Charles Herbert

Charles Herbert Saperstein (December 23, 1948 – October 31, 2015), known as Charles Herbert, was an American child actor of the 1950s and 1960s. Before reaching his teens, Herbert was renowned by a generation of moviegoers for an on-screen broody, mature style and wit that enabled him to go one-on-one with some of the biggest names in the industry, and his appearances in a handful of films in the sci-fi/horror genre garnered him an immortality there. In six years, he appeared in 20 Hollywood features.

Herbert supported his family from the age of five, and went from being one of the most-desired and highest-paid child actors of his time to one of the multitude of performers Hollywood "discarded" upon reaching maturity. His situation and the lifetime of damage it created for him only recently came to light.

Early life Herbert was born Charles Herbert Saperstein in Culver City, California, the son of Pearl (Diamond) and Louis Saperstein.

Blue-eyed and freckle-faced, Herbert began his acting career at age four, when he appeared on the television series Half Pint Panel (1952). The Long, Long Trailer (1954) would have been his first movie, just after he appeared in the stage production of On Borrowed Time at the Rancho Theatre, but after auditioning with some 40 other kids and chosen for a role, he was cut from the film.

This period was highlighted by a celebrated performance at age eight for his role as a blind child on an episode of Science Fiction Theater (1956). Airing December 22, 1956, "The Miracle Hour" episode is about a man who never gives up hope that his fiancée's blind six-year-old son will not have to spend the holidays in darkness. Herbert starred with Dick Foran and Jean Byron. Five years later, he played the son of a blind man (Rod Steiger) in an episode of NBC's Wagon Train.

Career Herbert's roles in the 1950s included such popular and cult films as The View from Pompey's Head (1955); The Night Holds Terror (1956); These Wilder Years (1956), with James Cagney and Barbara Stanwyck; Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957); The Colossus of New York (1958); The Fly (1958); Houseboat (1958); The Man in the Net (1959), with Alan Ladd; The Five Pennies; Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960); and 13 Ghosts (1960), in which producer/director William Castle gave him top billing at the age of 12 to secure his services.

Herbert's final feature film and starring role was in The Boy and the Pirates (1960), produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon (Mr. B.I.G.), costarring his daughter Susan. Herbert and Susan Gordon had previously worked together in The Man in the Net (1959), the hospital scene in The Five Pennies (1959), and a TV pilot episode entitled The Secret Life of John Monroe (or The Secret Life of James Thurber). The 30-minute unsold pilot aired as the "Christabel" episode of Alcoa/Goodyear Playhouse, June 8, 1959. Very rarely seen, The Boy and the Pirates was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment as a Midnite Movies double DVD set with the more recent Crystalstone (1987), on June 27, 2006.

By 1959, Herbert had achieved a lofty place among the most-desired and highest-paid child actors of his time, making nearly $1,650 per week. He had established for himself both the reputation and the nickname of "One-Take Charlie". Of his acting style, one reviewer described Herbert as "sincere, accurate, overenunciated at times, like a storybook character come to life. An extraordinary child actor by any standard, Herbert’s intense emotive quality is very much of the method acting school, highly unusual in such a young performer."

Herbert's work had him opposite Cary Grant, Sophia Loren, David Niven, Vincent Price, Johnny Carson, Donna Reed, Doris Day, and Ross Martin, for all of whom he had high praise for their treatment of him. "Anybody who is in that category [a well-known actor] who is nice to the children is a nice person. 'Cause I worked with some who were not. Children and animals are not big favorites with movie stars."

Unable to transition into adult roles, Herbert's personal life went downhill. With no formal education or training to do anything else, and with no career earnings saved, he led a reckless, wanderlust life and turned to drugs.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1954 The Long, Long Trailer Little Boy Uncredited 1955 The Night Holds Terror Steven Courtier Uncredited 1955 The View from Pompey's Head Pat Page Uncredited 1955 Screen Directors Playhouse Tommy Macy Episode: "Tom and Jerry" 1956 Ransom! Butchie Ritter, Neighbor Boy Uncredited 1956 He Laughed Last Child Uncredited 1956 These Wilder Years Small Boy Uncredited 1956 Science Fiction Theatre Tommy Parker Episode: "The Miracle Hour" 1957 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Street Kid Season 2 Episode 31: "The Night the World Ended" 1957 The Tattered Dress Johnny Blane Uncredited 1957 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral Tommy Earp (Virgil's son) Uncredited 1957 The Monster That Challenged the World Boy with Morty's Cap Uncredited1957Gun GloryBoyUncredited 1957 No Down Payment Michael Flagg Uncredited 1958 The Colossus of New York Billy Spensser 1958 The Fly Philippe Delambre 1958 The Reluctant Debutante Uncredited 1958 Houseboat Robert Winters 1958–1960 The Donna Reed Show David Barker 4 episodes 1959 The Man in the Net Timmie Moreland 1959 The Five Pennies Patient Uncredited 1959 The Last Angry Man Woody Thrasher Jr. Uncredited 1959 Riverboat Paddy Saunders Episode: "Witness No Evil" 1959–1960 Men into Space Peter McCauley 7 episodes 1960 The Ann Sothern Show David Episode: "Slightly Married" 1960 Please Don't Eat the Daisies David Mackay 1960 The Boy and the Pirates Jimmy Warren 1960 13 Ghosts Arthur "Buck" Zorba 1961 77 Sunset Strip Lester Embry Episode: "The Lady Has the Answers" 1961 Wagon Train Job Bevins Episode: "The Saul Bevins Story" with Rod Steiger and Vivi Janiss 1961 The 7th Commandment Crippled boy Uncredited 1962 The Twilight Zone Tom Rogers Episode: "I Sing the Body Electric" S3 E35 1962 The Eleventh Hour Steve Episode: "The Seventh Day of Creation" 1963 Going My Way Kenny Episode: "The Slasher" 1963 Going My Way Danny Episode: "A Tough Act To Follow" 1963 The Fugitive Cal Episode: "Nightmare at Northoak" 1963 Hazel Leslie Episode: "Hazel's Nest Egg" 1964 The Farmer's Daughter Arnold 2 episodes 1964 The Outer Limits Non-credited role: teen-age boy retrieving baseball from Lieutenant Minns. Episode: "The Inheritors", Part IICitation: Wikipedia reference to above episode naming Charles Herbert in cast. 1968 Family Affair Wendell Episode: "The New Cissy" 1968 Julia Clyde Whitmarsh Episode: "Who's a Freud of Ginger Wolfe?", (final appearance)