio star who goes undercover to get a better feel of her roles. That film reunited Joan with Warrick.
In 1944, she played Agnes, the middle sister between Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). In 1945, she had an important supporting role in The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), which starred Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman. That same year she appeared in Tomorrow, the World! (1944), after which she retired. - Actress
- Writer
The daughter of an opera star turned actress, Gladys Hulette began her career as a three-year old on the stage. On Broadway from 1906, she played juvenile leads in "The Kreutzer Sonata" and "A Doll's House". She was also Tyltyl in "The Blue Bird". A genuine pioneer of the movies, Gladys first starred on screen in Carl Laemmle's one-reel IMP production of Hiawatha (1909). During the 1910's and 20's, she appeared variously in films with Edison, Biograph, Thanhouser, Vitagraph, Astra and First National. In 1917, she was voted most popular actress by students of New York University. In truth, Gladys was a true all-rounder, who took on just about anything from high drama to slapstick farce. She even starred as the titular heroine in the comedy Prudence, the Pirate (1916). In private life, Gladys was fond of flowers, a voracious reader of books, including classic literature and a painter in oils, whose works occasionally found their way into major exhibitions. Long after leaving the Hollywood scene, she found work as a ticket seller at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.- Wendy Winkelman was born on 6 June 1948 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for The Dennis O'Keefe Show (1959), Leave It to Beaver (1957) and Suspicion (1957).
- Actress
Caryll Ann Ekelund was born on 6 May 1935 in Cottonwood, California, USA. She was an actress. She died on 3 November 1939 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1935 - 1939, (4).- Actress
- Producer
- Casting Director
A film producer and former child actress, Judy Whitney grew up in the Hollywood Hills. The daughter of television actor and screenwriter Roy Erwin, her first acting experience came at the tender age of 14 months in an episode of "Rin Tin Tin". Judy spent her younger years acting in major films such as "The Birds", "The Errand Boy", "Spartacus", and "Marnie", and television shows such as "Hazel", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "Thriller", "The Detectives", and "The Eleventh Hour". The entertainment business is in her DNA through not only her father, but also her mother, Nancy (stage trained actress), her Aunt Trudy Erwin (singer with the Kay Kaiser Band), and her Uncle Murdo MacKenzie (Bing Crosby's producer). Under their new production banner, Undaunted Films, Judy and her husband, Dean Whitney, just completed their first feature film, "Ghostline", and are in preproduction on a supernatural thriller entitled "Kill Me Once", which is scheduled to begin principal photography in 2015.- Actress
- Soundtrack
The daughter of stage actress Laura R. Parrish, lovely slim-eyed brunette Helen Parrish was born on March 12, 1923 (references sometimes vary between 1922 and 1924), in Columbus, Georgia. She started out in movies at the ripe old age of four playing Babe Ruth's daughter in the silent movie Babe Comes Home (1927). She was also featured in "Our Gang" comedy shorts and was sometimes cast to play the lead character as a child/youngster. A couple of those femme stars were Loretta Young in Beau Ideal (1931) and Mary Brian in Song of the Eagle (1933).
Into her teens, Helen became established as a cinematic kid sister, neighborhood friend or rich young girl in such films as There's Always Tomorrow (1934), Straight from the Heart (1935) and A Dog of Flanders (1935). She was most notable, however, as the bane of sweet Deanna Durbin's existence in several of the singing star's musical vehicles -- usually a jealous, spiteful rival. In their first film, Mad About Music (1938), the two worked so well together that Universal decided to form a sort of teen Shirley Temple/Jane Withers stand-off between the two in a couple of other movie confections as well -- Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939) and First Love (1939).
Most of Helen's film offerings were quite pleasant but rather unexceptional and nominally in the "B" category, including X Marks the Spot (1931), When a Feller Needs a Friend (1932), A Dog of Flanders (1935), I'm Nobody's Sweetheart Now (1940), Too Many Blondes (1941) and X Marks the Spot (1942) (same name, different plot from her earlier film). By her mid-20s Helen filmed her last picture as the second lead in the "B" western The Wolf Hunters (1949). Focusing on the smaller screen into the 1950's, she appeared in a number of TV anthologies, including "Fireside Theatre" and "Chevon Theatre," and ended her on-camera career as a guest on "Leave It to Beaver" and "The Danny Thomas Show."
Helen's older brother, Robert Parrish, was a minor child actor who later earned respect as a film editor and director; older sister, child actress Beverly Parrish, died suddenly at the age of 10 after filming only one movie. Helen married twice. Her first husband was actor/screenwriter Charles Lang and her second, TV producer, John Guedel, survived her. She had no children.
Helen's untimely death from cancer in February 22, 1959, at age 35, robbed Hollywood of a glowing actress with true potential.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Shirley Jean Rickert won a baby contest in Seattle when she was about 1-1/2 and her mother relocated the entire family to Hollywood, as she was sure she had a child star. Her first movie was How's My Baby? (1930) with Monte Collins and T. Roy Barnes. Shortly after that she went on an interview at the Hal Roach studio and became a part of the "Our Gang" series. She left the Gang to go to Darmour Studios to play Tomboy Tailor with Mickey Rooney and Billy Barty. In subsequent years she worked in more than 100 movies, mostly musicals. When they stopped making major musicals in Hollywood she became a stripper in burlesque and traveled all over the US and Canada ,playing in burlesque theaters and nightclubs. Her mother took care of her daughter while she traveled and, when her mother died, she (for some reason she never figured out) moved to Buffalo, NY - you're either born in Buffalo or you're transferred there, but you don't voluntarily move to Buffalo.- Dorothy DeBorba was born on 28 March 1925 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Love Business (1931), Dogs Is Dogs (1931) and The Stolen Jools (1931). She was married to Max Ferdinand Haberreiter. She died on 2 June 2010 in Walnut Creek, California, USA.
- Marie Eline was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on February 27, 1902. She got her start in the film business at age 7 with the Thanhouser Co. in New York with A 29-Cent Robbery (1910), which came out the year after she signed the contract. She was one of the few actresses who played the lead role in her very first film (her sister, Grace Eline, also had a part in the film). Marie proved to be an incredibly versatile player for such a young child, easily shifting between playing female and male children and, in one film-- The Judge's Story (1911)--she even played a Black boy. She was so popular with critics and audiences alike that, unlike most actors at Thanhouser, she was mentioned by name by the company and even given a nickname: "The Thanhouser Kid". Critics praised her "naturalness" and audiences flocked to her pictures, which played no small part in Thanhouser's success as a major film production studio.
In 1913, at the ripe old age of 11, she decided to broaden her horizons by conquering Broadway, appearing in at least one play. That same year Thanhouser took her out of "kid" roles and put her in its prestigious "Princess Films" division. Unfortunately, her popularity waned and she made fewer and fewer pictures. She finally left Thanhouser in 1914 and went back to the stage. She later signed with World Films, for whom she made Uncle Tom's Cabin (1914). She remained in the theater for several years, then in 1919 she signed with the low-budget National Film Corp. in Los Angeles.
She and her sister toured extensively in stock and vaudeville into the 1920s. She married in 1922 and had one child, a girl. She died in Longview, Washington on January 3, 1981, while visiting her daughter. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Mary Jane Saunders was born on 12 October 1942 in Pasadena, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Sorrowful Jones (1949), A Woman of Distinction (1950) and The Girl Next Door (1953). She was married to Jay Johnstone. She died on 20 January 2021 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1943 -
47 credits, 49-63. 6-20 years old.
Martha Jane Smith, Sorrowful Jones (1949). 1949. 6 years old.- Sugar Dawn was born on 14 November 1931 in San Francisco, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Riding the Sunset Trail (1941), Dynamite Canyon (1941) and Arizona Roundup (1942). She was previously married to Loren Tower.1931 -
6 credits, 40-42. 9-11 years old.
Sugar Grey, Pals of the Silver Sage (1940). 1940. 9 years old. - Susan Melvin was born on 8 November 1951 in New York, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for Route 66 (1960), Ladybug Ladybug (1963) and Naked City (1958).
- Jeri Weil was born on 15 May 1948 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Leave It to Beaver (1957), Lux Video Theatre (1950) and I Led 3 Lives (1953).1948 --
Linda Hutchins, The Fastest Gun Alive (1956). 1956. 8 years old.
48 credits, 52-60. 3-12 years old. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Julie Dawn Cole is an English actress from Guildford, Surrey. She is primarily remembered for playing the insatiably greedy and demanding character of Veruca Salt in the fantasy film "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" (1971). This was her film debut, and the first adaptation of the novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (1964) by Roald Dahl. The character's nationality was never specified in the novel, But Cole's version of Veruca was depicted as a British girl.
Cole was educated in a boarding school. She was only 12-years-old in 1970, during the filming of "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory". Cole took central stage in the "I Want It Now" sequence of the film, where Veruca states her desires. The sequence was filmed on Cole's 13th birthday. Cole had recorded her vocals for the song earlier, and focused on the character's dancing moves during the filming of the sequence.
Shortly after her film debut, Cole was cast in the recurring role of Arabella in the first two seasons of the sitcom "..And Mother Makes Three" (1971-1973). Her character in this series was depicted as snobbish adolescent girl. Early in her career, Cole was typecast in playing "bad girls" in various television productions. Her characters included a number of juvenile delinquents, such as burglars and prisoners. She played against type when cast as Alice (from Alice In Wonderland) in Christmas commercials for the retail chain Woolworths.
Cole was given a more substantial role when cast as student nurse Jo Longhurst in the first 3 seasons of the medical drama "Angels" (1975-1983). Jo was depicted as a genuinely compassionate character, who had to question the cynical decisions of various authority figures. This was Cole's first major role in a television series.
Cole also played a complex character in the second (and last season) of the period drama "Poldark" (1975-1977). She portrayed Rowella Chynoweth, younger sister of the season's romantic lead Morwenna (played Jane Wymark). Rowella was the mistress of the Reverend Osborne Whitworth (played by Christopher Biggins), who was also Morwenna's husband and her own brother-in-law. Rowella was able to manipulate Osborne into arranging her marriage to a man she herself chose, and to provide her entire dowry.
Cole portrayed the supporting character of Lucy Deane is a 1979 television adaptation of the novel "The Mill on the Floss" (1860) by George Eliot. In the novel, Lucy is both a cousin and a friend to the protagonist Maggie Tulliver. Maggie's efforts to rescue Lucy from a river flood result in Maggie's death at the end of the novel.
Cole was a familiar face in television over the following decades, though she was often limited to playing one-shot characters. She was eventually cast in the regular role of Judy Hollingsworth in the short-lived sitcom "Married for Life" (1996). The series was a British remake of the American sitcom "Married... with Children", while the character of Judy was a British version of Marcy Rhoades from the original series. The British sitcom only lasted for 7 episodes.
By the end of the 1990s, Cole had earned qualifications as a fitness instructor and psychotherapist. She pursued these new careers in the 2000s, while regularly appearing in television roles. In 2004, Cole was a guest-star in a theatrical show called "Willy Wonka Explained (The Search for Veruca Salt)" which was part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. In 2016, Cole published her memoir. It was titled "I Want It Now!", named after Veruca Salt's famous song.
In 2019, Cole's keepsake props from the "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" were sold at auction for upwards of 15,000 pounds sterling. By 2022, Cole was 65-years-old. She has had no known television roles for several years, but she still has fans who fondly recall her debut role. Several actresses have followed her footsteps in playing Veruca Salt, with the character remaining popular for decades.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Gloria Jean Schoonover was born on April 14, 1926 in Buffalo, New York and she and her family moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania shortly afterward. Her father owned a music store; her mother, who had been a circus bareback rider, took care of Gloria and her three siblings.
Gloria's singing ability was discovered when she was little; by 5 she was singing in the Scranton area. At 12 she was taken to an audition by Universal director Joe Pasternak, who was looking for a new child singer to replace studio icon Deanna Durbin, who was being steered into ingenue and young-adult roles. Although hundreds of Shirley-Temple-perfect girls competed, natural-looking Gloria was chosen and she and her mother headed to Hollywood.
In 1939 Gloria made her first film, "The Under-Pup", which made her an instant hit with moviegoers. Happy with their young coloratura soprano, Universal cast her in "If I Had My Way," which co-starred Bing Crosby. Next came "A Little Bit of Heaven," which many consider her best film; then a co-starring role with W.C. Fields in "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break," her most-seen film.
At this point in 1941, Gloria was at the pinnacle of her career, yet her star wasn't soaring. She had outgrown her Little Miss Fixit roles, as Durbin had a few years earlier, but Durbin was in command of the older-girl roles for the better pictures. Unsure what to do with Jean, Universal moved her to the "Hepcat" movies, which appealed to the teenagers of that day. "What's Cooking", "Get Hep to Love", "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", and "It Comes Up Love," were all shot in 1942 and "Mr. Big," and "Moonlight in Vermont" followed in 1943; all were stock B-films. Like many Universal stars, Gloria had a few seconds onscreen in the war-effort picture "Follow the Boys" in 1944. After that came the rather good "Pardon My Rhythm" with Mel Torme, who became a close friend. Then in "Ghost Catchers" she was teamed with popular comedians Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson. The forgettable "Reckless Age" was next; its main distinction was as the first in which Gloria played a more mature role.
Gloria was to star in one of four episodes of Julien Duvivier's "Flesh and Fantasy," alongside such stars as Edward G. Robinson, Charles Boyer, and Barbara Stanwyck. But the movie was found to be too long and Gloria's segment was cut out. Some additional footage was added and the result was "Destiny." Gloria's performance won rave reviews, but the actual movie met with only modest success. Gloria followed this with three more Universal films: "I'll Remember April," "River Gang," and "Easy to Look At."
At this point, on bad advice from her agent, Gloria decided to go on tour instead of renewing her Universal contract. The tour underperformed and she returned to Hollywood in 1947, but she found herself in negligible demand. Groucho Marx gave her a minor role in his film "Copacabana"; this appearance ultimately landed her four more: in "I Surrender, Dear," "Manhattan Angel," "An Old-Fashioned Girl," and "There's a Girl in My Heart."
As the 1950s began, Gloria made several singing shorts that aired during television's early days. Other than that and a few guest appearances on TV series, her acting career was virtually finished. She appeared in 1955's forgettable "Air Strike" and worked in a couple of film that were never released. Jerry Lewis found her working as a restaurant hostess and gave her a part in his movie "The Ladies' Man," which was meant to relaunch her career, but her scenes didn't make the final cut. Shortly after, she was briefly married and had a son; at that point she virtually retired from the screen and went to work for the cosmetics firm Redken until 1993, when she retired.
Gloria was reintroduced to a limelight of sorts by the magic of eBay, where her movies, some of which are in the public domain, were being sold. With her sister Bonnie's help (she handled the computer end of things, as Gloria didn't do "Windows") she got onto eBay and sold copies of the movies she appeared in, as well as signed photographs of herself (old publicity shots). Spurred by the popularity of these, she published her autobiography, "Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven" in 2005.
After her sister Bonnie's death in 2007, Gloria moved to Hawaii to live with her son and his family.19 credits, 1939-1945, 13-19 years old. 10 soundtrack credits.
39 total acting credits.
The Under-Pup (1939). 1939. #1 credit. 13 years old.
1926--- Actress
- Soundtrack
Ann E. Todd was born Ann Todd Phillips on August 26, 1931, in Denver, Colorado. Both of her parents had extensive careers in music; her father, Burrill Phillips, was an accomplished composer and pianist. Ann also had one brother, Stephen, who was born in 1937 (and died in 1986). Ann was adopted and raised by her maternal grandparents; her official adopted name was Ann Todd Mayfield. Her grandparents took her to the movies often and hoped that she would one day become a child star like Shirley Temple (incidentally, she would have a small role as Temple's little sister in The Blue Bird (1940)). Ann's grandparents eventually prodded her into a career in film, and although she was not particularly interested in acting -- her childhood ambition was to be a pilot -- she excelled at it and became one of the most popular child stars of the 1930s and '40s. In the early 1940s, she added E to her professional name to avoid being mistaken for British actress Ann Todd (nevertheless, the two were and are frequently confused). Despite her success -- she appeared in some 27 films between 1939 and 1951 -- Ann quit acting in the 1950s. She married Robert Basart on January 29, 1951 in Berkely, California. In 1959, she was reunited with her parents, and following in her parents' footsteps, she pursued a career in music. Ann received a master's degree in music history from the University of California at Berkeley (UCB). She taught music history in San Francisco for three years and then served as the music librarian for UCB for 21 years. During this time, Ann also founded a publishing company, Fallen Leaf Press, and had two children, a daughter and a son. Her husband Robert died on February 7, 1993 in Berkely. As of this writing (2008), Ann is retired and living in northern California.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Kathryn Beaumont was just ten years old when she was chosen for the voice of Alice, in Disney's animated version of the classic children's tale, Alice in Wonderland (1951). Walt Disney was so impressed with Kathryn's long curly blonde hair, sparkling eyes and acting ability, that he chose her as the model for Alice.1938-. London.
32 + credits, 1944-2013- Yale Boss was born on 18 October 1899 in Utica, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Ransom of Red Chief (1911), A Youthful Knight (1913) and A Question of Hats and Gowns (1914). He died on 16 November 1977 in Augusta, Georgia, USA.
- Child star Bobby Connelly, the son of vaudeville actors, was born April 4, 1909 in Brooklyn, New York. He made his first screen appearance in 1912. In 1913, he joined the Vitagraph Company, whose studio was just a short distance from his home. While at Vitagraph, he starred in a series of shorts as the character "Sonny Jim." Bobby studied violin, which came in handy when he was cast as the young violinist Leon Kantor in the 1920 film version of "Humoresque." Reportedly he was one of the highest paid child actors in the world. At one point, he headed a vaudeville company. In 1922, Bobby became ill for three months, suffering from bronchitis, aggravated by an enlarged heart. Sadly, he passed away on July 6, 1922, at his home in Lynbrook, Long Island.1909 - 1922, 13.
90 titles, 12-22. 3-13 years old.
Georges, The Road Through the Dark (1918). 1918. 9 years old. - One of Hollywood's staple child actors during the 30s and 40s, Mickey Kuhn played alongside many a top Hollywood star from Leslie Howard and Conrad Nagel's son to playing Dick Tracy's ward. Once he reached the "awkward teens" stage, however, he found himself primarily unemployed or in unbilled parts and looked elsewhere for career satisfaction.
Born Theodore Matthew Michael Kuhn, Jr. on September 21, 1932 in Waukegan, Illinois, he was the younger of two children born to Theodore Sr. and the former Pearl Hicks. The family moved to Hollywood during the Depression where his father found reliable work as a meat cutter. Mickey added to the family income at age 2 when, by chance, he was cast by Fox Studios for the movie Change of Heart (1934) starring the preeminent movie couple at the time, Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. Attending kindergarten at the Mark-Ken School for professional children, he returned to films as a 5-year-old in A Doctor's Diary (1937) made by Paramount. His devoted mother oversaw and protected him throughout most of his young career. 1939 was a banner year for Mickey as it was for Hollywood itself, appearing as Crown Prince Augustin in the "A" picture Juarez (1939) starring Paul Muni and Bette Davis, and as Ashley Wilkes' son Beau in the Civil War classic Gone with the Wind (1939).
While he did not rise to moppet stardom, the boy proved quite dependable and a fast learner, and was actively involved in a few prestigious pictures during the 1940s, including One Foot in Heaven (1941), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) and Red River (1948). He particularly enjoyed horses and participating in such action fare as S.O.S. Tidal Wave (1939), _Roaring Rangers (1946) and Broken Arrow (1950).
His attention also turned to the stage as a teenager, performing at the Pasadena Playhouse and other Los Angeles-based theaters in between film shoots. Fewer roles came his way, however, and in 1951 he decided to enlist in the Navy. After a four-year term of duty, he returned to films and TV in 1955 but without much fanfare. He married around this time and had two children. Preferring a steadier source of income, he attended L.A. Valley College and Cal State Northridge on his G.I. Bill majoring in Theater Arts while holding an assortment of odd jobs.
In 1965 he was hired by American Airlines and subsequently served as a supervisor to flight attendants. He later became an administrative manager at a Boston airport. Divorced, he remarried in 1984 and retired from the airlines in 1995. More recently he has spent his time conducting historical tours around and about the city of Boston and has appeared at various film festivals. He received the Golden Boot Award for his work in westerns in 2005. - Donald Mayo was born on 23 October 1935 in Bellflower, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Contender (1944), Queen of Broadway (1942) and The Boy from Stalingrad (1943). He died on 29 November 1992 in Alhambra, California, USA.
- Actor
- Producer
Bill Burrud was born on 12 January 1925 in Hollywood, California, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Idol of the Crowds (1937), Girl Overboard (1937) and Devil's Squadron (1936). He died on 12 July 1990 in Sunset Beach, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jimmy Hunt was born on 4 December 1939 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Pitfall (1948), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) and Invaders from Mars (1953). He has been married to Roswitha Theresia Jager since 26 January 1963. They have three children.- As a youngster his cute round face and red hair made him popular in his neighbourhood. A Paramount film executive suggested he could have a film career so his family moved to Hollywood where in 1929 he became the youngest actor ever put under contract, at the age of 4, to Paramount. Soon after he was given the stage name of Jerry Tucker and immediately became famous at the studio for his ability to recite his lines from memory. He appeared in Our Gang films until 1937 when his final appearance was in Glove Taps. In 1934 he was one of the Our Gang kids to appear with Laurel and Hardy in 'Babes in Toyland'. Outside of the Gang films he worked with Buster Keaton in 'Sidewalks of New York', Clark Gable in 'San Francisco' and Shirley Temple in 'Captain January'. In 1939 he and his mother moved to New York where he auditioned for a number of radio programmes. In 1942 he joined the navy and was wounded when a Japanese kamikaze plane hit the destroyer U.S.S, Sigsbee which he was on. In 1944 he married Myra Heino and had two daughters, Karen Beth and Renee Eve. After the war he studied electrical engineering at college and was employed as an engineer for RCA Global Communications retiring in 1981 and living on Long Island, New York.
- Danny Reulos was born on 11 May 1903 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for Forgive Us Our Trespasses (1912) and Value Received (1912). He died on 26 June 1968 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France.
- Bobby Nelson was born on 17 January 1922 in Santa Monica, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Oliver Twist (1933), Custer's Last Stand (1936) and Perils of the Jungle (1927). He died on 5 December 1974 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Martin Stephens was the most popular child actor in Britain during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Having lost interest in acting as he became an adult, he moved to Belfast in 1968, where he studied architecture at Queen's University, Belfast. He later returned to England, where he pursued his new career in architecture and as a teacher of Meditation.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Bill Cody Jr. was born on 18 April 1925 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Scouts to the Rescue (1939), Frontier Days (1934) and The Girl of the Golden West (1938). He was married to Elizabeth Sidford MacGregor. He died on 11 August 1989 in Studio City, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Bobby Larson was born on 27 March 1930 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Five Little Peppers in Trouble (1940), Five Little Peppers at Home (1940) and Out West with the Peppers (1940). He died on 1 May 2002 in Logan, Utah, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Born in Chicago on February 12, 1927, Robert "Bobby" Winckler (often credited as "Winkler"), was one of the most prolific child actors of the 1930s and 1940s. Charles Chaplin's wife, Mildred Harris, got Robert into show business with a letter of introduction to producer Hal Roach. Between the ages of six and eighteen, Bobby worked with most of the stars of the "Golden Age" of Hollywood in classic feature films, serials, cartoons and hundreds of radio shows. When not working he attended Hollywood Professional School. As an adult, Robert was a successful attorney, representing many of the people he worked with both in front of and behind the cameras. He was married to Elisabeth (Betty) Sturm, and had two children, daughter Patricia Winckler, and son (producer/director) William Winckler.1927-1989, 62.
94 credits, 31-84.
15 westerns, 38-47.
Sidewalks of New York (1931). 1931, 4 years.
Pals of the Pecos (1941). 1941., 14 years.- Jack Morgan was born on 7 July 1916 in Aberdeen, South Dakota, USA. He was an actor, known for Uncle Bim's Gifts (1923), Aggravatin' Mama (1923) and Andy's Hat in the Ring (1924). He died on 25 July 1981 in Brea, California, USA.1916 - 1981, 65.
48 acting credits, 21-26. 5-10 years old.
Andy Takes a Flier (1925). 1925. 9 years old. - David Durand was born on 27 July 1920 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Bad Sister (1931), Little Men (1934) and Scouts to the Rescue (1939). He died on 25 July 1998 in Bridgeview, Illinois, USA.
- David Bradley was born on 27 September 1953 in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Kes (1969), Zulu Dawn (1979) and Redemption (2013).
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Tommy Rettig was a successful child actor in 1954 when he was chosen out of a field of 500 to play Jeff Miller in the TV series Lassie (1954), which premiered on September 12, 1954, making him the first boy who tagged after Lassie during the famous collie's 20 years on the CBS television network. He was with the show for four years, after which Lassie acquired a whole new family. As an adult, he was a photographer, tool salesman, computer programmer, and health club manager.
Rettig was born in Queens, New York City, the only child of Rosemary (Nibali) and Elias Rettig, a Lockheed aircraft-parts inspector. His father was of Russian Jewish descent, and his mother was of Italian heritage. Tommy began his career at age five, after he was spotted by an acting coach who lived in the family's apartment building. After touring with Mary Martin in Annie Get Your Gun, he landed roles in movies beginning age nine, making 17 films in total, among them River of No Return (1954), starring Marilyn Monroe, and perhaps most memorably as the boy with the vivid imagination in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953). At 12, he was cast as Jeff Miller. He bonded strongly with his canine costar--who, like the whole line of Lassies, was male--and even took him home on weekends (the family had moved West in 1949). That stopped when Lassie became confused about whether to obey his trainer or Rettig.
He was busted in the '70s for marijuana possession and cocaine smuggling (The latter charge was overturned), and was also a long time advocate for the legalization of marijuana. After graduating from L.A.'s University High in 1958 and marrying 15-year-old Darlene Portwood, he tried to get back into acting, without much success. In the early '80s, having tried selling tools and managing a health club, he founded an est-like motivation program. But it wasn't until he sat down at a computer to compile a mailing list that he finally found himself
At Ashton-Tate, Tom was one of the designers of dBASE III and wrote the essential reference book on it. He built the first add-on library for Clipper, pioneering the public domain tools that make all our jobs easier. Tom wrote articles for Data Based Advisor, appeared on FoxPro Advisor satellite TV conferences, and spoke at many developer events including the FoxPro DevCons. Tom Rettig's Help and Tom Rettig's FoxPro Handbook taught the intricacies of FoxPro. Tom's ability as a programmer was legendary - he was a guru with a Hollywood-famous name. Yet he was one of the most friendly, accessible people you'd hope to meet.
Followinig his death from a heart attack at the age of fifty-four, his ashes were spread on the ocean off Marina del Rey, California, from the boat LaSea, with one of Lassie's descendants present to say goodbye.- Art Department
- Actor
- Producer
Forever etched in our minds as the bully with the protruding lip who gave beloved Alfalfa plenty of angst in the "Our Gang" serial shorts, actor Tommy Bond was actually a gentle, benign soul off the set. Born Thomas Ross Bond on September 16, 1926, in Dallas, Texas, he was discovered by a Hal Roach talent scout at the age of five simply walking hand-in-hand down a Dallas street with his mother. Asked to interview in Hollywood, Tommy made the exhausting Depression-era trek by car with his grandmother and was not disappointed. He debuted in the short Spanky (1932), billed simply as "Tommy" and enjoyed a two-year stay. He was released from his initial contract after appearing in Washee Ironee (1934), then struggled with unbilled bits and minor roles in features and in one- and two-reelers for Charley Chase and Monte Collins for the next few years. Roach happened to spot Tommy again in a bratty film role and re-signed him for the popular series, this time as the mean little kid Butch. Starting with Glove Taps (1937), Tommy immortalized himself as every schoolboy's nightmare, the perpetually scowling young thug purposely looking for fights.
Once Tommy outgrew the "Butch" role at age 14, he was left to fend for himself again, taking whatever jobs he could scrape up. He played one of the "Little Peppers" in a series of mild comedies of the early 1940s and rejoined Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer (although playing his constant nemesis on the "Our Gang" series, the two were friends in real life) with the low-budget "Gas House Kids" film series in the early 1950s. In between Tommy served in the Navy during WWII and found "B" feature work with Man from Frisco (1944), which was one of his best roles, The Beautiful Cheat (1945) and Big Town Scandal (1948), among others. Another highlight of his career was playing cub reporter Jimmy Olson in the Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950) cliffhangers that starred Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill.
With acting jobs getting scarce, Tommy decided to focus instead on TV production. Avoiding the heartache and serious troubles (i.e., unemployment and substance abuse) suffered by many of his spurned child star alumni (including Switzer), Tommy wisely prepared for his future by attending Los Angeles City College and earning a degree in theater arts from Cal State L.A. in 1951. He worked over two decades as a stage manager and head of props for KTTV-TV in Los Angeles, and another two as stage manager and assistant director at KFSN-TV in Fresno before finally retiring. He was long married (52 years) to wife Polly Bond and had a son, Thomas R. Bond II. He died at age 79 of complications from heart disease. His autobiography "You're Darn Right It's Butch" came out in 1993 detailing his kiddie fame.- Alain Cohen was born on 10 January 1958. He is an actor, known for The First Time (1976), The Two of Us (1967) and Le cinéma de papa (1971).
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Scotty Beckett was one of the cutest, most successful child actors of the 1930s and 1940s. His descent into a life of alcoholism, drugs, and crime remains one of the most tragic of Hollywood stories.
Born Scott Hastings Beckett on October 4, 1929, in Oakland, California, he and his family moved to Los Angeles when Scotty was 3 years old. Shortly after arriving in LA, Beckett's father was hospitalized and Scotty would frequently entertain his dad by singing songs. During one such visit, a Hollywood casting director happened to notice the cherubic youngster and told his parents he had movie potential. Scotty made his debut in Gallant Lady (1933) starring Clive Brook and Ann Harding. Scotty played a boy of three in the film, and Dickie Moore played the same character at the age of six. It was the first of several connections between the two child stars. The next year, he filled the hole vacated by Moore in Our Gang, and they later appeared in Heaven Can Wait (1943), portraying Don Ameche's character as a child. He and Moore finally appeared together in Dangerous Years (1947), which was Marilyn Monroe's screen debut.
Scotty appeared in fifteen Our Gang shorts in two years. Hal Roach noted a resemblance to Jackie Coogan and dressed Beckett accordingly, with an oversized cap and turtleneck sweater reminiscent of Coogan's outfit in The Kid (1921). He was paired with George 'Spanky' McFarland as a kind of partnership within the gang, and their sideline observations and wisecracks highlighted the series from 1934 until 1936, just as Porky and Buckwheat sparked the one-reelers from 1936 on.
After leaving Our Gang, Beckett emerged as one of the top child stars of his era, appearing in many films with the top stars of the late '30s and early '40s. Among his major credits were Dante's Inferno (1935) with Spencer Tracy, Anthony Adverse (1936) with Fredric March, The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) with Errol Flynn, Conquest (1937) with Greta Garbo, Marie Antoinette (1938) with Norma Shearer, My Favorite Wife (1940) with Cary Grant, and Kings Row (1942) with Claude Rains.
In 1943 Scotty began attending Los Angeles High School and was named treasurer of his freshman class. He also appeared on Broadway that same year in the play "Slightly Married", receiving the only favorable notices of the production, and also played Junior in the hit radio show "The Life of Riley". Adolescence did not slow down his film career, as Scotty continued to win roles in such movies as My Reputation (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck and, most notably, The Jolson Story (1946), wherein he played the young Al Jolson.
He enrolled at USC but dropped out when he began receiving more offers from MGM, beginning with Cynthia (1947) with Elizabeth Taylor, A Date with Judy (1948), again with Taylor and Jane Powell (the future Mrs. Dickie Moore), Battleground (1949) with Van Johnson, Nancy Goes to Rio (1950), again with Powell, and The Happy Years (1950) with fellow child stars Dean Stockwell and Darryl Hickman.
At around the same time, Scotty began to gain notoriety for his nocturnal activities. Part of the young Hollywood set, Beckett was a fixture at parties and would frequently be seen with young stars like Roddy McDowall, Jane Powell, Elizabeth Taylor, and Edith Fellows. His nightlife seemed to become more of a priority than his burgeoning acting career, and it started a trend of reckless, irresponsible behaviors which plagued Beckett the rest of his life. Early success without any sacrifice often breeds a sense of entitlement and a lack of responsibility or consequence. This seems to be an overriding theme, as Beckett began making headlines most Hollywood stars try to avoid.
In 1948 he was arrested for drunk driving after he crashed into another car after attending a frat party where he had "five bourbons". Scotty tried to run from the booking office after being arrested and refused to surrender his possessions. In September of 1949, he eloped with tennis star Beverly Baker. Right from the start, Scotty showed signs that he was not ready for marriage. On their honeymoon in Acapulco, Beckett allegedly threatened to punch a pool bystander in the nose. The couple separated after 5 months of marriage, divorcing in June of 1950. Newspapers covered the divorce, citing Baker's allegations of Beckett's jealousy and controlling, abusive behavior. Scotty tried to get Baker to quit tennis and stop seeing her parents. He also warned her never to have a soft drink "with any boy or man between 6 and 60".
In 1951, Becket met actress Sunny Vickers. Shortly after they began dating , Vickers became pregnant. They married in Phoenix on June 27, 1951, and five months later Scott Hastings Beckett, Jr. was born. The bad publicity of the divorce from Baker plus the forced marriage to Vickers in the conservative 1950s immediately made Beckett a Hollywood outcast. Between 1952 and 1954, Scotty landed only two roles, in relatively minor films, You're Only Young Twice (1952) and Hot News (1953). He was beginning to get desperate.
In early 1954, Beckett landed the role of "Winky" in a low-budget sci-fi show called Rocky Jones, Space Ranger (1954), which today has become a cult classic. However, as former co-stars and ex-friends such as Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Powell emerged as bonafide film stars of the 1950s, a supporting role in a fledgling, unproven industry likely was extremely frustrating for Scotty.
In February of that year, the Cavalier Hotel in Hollywood was robbed of a little more than $130 in cash. The bandit pistol-whipped the desk clerk and disappeared with the loot, or so police thought. Passed out drunk in the basement of the hotel, armed with a gun and a knife, was Scotty Beckett. He was arrested and charged with possession of a weapon, but not with robbery because the money was not found and the clerk could not positively identify the former star as the robber.
After posting bail, Beckett, with his wife and three-year-old son, fled to Mexico. He checked into a Tampico hotel under the name of Sean Bullock, giving Carmel, California as his address. There were two bullet holes in his car that Beckett said were from a gang who tried to rob him south of Juarez.
After running out of cash and options, Scotty wrote several checks on a nonexistent bank to different merchants. After Mexican authorities tracked him to a Ciudad Victoria hotel, he attempted to sneak himself and his family out of the hotel and got into a gunfight with the Mexican police in which 20 shots were exchanged. Miraculously, no one was killed, and Scott and Sunny were eventually captured. Scott Jr. was sent back to Los Angeles.
Scotty served only four months in a Mexican jail before returning to the US in September of 1954. He surrendered to authorities for the weapons charge, pleaded guilty, and amazingly was given only three years' probation. He told newspapers he saw this as an opportunity to pick up the pieces and start over with a clean slate, but it was too little, too late. He was dropped from the Rocky Jones series and replaced with Jimmy Lydon (with whom Beckett had appeared in Cynthia (1947)). A little more than a month later, Beckett was arrested in Las Vegas, once again for bouncing a check.
Scotty re-enrolled at USC to study medicine, but when Our Gang was reissued for TV in 1955 as The Little Rascals, Beckett saw an opportunity to make a comeback in the movies. He appeared in Three for Jamie Dawn (1956) and had walk-ons in The Oklahoman (1957) with Joel McCrea, and Monkey on My Back (1957) with Cameron Mitchell. He proved he could still act and exhibit that same youthful charm, appearing perfectly at ease on camera, particularly in his small role as a Navy corpsman with the Marine Corps in Monkey on My Back (1957). But just when it seemed as though a comeback might happen, Scotty self-destructed again.
In February of 1957, he was caught at a Mexican-US border crossing trying to bring illegal drugs into the US. He said the pills were for his wife, whom he claimed had a nervous ailment. In reality, Sunny Vickers was suffering from alcoholism and had checked herself into Metropolitan State Hospital for treatment. She filed for divorce in August of 1957. After Sunny was awarded custody of Scott Jr., Beckett attempted suicide by swallowing a bottle of sleeping pills. He recovered but realized he was finished as an actor. He tried his hand at selling used cars, among other things. He still had his charm, but he could not stay out of trouble.
In April of 1959, Beckett was arrested on a charge of drunk driving. In August of that same year, he was arrested for driving drunk again, but this time he did not emerge unscathed. He smashed his '52 sedan into a tree, fracturing his skull, thigh, and hip and suffering multiple lacerations to his head. Although he was given probation and a suspended sentence, he remained crippled for the rest of his life.
In September of 1963, he was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. Now confined to a wheelchair from the near-fatal drunk driving accident, he attempted to stab his neighbor after a dispute. Scotty's wife of two years, Margaret, a divorcée with a teenage daughter named Susan, assisted in breaking up the fight. Three days later Beckett tried to kill himself by slashing his wrists. He recovered from this second suicide attempt, but by that time Margaret had had enough and moved out, taking Susan with her. As she was moving her belongings out, Scotty tried to stop her. He hit Susan over the head with a crutch that he now used after his car accident and was again arrested. He vowed to the judge at his sentencing "never to drink again".
After that, Scotty stayed out of the headlines for a few years. In 1967 he found employment driving an ambulance, perhaps to be close to the prescription drugs to which he was addicted, perhaps to try to revive his interest in becoming a doctor, perhaps to try to forget that he had once graced the screen with Hollywood's biggest stars before his own star had plummeted to earth, or perhaps because he had run out of alternatives.
On May 8, 1968, he checked into the Royal Palms Hotel, a Hollywood nursing home, after suffering a beating in what may have been a drug deal gone wrong. Two days later, he was dead from an overdose of barbiturates; his third suicide attempt was successful. He left behind a note, a son, and some wonderful films and memories.
Leonard Maltin summed it up best when he wrote, "It was a particularly sad end for someone who, as a child, had shown so much easy charm and talent." Scotty Beckett was not the first child star casualty, and he would not be the last, but his story is certainly one of the saddest.- Joel Davis was born on 2 November 1933 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Life Begins with Love (1937), Two Fisted Justice (1943) and Your Jeweler's Showcase (1952). He died on 19 December 1966 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Enzo Staiola was born on 15 November 1939 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is an actor, known for Bicycle Thieves (1948), The Barefoot Contessa (1954) and A Tale of Five Women (1951).
- Actor
- Soundtrack
George 'Spanky' McFarland was born on 2 October 1928 in Dallas, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Beginner's Luck (1935), Bedtime Worries (1933) and Second Childhood (1936). He was married to Paula Jeanne Wilkinson and Doris. He died on 30 June 1993 in Grapevine, Texas, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Carl Switzer was an American child actor, singer, dog breeder, and hunting guide from Paris, Illinois. He became famous for portraying Alfalfa in the film series "Our Gang" during the 1930s. His character was one of the most memorable characters ever portrayed in the series. Later in his career, Switzer's acting roles were limited to bit parts and appearances in B-movies. He supported himself through other lines of work. Switzer was fatally shot by an acquaintance over a money dispute. The circumstances of his death are disputed, due to contradictory accounts by the shooter and by an eyewitness.
In 1927, Switzer was born in Paris, Illinois. A small city located about 165 miles (266 kilometers) south of Chicago and 90 miles (140 kilometers) west of Indianapolis. Switzer was the youngest of four children born to George Frederick "Fred" Switzer (1905-1960) and his wife Gladys Carrie Shanks (1904-1997). Switzer's older brother was the child actor Harold Switzer (1925-1967).
In the early 1930s, the Switzer brothers were locally famous in their hometown for their music performances. In 1934, the Switzer family traveled to California. They visited the Hal Roach Studios (1914-1961) while sightseeing. The Switzer brothers gave an impromptu performance in the the Our Gang Café, the studio's open-to-the-public cafeteria. They were both offered contracts by producer Hal Roach (1892 -1992), who wanted them to appear in the film series "Our Gang" (1922-1944). The long-running series featured a large group of child actors.
Switzer made his film debut in the "Our Gang" short film "Beginner's Luck" (1935), where his character performs as the "Arizona Nightingale". By the end of the year, Alfalfa (Switzer) had become one of the series' main characters. His brother Harold was relegated to performing background characters in the series. In 1937, Switzer surpassed George McFarland in popularity. At the time, McFarland was the nominal star of the "Our Gang" series. Switzer had a difficult relationship with his co-stars, as he enjoyed playing cruel jokes on them.
Switzer's performances in "Our Gang" ended in 1940. His last appearance as Alfalfa was in the short film "Kiddie Kure" (1940), where the gang members attempted to convince a hypochondriac that his pills were unnecessary. Switzer was 12-years-old at the time of the film's production, making him the oldest member of the main cast. The production team considered him too old to keep playing a child.
Switzer initially found more work in films of the time. He played a young boy scout in the comedy film "I Love You Again" (1940). He next appeared in "Barnyard Follies" (1940), a B-Movie depicting efforts to raise funds for a rural orphanage. Switzer had a leading role in the comedy film "Reg'lar Fellers" (1941), a feature-film adaptation of the long-running comic strip "Reg'lar Fellers" (1917-1949) by Gene Byrnes.
Switzer was reduced to a supporting role in "Henry and Dizzy" (1942), his first appearance in the-then popular film series about the Aldrich Family (1939-1944). The films were adaptations of a long-running radio sitcom of the same name, which lasted from 1939 to 1953. Switzer played a younger member of the Twine family in "There's One Born Every Minute" (1942), a comedy about false advertising. The Twine family profits from marketing their puddings as containing the fantastic Vitamin Z, with the press failing to realize that this vitamin does not exist. A local scientist is persuaded to act as a shill for their product.
Switzer had a minor role in the musical comedy "Johnny Doughboy" (1942), which featured a plot about fictionalized versions of "has-been" child stars. Several other real-life former child stars had roles in this film, including Baby Sandy, Bobby Breen, and George McFarland. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Musical Score.
Switzer had the uncredited role of Auggie in "The Human Comedy" (1943), a comedy-drama film about life in the home front of World War II. His character was a friend of Ulysses Macauley (played by Jackie Jenkins). Over the following few years, Switzer would frequently appear in uncredited roles, in films such as "Going My Way" (1944) and "Courage of Lassie" (1946).
Switzer had his first leading role in years when cast as Sammy Levine in "Gas House Kids" (1946). The film depicted the life of unruly youths from the Gas House District of New York City. It was partly inspired by the forced relocation of the District's residents in the 1940s, to make way for an urban renewal project. About 600 buildings were razed, and 3,100 families were forced to relocate. The real-life tragic conditions had inspired the popular culture of the time. The film was successful enough to have its own sequels, "Gas House Kids Go West" (1947) and The "Gas House Kids in Hollywood" (1947). Switzer had leading roles in both sequels, his last leading roles in any film.
During the 1950s, Switzer had a few significant supporting roles in films. He played a co-pilot in the aviation adventure "Island in the Sky" (1953), a pilot in the disaster film "The High and the Mighty" (1954), and a Native American ranch hand in the Western film "Track of the Cat" (1954). He had a minor part in the comedy film "Dig That Uranium" (1956), where the Bowery Boys seek an uranium mine in the Wild West. Switzer also had several appearances in television, serving as a recurring guest star in "The Roy Rogers Show".
Switzer's film career was not particularly lucrative during his adult years. He supplemented his income by breeding and training hunting dogs, and by serving as a guide to hunting expeditions. His most notable clients were Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, James Stewart, and Henry Fonda. In 1954, Switzer married his girlfriend Diantha "Dian" Collingwood (1930-2004). She was the heiress of the company Collingwood Grain, which specialized in the construction of grain elevators. The marriage was a rather hasty decision, as the couple had only met 3 months prior to the wedding.
In 1956, Switzer was broke and his wife Dian was pregnant. Switzer's mother-in-law offered them the administration of a farm near Pretty Prairie, Kansas, and Switzer took the offer. His only, son Justin Lance Collingwood Switzer, was born later that year. Switzer had a reunion with his former co-star George McFarland in 1957. McFarland recalled that Switzer seemed restless, and he got the impression that Switzer was bored with his life as a farmer. He figured that this life "wasn't going to last" for Switzer.
Switzer received a divorce in 1957, and lost custody of his son. In January 1958, Switzer was mysteriously shot in the upper right arm while sitting in his parked car, in front of a bar in Studio City, Los Angeles. The bullet smashed through the car's window. The shooter was never found, and no motive was ever established.
In December 1958, Switzer was arrested by the authorities. He had been cutting trees in the Sequoia National Forest, with the intention to sell them as Christmas trees. This practice was illegal. He was sentenced to pay a fine of 225 dollars, and was also sentenced to one year's probation. This left him in financial trouble for the last month of his life.
In 1959, Switzer was hired to train a hunting dog by Moses Samuel "Bud" Stiltz. Switzer and Stiltz had been business associates for years, having met each other at the Corriganville Movie Ranch. During the dog's training, the dog ran off to chase after a bear. Stiltz demanded that Switzer had to either relocate his dog or pay him the equivalent of the dog's value. Switzer placed a reward for the relocation of the dog and the safe return of the animal. When the dog was found, Switzer rewarded the rescuer with 35 dollars in cash, and the worth of 15 dollars in alcoholic beverages. The reward money pushed Switzer further into poverty.
In late January, 1959, Switzer had an emotional conversation about his financial troubles with photographer Jack Piott. The two figured that Stiltz had to reimburse Switzer for the finder's fee. The two of them headed together to Stiltz's home in Mission Hills, where they got into an argument with him. After being struck on the left side of his head, Stiltz proceeded to threaten the two men with a loaded a .38-caliber revolver.
What happened next is uncertain. Stiltz testified that Switzer pulled a knife on him, and that he had shot him in self-defense. Tom Corrigan (Stiltz's adolescent stepson) later testified that Switzer had decided to end the fight and to leave empty-handed, but Stiltz shot him anyway. In any case, the bullet damaged one of Switzer's arteries and caused massive internal bleeding. Switzer had already died by the time his body was transferred to a hospital. He was 31-years-old at the time of his death.
Switzer was buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, located in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. His gravestone depicts the image of a hunting dog, to commemorate that he trained hunting dogs for a living. His death initially attracted little attention from the press, but the controversial circumstances of his death have become the subject of true-crime articles and documentaries. Switzer is still remembered as one of the better child actors of his era, and as a reliable actor in supporting roles.- Mickey Daniels was born on 11 October 1914 in Rock Springs, Wyoming, USA. He was an actor, known for The Little Minister (1922), Roaring Roads (1935) and Uncle Tom's Uncle (1926). He died on 20 August 1970 in San Diego, California, USA.
- Actor
Dannie Mac Grant was born on 21 November 1918 in Cochise, Arizona, USA. He was an actor. He died on 21 August 2006 in Napa, California, USA.1918 - 2006, (87).
29 credits, 1929-1933.- Don Stewart was born to George and Marian Stewart on November 14, 1935. He spent his youth in Nebraska with his older brother, George, and his younger brother and sister, Jack and Marilyn. He then moved to New York and began studying opera. He worked on and off Broadway, and even understudied for Robert Goulet in Camelot at a young age. He was in the Air Force as one of the youngest commanders, and then in the Navy and Naval Reserves. He flew fighter jets off of aircraft carriers, etc. He started working on television, and also began singing in night clubs. He has a wonderful and powerful voice. He spent many years as "Michael Bauer" on "The Guiding Light,' before branching out to do more movies, stage, commercials, voice-overs, etc. During all this he married Susan Tremble in 1970-something, and they had two daughters, Heather-Michelle and Genevra. They lived in Oakland, NJ while Don was filming the Guiding Light, then moved to Santa Barbara, CA in 1985. Don enjoyed playing tennis with friends, flying his airplane, working on his tractor at his house, and riding horses with his daughters. Don and Sue divorced in 1993 or so. He remained an eligible bachelor for basically the rest of his life, partly because his children didn't believe anyone was good enough for him. In 2002, Don was diagnosed with aplastic anemia. He was doing OK with that, undergoing medical treatment but still basically healthy, until June 2005. At that point he was diagnosed with lung cancer, despite having lived a very clean and healthy life as a non-smoker. He died from the disease only a few months later.1935 - 2006, 70.
5 credits, 42-50. 7-15 years old.
Donny Davis, Arizona Whirlwind (1944). 1944. 9 years old.