Brandon deWilde

Andre Brandon deWilde (April 9, 1942 – July 6, 1972) was an American actor, who had a successful career as both a child actor and in adulthood, on both stage and screen. Born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn, he debuted on Broadway at the age of seven and became a national phenomenon by the time he completed his 492 performances for The Member of the Wedding. He won a Donaldson Award for his performance, becoming the youngest actor to win one, and starred in the subsequent film adaptation, for which he won a Golden Globe Award.

DeWilde also played Joey Starrett in the film Shane (1953), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also starred in his own sitcom Jamie on ABC and became a household name, making numerous radio and TV appearances before being featured on the cover of Life magazine on March 10, 1952, for his second Broadway outing, Mrs. McThing.

In 1952, he acted in Shane as Joey Starrett and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance, becoming the youngest nominee at the time in a competitive category. He starred in his own television series, Jamie, which aired in 1953 and 1954. Although the series was popular, it was canceled because of a contract dispute. He had a lead role in the 1961 Pigeons from Hell episode of Boris Karloff’s Thriller (American TV series) anthology, which writer Stephen King claimed was the scariest episode of them all.

In 1961, deWilde appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" as Hugo, a mentally impaired youth who cannot separate fact from fantasy. After seeing a magician saw a woman in half at a carnival, Hugo emulates the trick and kills a woman by sawing her in half. The episode never aired on NBC because the finale was deemed too gruesome by 1960s television standards.

The following years, deWilde appeared in All Fall Down (1962), opposite Warren Beatty, Angela Lansbury, Eva Marie Saint, and Karl Malden; and in Martin Ritt's Hud (1963), co-starring with Paul Newman, Patricia Neal, and Melvyn Douglas. Although the only lead actor not to be Oscar-nominated for Hud, deWilde accepted the Best Supporting Actor trophy on behalf of costar Melvyn Douglas (who was in Spain at the time). That same year, he appeared in Jack Palance's ABC circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth.

DeWilde signed a two-picture deal with Disney in 1964. He first starred in The Tenderfoot, a three-part comedy Western for Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color TV show with Brian Keith. The following year, he and Keith starred in Those Calloways, reuniting deWilde with his Good-bye, My Lady star Walter Brennan. Also in 1965, deWilde played PT boat officer Jere Torry, serving under his admiral father played by John Wayne, in the Pacific theater World War II drama In Harm's Way (1965).

After 1965, many of his roles were limited to television guest appearances. "Being small for his age and a bit too pretty ... in his favour as a child ... worked against him as an adult," wrote author Linda Ashcroft after talking with deWilde at a party, "He spoke of giving up movies until he could come back as a forty-year-old character actor." DeWilde's final western role was in Dino De Laurentiis' 1971 spaghetti Western The Deserter, one year before his death. He made his last screen appearance in Wild in the Sky (1972), an action comedy about hippies during the Vietnam War.

DeWilde's final appearance on a stage was at the Elitch Theatre in Denver in a two-week run of Butterflies Are Free, costarring Maureen O'Sullivan and Karen Grassle. The play's last performance was on July 1, 1972.

Music DeWilde had hoped to embark on a music career. He asked his friend Gram Parsons (later of the Byrds and founder of the seminal country rock band the Flying Burrito Brothers) and his International Submarine Band to back him in a recording session. ISB guitarist John Nuese claimed that deWilde sang harmony with Parsons better than anyone except Emmylou Harris. Bassist Ian Dunlop wrote, "The lure of getting a record out was tugging hard at Brandon."

Parsons and Harris later co-wrote a song titled "In My Hour of Darkness", the first verse of which refers to the car crash that killed deWilde.

Personal life DeWilde was married twice and had one son. His first marriage was to writer Susan M. Maw, whom he wed in 1963. The couple had a son, Jesse, before divorcing in 1969. He married Janice Gero in April 1972, three months before his death.

Death On July 6, 1972, while in Colorado for a Denver stage production of Butterflies Are Free, deWilde was killed in a traffic accident in the Denver suburb of Lakewood. He was driving in a camper van that left the roadway before striking a guardrail and a parked truck. The van rolled onto its side, and he was pinned in the wreckage. He was taken to St. Anthony Hospital, where he died at 7:20 p.m. of multiple injuries that included a broken back, neck and leg. He was 30 years old. Golden Globe Award 1953 Best Juvenile Performance The Member of the Wedding (film) Donaldson Award 1950 Best Male Debut The Member of the Wedding (play)