Terry Kilburn

Kilburn was born in 1926 in West Ham, Essex, to working-class parents Tom and Alice Kilburn. Kilburn did some unpaid acting as a young child, and an agent encouraged him to go to Hollywood. He and his mother immigrated to the U.S. in 1937, and his father arrived the following year. A talent scout for MGM discovered him rehearsing for Eddie Cantor's radio show, and he was cast in the British-set film Lord Jeff (1938).

Known for his innocent, dreamy, doe-eyed look, Kilburn achieved fame at the age of 12 portraying Tiny Tim in the 1938 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film version of A Christmas Carol, and also as four generations of the Colley family in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939). As a child actor, Kilburn also played leading roles in two films which starred Freddie Bartholomew: Lord Jeff (1938) and Swiss Family Robinson (1940). He was featured in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) with Basil Rathbone. In addition to Lord Jeff (1938), he worked alongside Mickey Rooney in Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever (1939), A Yank at Eton (1942), and National Velvet (1944). In 1946 Kilburn was Joe, the horse's groom, in Black Beauty. In his early 20s, in 1947 and 1948, he was in four back-to-back Bulldog Drummond films, as Seymour, a reporter; and in 1950 he had small roles in two seagoing films. After high school, Kilburn concentrated on stage work, and studied drama at UCLA. He made his Broadway debut, credited as Terrance Kilburn, portraying Eugene Marchbanks in a 1952 revival of George Bernard Shaw's Candida. He thereafter remained committed to live performances, as both actor and director. After 1952, Kilburn was credited on screen as Terence Kilburn. His final feature film role was a small part in Lolita (1962). Between 1951 and 1969, he was also in nearly a dozen teleplays, television movies, and television series episodes.

From 1970 to 1994, Kilburn was artistic director of Oakland University's Meadow Brook Theatre in Rochester, Michigan. Meadow Brook Theatre is the largest non-profit professional theater in Michigan and presents classic plays, comedies, and musicals. The theater is known for its annual production of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, adapted by Kilburn's partner, Charles Nolte.

Since 1994 Kilburn has resided in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His partner of over 50 years, actor Charles Nolte, died in January 2010.