Figure 1.--I haven't seen the film, but Dean appears to be playing Colin here in "Secret Garden", written by Frances Hogdsen Burnett, the authoress of "Little Lord Fauntleroy". Dean wear's a rather plain sailor suit. Note the smock the other boy wears. He was an employee on the estate and farm laborers in mid-19th century England wore smocks. Note that the boy in the smock is an English child actor who was also one of William's sidekicks in the two late 1940s "Our William" movies.

Dean was born March 5, 1936, in North Hollywood, California. Started acting at the age of 6, he made numerous movies and television shows. He was the curly-haired, twinkle eyed child star of the 1940s, but had trouble bridging the gap to adult parts. He was the son of Broadway performers. He made his stage debut at age seven in the Theater Guild production of "The Innocent Voyage", alongside his younger brother Guy. Two years later he charmed movie viewers in the musical, "Anchors Away" (1945). Some of his best parts were "The Green Years" (1946), "The Boy With Green Hair" (1948), "Kim" (1950), and several other M.M. films. His last film as a child was "Cattle Drive" (1951). I think his performance in each was rather impressive, especially the first two. He grew up as a sensitive, intense, but infrequently employed leading man.

Childhood

Dean was born March 5, 1936, in North Hollywood, California. He was the son of Broadway performers.

Plays and Movies

Started acting at the age of 6-7, he made numerous movies and television shows. Dean made his stage debut at age seven in the Theater Guild production of "The Innocent Voyage", alongside his younger brother Guy. Two years later he charmed movie viewers in the musical, "Anchors Away" (1945), a big budget MGM musical. Paired with Frank Sinatra and Jene Kelly, Dean morec than held his own. Some of his best parts were "The Green Years" (1946), "The Boy With Green Hair" (1948), "Kim" (1950), and several other M.M. films. His last film as a child was "Cattle Drive" (1951). I think his performance in each was rather impressive, especially the first two.

Body of Work

Dean has compiled a very impressive body of work. I am familiar with many of these films, but there are a few that I till have not seen.

Alphabetical List

Dean as a child and adult has played in an amazing number of films. His movies have included: Abbott and Costello in Hollywood 1945 Air Force One 1997 Alsino And The Condor/Alsino Y El Condor 1982 Anchors Aweigh 1945 Another Day at the Races 1974 (The) Arnelo Affair 1947 Backtrack 1989 Banzai Runner 1987 Beverly Hills Cop II 1987 (The) Blue Iguana 1988 Blue Velvet 1986 (The) Boy With Green Hair 1948 Buying Time 1988 (The) Careless Years 1957 Cattle Drive 1951 Chasers 1994 Compulsion 1959 (The) Dunwich Horror 1970 Deep Waters 1948 Down To The Sea In Ships 1949 Dune 1984 Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer 1974 Ecstacy 1987 Extreme Duress 1999 Friends and Enemies 1992 Gardens Of Stone 1987 Gentleman's Agreement 1947 (The) Green Years 1946 Gun For A Coward 1957 (The) Happy Years 1950 Home, Sweet Homicide 1946 Human Highway 1982 In Pursuit Kim 1950 (The) Last Movie/Chinchero 1971 (The) Last Resort 1997 (The) Legend Of Billie Jean 1985 Limit Up 1989 Living in Peril 1997 (The) Loners 1972 Long Day's Journey Into Night 1962 (The) Long Haul 1988 Married To The Mob 1988 McHale's Navy 1997 Midnight Blue 1996 (The) Mighty Mcgurk 1946 Mr. Wrong 1996 Naked Souls 1995 (The) Pacific Connection 1975 Palais Royale 1988 Paris, Texas 1984 (The) Player 1992 Psych-Out 1968 (The) Quickie 2001 (The) Rainmaker 1997 Rapture 1965 Restraining Order 1999 Rites of Passage 1999 (The) Romance Of Rosy Ridge 1947 Sandino 1990 (The) Secret Garden 1949 (The) Shadow Men 1997 She Came To The Valley 1979 Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights 1998 Song Of The Thin Man 1947 Sons And Lovers 1960 Stars In My Crown 1950 Stickfighter 1989 Sweet Scene Of Death 1983 They Nest 2000 (The) Time Guardian 1987 To Kill A Stranger 1985 To Live And Die In L.A. 1985 Tracks 1977 Tucker: The Man And His Dream 1988 (The) Venice Project 1999 The Valley Of Decision 1945 (The) Werewolf Of Washington 1973 Water Damage 1999 Win, Place Or Steal/The Big Payoff 1975 Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood 1976 Wrong Is Right 1982

Chronological list

Abbott and Costello in Hollywood 1945 The Valley Of Decision 1945 Anchors Aweigh 1945 (The) Green Years 1946 Home, Sweet Homicide 1946 (The) Mighty Mcgurk 1946 Gentleman's Agreement 1947 Song Of The Thin Man 1947 (The) Romance Of Rosy Ridge 1947 (The) Arnelo Affair 1947 (The) Boy With Green Hair 1948 Deep Waters 1948 Down To The Sea In Ships 1949 (The) Secret Garden 1949 Stars In My Crown 1950 (The) Happy Years 1950 Kim 1950 Cattle Drive 1951 (The) Careless Years 1957 Gun For A Coward 1957 Compulsion 1959 Sons And Lovers 1960 Long Day's Journey Into Night 1962 Rapture 1965 Psych-Out 1968 (The) Dunwich Horror 1970 (The) Last Movie/Chinchero 1971 (The) Loners 1972 (The) Werewolf Of Washington 1973 Another Day at the Races 1974 Win, Place Or Steal/The Big Payoff 1975 Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood 1976 Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer 1974 (The) Pacific Connection 1975 Tracks 1977 She Came To The Valley 1979 Alsino And The Condor/Alsino Y El Condor 1982 Human Highway 1982 Wrong Is Right 1982 Sweet Scene Of Death 1983 Dune 1984 Paris, Texas 1984 (The) Legend Of Billie Jean 1985 To Live And Die In L.A. 1985 To Kill A Stranger 1985 Blue Velvet 1986 Banzai Runner 1987 Beverly Hills Cop II 1987 Ecstacy 1987 Gardens Of Stone 1987 (The) Time Guardian 1987 Buying Time 1988 (The) Blue Iguana 1988 Palais Royale 1988 Tucker: The Man And His Dream 1988 Married To The Mob 1988 (The) Long Haul 1988 Backtrack 1989 Limit Up 1989 Stickfighter 1989 Sandino 1990 Friends and Enemies 1992 (The) Player 1992 Chasers 1994 Naked Souls 1995 Midnight Blue 1996 Mr. Wrong 1996 Air Force One 1997 (The) Last Resort 1997 (The) Rainmaker 1997 McHale's Navy 1997 Living in Peril 1997 (The) Shadow Men 1997 Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights 1998 Extreme Duress 1999 Restraining Order 1999 Rites of Passage 1999 Water Damage 1999 (The) Venice Project 1999 They Nest 2000 (The) Quickie 2001 In Pursuit 19??

Television

Dean has also appeared in large numbers of television shows, but not as boy. Television was still in its infancy during the years that he was a child star. All of his TV appearances occurred after he was 20.

Figure 2.--Dean in "Anchors Away" wears a contemprary 1940s sailor suit--note the characterictic cap. Dean was about 9 years old.

Individual Films

Dean was charming in his first major film, "Anchor's Away" (1945). My faborite films of his are "The Green Years" (1946) and "Kim" (1950). Perhaps is most important film was "Boy with Green Hair" (1948).

Anchor's Away (1945)

"Anchors Away" is one of those great MGM color musicals. This one is a vehiche for Frank Sinatra's singing and Gene Kelley's dancing. The two appear both together as well as individually. Kelly has a charming dance number with a little Mexican girl. The film begins on an aircraft carrier. It is about two sailors who get a 3-day leave. Kelly playing Joe heads off for a date with Lola. A very young Sinatra playing Clarance is unsure about girls--leading to some well done comic tension. Sinatra was quite a lady's man, even at this young age. The shy, innocent role, hoewever, proved so popular at the box ffice that this was how MGM insisted on casting him. Quite a difference from his subsequent film roles. It was Sinatra's first big film role. Dean Stockwell plays an adorable curly headed mopet nammed Donald. I'm not sure how old he was when the film was shot. The dates suggest about 7-8 years old, but he looks more like 6-7 years old. It was Dean's first film and he charmed movie viewers.

(The) Green Years (1946)

Lovely movie based on the A.J. Cronin novel about Robbie, an Scotts-Irish boy. Robbie's mother was a Scottish girl who disgraced the family by marrying an Irish Catholic. When his parents die, Robbie comes to live with his aunt's family in a small Scottish village. The film begins when Robbie arrives in Scotland in 1900. The family is staunchly Church of Scotland, but allow Robbie to go to Catholic church when he insusts. There is an emotional scene in the film, when Robbie shows up in the Catholic Chirch, the priest tells him, "I've been waiting for you Robert Shannon." Robbie's uncle is a terrible penny pincher and sells Robbie's prized possession--his tricycle. His grandmother makes him a suit out of her green petticoats (with flowers) and he is teased and bullied. (In the book I believe that the suit is made from curtains.) Robbie's great grandfather tells him to pick a fight with the most respected boy at school. He is the only boy who hasn't been teasing him--Gavin. The younger boys at the Academy (the private school) all dress alike in dark kneepants suits with Eton collars. There does not, however, seem to be a uniform as such as the school does not object to Robbie's flowered green suit. There is a school cap with a badge that all the boys wear. The little girl Robbie falls in love with wears a tam--but the boys always wear school caps. His best friend (Gavin) wears a kilt, but not at school. He wears it while hunting for eggs. It is interesting that he does not just wear a kilt for Church, but for outdoors activities like hunting eggs. The film does not address whose ide, Gavin's or his mother's that he wear the kiklt, None of the other boys in the village or depicted wearing kilts. Robbie insists on remaining a Catholic and has trouble getting his First Communion suit. The boys have a strict, but understanding schoolmaster. Robbie is beautifully played by Dean Stockwell. This is wonderfully produced classic, well worth seeing.

Figure 3.--I'm not sure what film this still is from. I think it might be "The Mighty Mcgurk" made in 1946.

(The) Mighty Mcgurk (1946)

(The) Boy with Green Hair (1948)

Secret Garden (1949)

This production of Secret Garden, written by Frances Hogdsen Burnett, the authoress of "Little Lord Fauntleroy", had very detailed costuming. The clothes, however, are generally quite plain. The boy working on the estate wears a workman's smock. I haven't seen the film, but Dean played sickly Colin. One of his outfits was a rather plain sailor suit. The sailor suit is a kneepants suit. He wears long black stockings which if you look closely are not quite long enough for his kneeepants. An interesting feature of this film is that it is nearly all in black and white. However, when Colin at last enters the secret garden in the final sequence, the movie goes into glorious technicolor and we see the garden in all its glory. At no time does Colin wear an Little Lord Fauntleroy-style suit, by the way.

Kim (1950)

India was the jewel of the British empire. Perhaps no book about the British Raj is better known and lived as Kim. It is the classic tale of a British orphan abandoned in India. It was based on Rudyard Kipling's final and most famous novel--Kim. This 1950 version is the best remembered film version of the Kipling novel. Curiously it is Hollywood that produced the film and not a British film company. Kim follows a Tibetan monk while being trained in British espionage a part of the "Great Game" between the British and Russians in Central Asia. The film is an exciting tale that does justice to the book. Kim does a brief stint in a military school where he wears a bright red jacket. He is unhappy there because of the discipline and runs away. Kim is nicely played by Dean Stockwell. Kim dresses like the Indian boys. It was one of Dean's best performances. At the end he is enrolled in a English school, much to his displeasure. The school uniform was a kind of tan suit worn with a school boy cap.

Roles

He was the curly-haired, twinkle eyed child star of the 1940s. He was a more American child star, perhaps the reaction to the two important child stars of the late 1930s and eraly 40s--Freddy Bartholmew and Roddy McDowall. He had several memoral roles, incliding "Kim" from the Kipling book of that name and "Colin" from Secret Garden.

Figure 4.--I'm not sure what film this still is from.

Costuming

Unlike the child stars of the 1930s and early 40s, Dean did not appear in a lot of costume dramas set in historical periods. Kim and Secret Garden were exceptions. In "Kim" he briefly wore a striking cadet uniform with a red British military tunic. For most of the film, however, he wore Indiann costume. One of his outfits in "Secret Garden" was a rather plain sailor suit. The sailor suit is a kneepants suit. He wears long black stockings which if you look closely are not quite long enough for his kneeepants. In most of his movie appearances often show contemporary American clothing styles of the mid-1940s and 50s.

Later Career

Dean had trouble bridging the gap to adult parts. He grew up as a sensitive, intense, but infrequently employed leading man. He continued to work in film and also television, appearing in many small bit parts.

Created: January 2, 2000
Last updated: March 10, 2004