Brandon deWilde

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. He continued acting in stage, film and television roles into adulthood, notably costarring with Paul Newman in Hud (1963), before his death at age 30 in a car crash in Colorado on July 6, 1972.

• Name — Brandon deWilde • Birth Name — Andre Brandon deWilde • Born — 9 April 1942 • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Died — 6 July 1972 • Place of death — Denver, Colorado, U.S. • Occupation — Actor • Years Active — 1950–1972 • Notable Works — The Member of the Wedding, Shane, Blue Denim, Hud, In Harm's Way • Children — 1 • Awards — See below

Andre Brandon deWilde was the son of Frederic A. "Fritz" deWilde and Eugenia (née Wilson) deWilde. Fritz deWilde was the only son of Dutch immigrants, who changed their surname from Neitzel-de Wilde to deWilde when they emigrated to the United States. He was a descendant of the Dutch merchant and seigneur Andries de Wilde, who was married to Cornelia Henrica Neitzel. Fritz deWilde became an actor and Broadway production stage manager. Eugenia was a part-time stage actress. After deWilde's birth, the family moved from Brooklyn to Baldwin, Long Island.

DeWilde made his Broadway debut at the age of seven in The Member of the Wedding, based on the Carson McCullers's novel of the same name. He was the first child actor to win the Donaldson Award, and his talent was praised by John Gielgud the following year. He also starred in the 1952 film version of the play, which was directed by Fred Zinnemann. 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. In 1956, he was featured with Walter Brennan, Phil Harris and Sidney Poitier in the coming-of-age Batjac film production of Good-bye, My Lady, adapted from James Street's book. DeWilde's soft-spoken manner of speech in his early roles was more akin to a Southern drawl. In 1956, at the age of 14, deWilde narrated the classical music works Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev and The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten. He also recorded a reading of Huckleberry Finn on the album The Stories of Mark Twain along with his Good-bye, My Lady co-star Brennan. DeWilde shared an onscreen camaraderie with both James Stewart and Audie Murphy in the 1957 Western Night Passage. In 1958, deWilde starred in The Missouri Traveler, sharing lead billing with Lee Marvin in another coming-of-age film, this one set in the early 1900s. At the age of 17, he played an adolescent father in the 1959 drama Blue Denim. He guest-starred on many TV series, including Alcoa Theatre and the popular Western series Wagon Train. 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. • Illustration — Brandon deWilde, 1963 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). • Illustration — DeWilde with Arthur Kennedy in "The Confession" on 'ABC Stage 67' in 1966 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.

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.

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.

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.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1951–52 — The Philco Television Playhouse — Episodes: "No Medals on Pop" and "A Cowboy for Chris" • 1953–54 — Jamie — Jamie McHummer — Main role • 1955 — Climax! — Robbie Eunson — Episode: "The Day They Gave Babies Away" • 1956 — Climax! — Tip Malone — Episode: "An Episode of Sparrows" • Screen Director's Playhouse — Terry Johnson — Episode: "Partners" • 1957 — The United States Steel Hour — David — Episode: "The Locked Door" • 1959 — Alcoa Theatre — George Adams — Episode: "Man of His House" • 1959–61 — Wagon Train — Daniel Morgan Benedict III, Mark Miner — Episodes: "The Danny Benedict Story" and "The Mark Miner Story" • 1961 — Thriller — Timothy Branner — Episode: "Pigeons from Hell" • Alfred Hitchcock Presents — Hugo — Episode: "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" • 1962 — The Virginian — James 'Mike Flynn' Cafferty — Episode: "50 Days to Moose Jaw" • 1963 — The Nurses — Paul Marker — Episode: "Ordeal" • 1964 — The Greatest Show on Earth — Vic Hawkins — Episode: "Love the Giver" • The Tenderfoot — Jim Tevis — Miniseries; 3 episodes • 12 O'Clock High — Corporal Ross Lawrence — Episode: "Here's to Courageous Cowards" • 1965 — The Defenders — Roger Bailey, Jr. — Episode: "The Objector" • 1966 — Combat! — Wilder — Episode: "A Sudden Terror" • ABC Stage 67 — Carl Boyer — Episode: "The Confession" • 1968 — The Virginian — Walt Bradbury — Episode: "The Orchard" • Journey to the Unknown — Alec Worthing — Episode: "One on an Island" • Insight — Weissberg — Episode: "Confrontation" • 1969 — The Name of the Game — Bobby Currier — Episode: "The Bobby Currier Story" • Hawaii Five-O — Arnold Potter — Episode: "King Kamehameha Blues" • Love, American Style — Jimmy Devlin — Season 1 episode 12, Segment: "Love and the Bachelor" • 1970 — The Virginian — Rem Garvey — Episode: "Gun Quest" • The Young Rebels — Young Nathan Hale — Episode: "To Hang a Hero" • 1971 — Night Gallery — Johnson — Episode: "Death in the Family/The Merciful/Class of '99/Witches' Feast" • Ironside — George Whittaker — Episode: "In the Line of Duty"