Figure 1.--David Ladd with his film star father here watch the rushes from "Buffalo Grass". |
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Information about child actors also provodes a great deal of fashion information. Both clothes these children wore as well as the costumes they wore in their films and shows provide much valuable information. These childrens often dressed very fashionably so information about them provides insights into contemprary fashions. The costumes they wore in films also provides useful information--although it must be treated more cautiously. HBC is preparing an alphabetical listing of child actors in movies, plays, and television.
David was the son of film star Alan Ladd and his second wife, Sue Carl. He was borm in 1947, of course in Los Angeles. He reprtedly loved to dance and won selveral awads. I do not a great deal about his film career. I'm not sure whose idea it was to start acting. Presumably his creer mostly resulted from the fact his father was a star. We note he got generally good, if not glowing reviews. He had a small role in The Big Land, but then was featured in four substantial films. He best parts were those of a gentle boy, perhaps those suited his personality best. His fathers roles were quite different. In one film, Rayme (1960) he plays a boy who likes animals. Three of David's best known films are The Proud Rebel (1958); A Dog of Flanders (1959); and "Misty" (1961). The only one in which father and son played together was The Proud Rebel. He also made a few appearances on major TV programs, Including "Gunsmoke," "wagon Train," and "Bonanza" between 1955-59. He made appearances as a young adult in 1970s films, with little success. His basic gentle demeanor fit several child roles, but that was not movie goers were looking for in young adults. He eventually gave up acting and became a producer. He married Cheryl Ladd.
Engaging little boy with massive bangs on the Nell Carter show. "Gimme a Break." Most kid actors appeared on only one TV-series. Joey viually grew up on television, appearing on popular shows at many different ages. I do not have complelete details on his career at this time. I never saw any really interesting episodes, but I do recall seeing him in shorts at least once--unusual for an American sitcom. As a teenager he starred on another sitcom, "Blossom". He played a vacuous girl chaser and became a real heart-throb, even launching a music career. He got his own show Brotherly Love (1995) with his real life brothers. The boys all wear longs, even the little one in bangs. In one episode he poses in an art scene and teases his little brother for playing a fairy in a school production.
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Baby LeRoy was for a time the only child actor at Paramount. Two other boys (Billy Lee and David Holt) were signed at Paramount to provide Baby LeRoy some welcomed company. The camaraderie of the three boys became the source of some amusement on the Paramount lot. The urgency was that the film's lead actor, 9 year old Baby Le Roy, as he was known from his films as an infant and toddler with W.C. Fields, who was already on location in Georgia, had become very ill following the first day of shooting on the film. Le Roy had been called on to swing on a rope across a lake in the opening scene of the film. But what the camera caught, was Le Roy falling into the lake on each of the two times he attempted the take. Although he was thoroughly dried off both times that he fell into the lake, the boy actor, who had disappeared from films at age 5 and was attempting a comeback at age 9, had,
by the next moring completely lost his voice, suffering from a terrible head and chest cold. The doctor who examined Le Roy insisted that he would need 2 weeks to recover. With cast and crew on location in Georgia, it was impossible to wait for the young actor to recover, and it was impossible to film around him, since, as the lead character, he was to appear in virtually every scene. On October 20th, 1939, Paramount execs announced that another picture would be ready for Baby Le Roy upon his recovery, so he could still make good his comeback. But that opportunity never materialized. At age 3 LeRoy became drunk and was
noticiably staggering when W.C. Fields spiked his orange juice with Gin while making the film, "It's A Gift". In their previous film together, Le Roy had been kicked so hard by Fields while filming a gag scene, that it was ordered cut from the film by studio execs who were disturbed by the footage, although Fields defended the scene on the basis that men who had to deal with young children could relate to him kicking Le Roy. Baby Le Roy's last real chance to make a comeback, to prove his abilities as a young actor in a lead role, rather than to be remembered as a mere comic prop for W.C. Fields, had slipped out of his hands and the role went to Billy Lee,
A boy star during the 1930s and appeared in over 43 movies. He is probably best remembered for "The Biscuit Eater" (1940?), "Wagon Wheels" (19??), "Sons of the Legion" (19??), and "Hold Back the Dawn" (1941). Billy Lee, whose birth name was Billy Lee Schlensker,
was born on March 12, 1929, at a farm near Terre Haute, Indiana in a tiny area known by local residents as "Nelson's Bend". In 1931,
before Billy's 2nd birthday, his father, Peter Schlensker, who suffered from asthma, temporarily moved the family to the west coast, hoping
that a change to the warmer climate of Los Angeles would help ease his
condition.
Davey Lee was a popular child actor at the time that silent films were giving way to the talkies.
His brother Frankie Lee was also a child actor. I know very little about him at this time. He was born in California during 1924. He appears to have appeared at a very young age. Silent films had a very wide distribution. Thus he was popular both in Europe and America. His films and roles included:
"The Squealer" (1930) .... Bunny Hart, "Skin Deep" (1929) .... Son of District Attorney,
"Say It with Songs" (1929) .... Little Pal, "Frozen River" (1929) .... Billy, "Sonny Boy (1929) .... Sonny Boy, and "The Singing Fool" (1928) .... Sonny Boy. Has most of his films were silent movies, we are not yet familiar with them.
Mark was born in Oxford, England on July 11, 1958, the offspring of two acting parents. His parents began entering Mark in auditions at an early age and by 7 years he was a season performer on British television. He appeared in small roles in "Allez France!" (1964) and "Spaceflight IC-1" (1965). His first important role was in "Fahrenheit 451" (1966) where he played an angelic-looking school boy, appropriately dressed in shorts and knee socks. His next role was the stuttering Jiminy in "Our Mother's House" (1967). Jack Clayton directed the offbeat film and Mark made a big impression on the film maker that was to play big dividends. Sir Carol Reed was at the time preparing for the film "Oliver" (1969), a musical version of the Dickens' classic. The book had been done several times before: Jackie Coogan played Oliver in 1922, Dickie Moore played the part touchingly in 1933, and John Howard Davis appeared in the 1948 production that featured Alec Guinness' marvelous interpretation of the sly Fagin. Sir Carol needed to find a child that could sing and dance as well as act. About 2,000 boys applied and 250 actually auditioned. Clayton recommended Mark to Sir Carol and he was offered the role soon after his audition. "Oliver" emerged as one of the colossal productions of the 1960s. It was that film which first caught my eye, I was most taken with Mark's lovely performance. Some believe that Mark's performance was lost in the competition with the strong cast. One reviewer wrote "The focus of the movie is so wide, and the logistics of the production is so heavy, that Oliver himself, dutifully played by 9-year old Mark Lester, gets flattened out and almost lost, as if he had been run over by a studio bulldozer." I think, however, that Mark's performance was superb. He played a boy completely adrift, totally incapable of controlling his situation and swept along by events and the people he comes into contact with. The feeling of powerlessness and vulnerability were critical to the part and perfectly executed by Mark. In fact Mark had some fine moments: the singing of "Where is Love?". "Who Will Buy?", and "I'd Do Anything" with an almost angelic quality. I rather agree with a New York Times reviewer who wrote "Young Mark Lester as Oliver has a kind of golden innocence, untainted by self-conscious adorability of the typical child actor, and a marvelous pure boy soprano voice. He is shy, yet game and a perfect foil for Jack Wild's Artful Dogger." Gene Shalit noted "Mark is an ideal Oliver; angelic and sweet voice..." The film was a huge financial success, grossing over $16.8 million in the U.S. and Canada alone and won the 1969 Oscar as the Best Picture. His parents said at the time that they would not force him to continue in films, but Mark decided to do so. I don't think, however, that any thing else he did ever approached "Oliver!" His next film was "Run Wild, Run Free" (1969). Some reviewers were impressed. One reported "Mark Lester, the endearing Oliver of "Oliver!", is charming and affecting as the blond, inhibited boy desperate to communicate who finally finds his voice and the communication he yearns for through his colt and patient friends." Mark joined Jack Wild again in "Melody" (1971), the story of two rebellious boys of opposing backgrounds who study at a depressed London elementary school. Unfortunately the boys all wear longs, what a pity. Next he played in "Eyewitness" ("Sudden Terror") (1970) and he and his family traveled to Malta. "Eyewitness" was a remake of the Cornell Woolrich story, "The Boy Who Called Wolf" which Bobby Driscoll played in "The Window" (1949). Next Mark came to the United States for a multi-part Disney special, "The Boy Who Stole the Elephant." While in California he appeared on several TV series as a guest star. He returned to England for the rather absurd gothic thriller "Who Slew Aunty Roo?" (1972). He was the older brother in a "Hansel and Grettle" type story. He was costumed in short, but rather long shorts, apparently to make him look like a little boy even, even though he was 14 years old. His career declined after that and he found it difficult making the transition to teenage roles. His performance in "Scalawag" (1973) starring Kirk Douglas was disappointing. In reviewing the inept pirate story set in Mexico during 1840, but filmed in Yugoslavia, one journalist reported that Douglas "so mishandles Mark Lester that his `Englishness' looks like embarrassingly bad acting." Plans for Mark to play Jim Hawkins in a remake of Treasure Island fell apart and "The Dream Time" closed production in 1973 after filming part of the story. One reviewer reported that Mark looked "uncomfortable" in his role as the intellectual son of a university professor "All `Aperto" ("Dance Under the Elms") (1975) set during a Tyrolean vacation.
Cute little guy with a darling Dutch-boy haircut. I first noticed him in a McDonalds TV ad where he grabs his short pants an exclaims he's ready to go to Disneyland. He then appeared in several other TV adds. The first movie appearance I know of is the replacement for McCauly Caughlin in "Home Alone 3" (1997). Nothing of special interest, but he gives a creditable performance.
Barry Livingston was born on December 17, 1953, in Los Angeles. He had early, uncredited roles in The Errand Boy (1961) and My Six Loves (1963). He is best known for playing Ernie on the long running American TV series, "My Three Sons". Ernie was first Chip's best friend, and later his adopted brother. As Chip got older, there was a need for an younger brother on the series. He was in fact Chip's real-life brother. I rather liked him in the part, one of the few child stars to wear glasses. Ernie loke his TV brothers generally wore popular contemprary casual, but nevre sloppy, clothes. Chip and his mothers were an excellent example of contemprary American boys clothing. He never, however, appeared in any fancy costumes to my knowledge. He eventually made the transition to adult roles in movies including Easy Wheels.
A HBC contributor reports Jake Lloyd saying that he wished they wouldn't
use his image on underwear ("Star Wars" tie-ins); I can't remember the exact quote. I also seem to recall that many publicity photos showed him in a Darth Vader T-shirt. Jake played
Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars; The Phantom Menace.
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T.J. Lowther was born in Salt Lake City. Utah. His first important appearance was as Kevin Costner's surrogate son in Clint Eastwood's rather terse chase picture, A Perfect World. He also provided the required boyish cuteness as one of the younger kids of single mom Kathy Bates' brewd for Tony Bill's tearjerker, A Home of Our Own". His most extensive performance was the role of Buddy in the 1994 production of Triman Capote's Christmas saga, One Christmas. He appeared in Mad Love in 1995, then appears to have been inactive until landing the staring role in Mr. Atlas (1997).
A child actor on Broadway, he began making films as a teenager in 1939. He made a long list of films in teenage roles during the 1940s, most prominently in the "Henry Aldrich" series. His most interesting role was Tom in Tom Brown's School Days (1940). He also play Henry in Henry Aldrich Boy Scout (1944), although he was 20! He played one of the older boys in the classic Life with Father (1947), despite being a rather ancient 23. Alas he plays the part in longs, although his two youngest brothers were nicely togged out. He was popular as a juvenile, but his adult acting career experienced little success.
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