Wunderkind

[Gary D.]

There are probably adults who made just one or two movies and then decided to drop out of acting and go into a different line, but these are the juveniles that come to mind:



Roderic Noble’s name has popped up a few times as to where is, I think Nicholas and Alexandra was his only picture and then he just disappeared.



Another one-timer was Gilles Payant from what I consider was the last good Disney film of any interest—Big Red—although I did enjoy the animated The Rescuers. Since then, that organization keeps plagiarizing/cannibalizing itself.



Thelonious Bernard made just two movies—dropped out and is now a happily married dentist. I thoroughly enjoyed A Little Romance. Diane Lane, of course, has gone on to make many movies and still looks like that teenage girl of the film.



Harper Carter (Titanic, 1953) had a good role—so why didn’t he get a credit? He played Norman, Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyck’s son, who valiantly gives his seat in the lifeboat away and goes down with his father.



Janis Wilson – half a dozen movies to her ‘credit’ but yet wasn’t credited in Now, Voyager, at least so far as I can determine. She certainly deserved it.



I think Janis was credited in her next picture with Bette Davis, Watch on the Rhine, but too often young actors' names weren't given, unless they were of the likes of Bobby Driscoll, Shirley Temple, or Freddie Bartholomew. Hopefully, these days, their agents see that the are properly credited.

[Steve Crook]

name='Gary D.']... but too often young actors' names weren't given, unless they were of the likes of Bobby Driscoll, Shirley Temple, or Freddie Bartholomew. Hopefully, these days, their agents see that the are properly credited.

Nowadays they seem to give on-screen credits to just about everyone, even the person who sweeps the studio floor - and their dog. Maybe they don't have to pay them so much if they give them an on-screen credit



Back in the old days credits lists were much shorter. Only the leading actors, the heads of department like camera, art director & editor and then the director & producer - and that was it.



For some of those titles you mention they were migrating from very sparse credits to the style used nowadays when the credits take 5 minutes to run, even if they zoom through them at top speed



Steve

[Wicked Lady]

I don't think either of the children in To Kill a Mockingbird ever persued an acting career.



Christian Roberts (although not a child actor, was a young chap) specialised playing rat-faced unlikeable guys (The Anniversary, The Mind of Mr Soames) and then whipped off to Barbados to run a restaurant, I believe.

[Gary D.]

name='Wicked Lady']I don't think either of the children in To Kill a Mockingbird ever persued an acting career.

I don't know what Phillip Alford did as an adult, but he did make at least one other memorable movie, with Jimmy Stewart, playing the youngest son in Shenandoah.



I don't usually check out the Internet first, and I haven't this time, but I think the girl (Sport?) in To Kill a Mockingbird had a huge little-girl crush on Gregory Peck. He seemed to like her as well. He'd be studying a script, and she'd go over and plop herself down on his lap, and he didn't seem to mind it. Peck was probably many girls' ideal father, and they continued their friendship until his death.



One of my favorite young stars of the 1940s era was Claude Jarman, Jr., but he didn't continue his career past his twenties. He was, surprisingly, considered difficult to work with.

[Gary D.]

name='Steve Crook']Nowadays they seem to give on-screen credits to just about everyone, even the person who sweeps the studio floor - and their dog. Maybe they don't have to pay them so much if they give them an on-screen credit :

Steve, you're correct. Italian films, in particular, are so bad, they seem to cover everyone, including the office boy--with each name taking up its individual space. It takes forever to get through the list of credits; another reason I like to have a tape, so I can fast-forward through them.



There are cases, particularly in the older movies, where the credits, usually at the end, fly by so quickly, you can't make out the name of a particular actor that struck your interest--then you have to go into the Internet. I found the name of the young actor from Titanic by going into the 'More'--and he was at the bottom!



Robert Wagner, whose talent was somewhat lacking at the time he made Titanic, but who has greatly improved over the years, because he was young and handsome, was certainly featured. He was taken in hand by Barbara Stanwyck, who often took an interest, probably platonic, in young actors she thought showed promise--such as William Holden.

[batman]

Re To Kill A Mockingbird



Philip Alford (Jem) acted in several TV productions until 1972. He went into business as an adult.



Mary Badham (Scout) appeared in a few films until 1966. She made a one-off 'comeback' in 2005. Her regular career is an an art restorer.



John Megna (Dill) was the only one who pursued an acting career. He died in 1995.

[Gary D.]

name='batman']Re To Kill A Mockingbird





John Megna (Dill) was the only one who pursued an acting career. He died in 1995.

Wasn't he that strange-looking little kid? He often played that type. One of the actors--and I think it was he--died of AIDS.

[batman]

name='Gary D.']Wasn't he that strange-looking little kid? He often played that type. One of the actors--and I think it was he--died of AIDS.

John Megna died of an AIDS related illness.