<Archive Obituary> Brandon de Wilde (July 6th 1972)
Bill Schenley
Photo:
http://www.meekermuseum.com/brandon1.jpg
FROM: The New York Times (July 7th 1972) ~
By The Associated Press
LAKEWOOD, Colo., July 6
Brandon de Wilde, the former child actor, died this
evening as a result of injuries suffered earlier in a
traffic accident in this Denver suburb. He was 30
years old.
He was reportedly driving alone in a heavy rainstorm
when his van truck slammed into a flatbed truck
parked beside the road. He died four hours later at
a Denver hospital. He was in the area to appear in
"Butterflies Are Free" at an amusement park theater.
Best Known for 'Shane'
As a poised, precocious towheaded 7-year-old
making his debut on Broadway in 1950, Brandon
de Wilde received the kind of reviews from critics and
raves from audiences that experienced actors yearn
for.
That performance, in Carson McCullers's "Member
of the Wedding," led swiftly to his role in the movie
Western "Shane," one of the screen's classics.
Although he went on to play many motion picture roles,
his portrayal of the impressionable youngster learning
the meaning of violence on the American frontier
remains a favorite of many.
Among other things, "Shane" was the story of the
youngster's growing hero worship of a stranger who
comes to the help of his father in warding off a gang of
cattlemen hoodlums on the plains of Wyoming. At the
end of the film, the stranger leaves, as the boy shouts:
"Shane? Shane, come back."
The scene remains for many one of the most famous
and moving in Westerns.
Mr. de Wilde's later motion pictures included "Blue
Denim," "All Fall Down," "Hud" in 1963 and "The
Deserter."
Often because he continued to look younger than his
age, he played the role of the ingenuous youth learning
the bitterness of life. This was true, for instance, in
"Hud," in which he played a teen-ager growing up in the
shadow of his strong-willed uncle, Hud, played by Paul
Newman.
Mr. de Wilde was born April 9, 1942, in Brooklyn,
to parents who were in show business. However, he
got his start in theater quite by accident. His mother,
Eugenia, was a stage actress, and his father, Frederic,
was a stage manager who happened to be a personal
friend of the casting director of "Member of the
Wedding."
After a shaky tryout, the youngster got his part and, later,
almost stole the show from Julie Harris and Ethel Waters.
Brooks Athinson lauded his "air of personal indomitability"
and said he had "the magnetic personality of a real
performer."
He played the role for 492 performances. George
Stevens, the producer and director, then cast him for
"Shane."
In 1953 and 1954, he starred in his own television
series, "Jamie," and was earning a star's salary placed in
trust by his parents.
The professionals he worked with praised him for that
unpretentiousness that many found a surprising quality in
one so celebrated from his earliest years. In his later
years, he lived for a time on Manhattan's West Side and
took courses at the New School for Social Research, and
once said that he was interested in other pursuits besides
acting.
---
Photo:
http://auburnsilverscreen.com/db3/00291/auburnsilverscreen.com/_uimages/Shane.jpg
(w/Alan Ladd)
"Shane! Come back, Shane."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvVbXkgVUVw
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, Bill Schenley <stra...@ma.rr.com> wrote:
> He was reportedly driving alone in a heavy rainstorm
> when his van truck slammed into a flatbed truck
> parked beside the road. He died four hours later at
> a Denver hospital. He was in the area to appear in
> "Butterflies Are Free" at an amusement park theater.
I'm still sorry he's gone ... but at least he was spared appearing
in *that*.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone disagrees with any statement I make, I
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it. -T. Lehrer
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