Darryl Hickman -- Various Interviews
Last Edit: BroadwayTonyJ 10:55 am EDT 05/25/24
Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 10:44 am EDT 05/25/24
In reply to: re: Darryl Hickman -- Film, TV, and Stage Actor -- Has Passed Away at Age 92 - PlayWiz 09:49 pm EDT 05/24/24

I agree. Hickman's performance as Danny in Leave Her to Heaven is certainly one of his most memorable as a child actor. The scene in which Gene Tierney callously allows him to drown is horrifying and shocking.

He's also quite good as Al, Tom Lee's roommate, in Tea and Sympathy. There's an interview of Hickman with Leonard Maltin about the making of the film. It's quite good and on YouTube. The 1953 stage play was directed by Elia Kazan and is a pretty frank exploration of a teenager's fear of being falsely labelled a homosexual by his hyper-macho classmates.

Vincente Minnelli's '56 film version was not allowed to mention the word "homosexual". Instead, Tom is accused of "not being a regular guy" instead of being called gay. Hickman has a great scene with John Kerr where he tries to teach Tom how to strut rather than just lope when he is walking. Hickman is also very good in his scene with Laura, his housemaster's wife, when she explains to him how easy it is to spread false gossip about someone who is just a little different. It's one of my favorite old movies. I developed a huge crush on Deborah Kerr after seeing this film

Robert Osbourne in his Private Screenings series on TCM does a great group interview with Hickman, Margaret O'Brien, Dick Jones, and Jane Withers. It's a fascinating documentary about the careers of child actors in film. It's also on YouTube.
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