Born: April 09, 1942
Died: July 06, 1972

Although Brandon DeWilde's mother was an actress and his father a stage manager, the boy didn't express any interest in performing himself until show business was virtually thrust upon him. In 1950, a friend of DeWilde's father, a Broadway casting director, mentioned that he was looking for a sensitive youngster to play a key juvenile role in the upcoming production A Member of the Wedding. DeWilde senior volunteered Brandon; despite a shaky opening night, the 7-year-old boy stayed with the show for well over a year, winning the coveted Donaldson Award for his performance--the first child actor to do so. Brandon was brought to Hollywood in 1952 for the film version of Wedding. One year later, he was Oscar-nominated for his unforgettable performance as a hero-worshipping frontier boy in George Stevens' Shane. In 1954, he was starred in the brief TV sitcom Jamie, holding his own opposite veteran scene-stealer Ernest Truex. DeWilde made a successful transition to teenaged roles as the unwed father in 1959's Blue_Denim. He went on to play the younger brother of Warren Beatty in All_Fall_Down (1961) and the nephew of Paul Newman in Hud (1963)--in both instances displaying his now-familiar character traits of idolatry and disillusionment. While in Denver to appear in a 1972 stage production of Butterflies are Free, 30-year-old Brandon DeWilde was killed in an auto accident. Hal Erickson, Rovi

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