| re: Darryl Hickman -- Raconteur Extraordinaire | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 09:08 am EDT 05/27/24 | |
| In reply to: re: Darryl Hickman -- Film, TV, and Stage Actor -- Has Passed Away at Age 92 - Holland 01:49 am EDT 05/26/24 | |
|
|
|
| Darryl Hickman was an incredible raconteur over the years with great stories about being a child actor in the 1930's and 40's film industry. I remember Hickman and Jane Withers dishing that there was a pecking order at studios like 20th Century Fox and MGM for child actors. If you were a big star like Shirley Temple, Elizabeth Taylor, or Margaret O'Brien (at lunchtime) you would be served an elaborate meal like roast chicken, potatoes, and asparagus tips, seated at a fancy table. However, if you were a bit actor like Dick Jones or himself, you'd be lucky to get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a lunch bag. Early in his career Hickman had some very substantial roles in classic films like The Grapes of Wrath, Men of Boys Town, Keeper of the Flame, Song of Russia, and others. Yet in 1944 for the big MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis, Vincente Minnelli cast him in a small bit, uncredited part as one of Margaret O'Brien's trick-or-treater friends. Nevertheless, 12 years later when Minnelli was casting the film version of Tea and Sympathy, he chose Hickman for the role of Al over dozens of better known 20-something actors because he remembered Darryl as looking like a real kid on screen and not at all "actorish." That decision by Minnelli opened the door for Hickman's future career as an adult performer, writer, director, and producer. |
|
| reply | |
|
|
|
| Previous: | re: Darryl Hickman -- Film, TV, and Stage Actor -- Has Passed Away at Age 92 - Holland 01:49 am EDT 05/26/24 |
| Next: | "Incredible raconteur" -- very true! (I used the same word in another post elsewhere.) n/m - Holland 01:41 am EDT 05/28/24 |
| Thread: |
|
Time to render: 0.014890 seconds.