Actors - Brandon De Wilde

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	Actors - Brandon De Wilde

Brandon de Wilde (April 9, 1942–July 6, 1972) was an American actor born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn. His father, Frederick A. de Wilde, was a Broadway production stage manager. His mother, Eugenia de Wilde, was a part time Broadway actress. The de Wilde family moved from Brooklyn to Baldwin, Long Island after Brandon was born.

Brandon de Wilde made his much-acclaimed Broadway debut at the age of 9 in The Member of the Wedding. He was the first child actor to win the Donaldson Award and went on to repeat his role in the film version directed by Fred Zinnemann in 1952.

As the blonde, blue-eyed Joey who idolized the strange gunman in Shane
, he stole the picture and was rewarded with an Oscar nomination the following year. He starred in his own television series, Jamie, during 1953-54. The program was highly popular and likely would have run far longer had it not been for a contract dispute which led to its cancellation. Young de Wilde then made his mark as a screen adolescent co-starring with Carol Lynley in the 1959 drama Blue Denim
, then appeared in Hud which starred Paul Newman, and in All Fall Down
.

Although he was the only leading cast member not nominated for an Oscar for the 1963 film Hud, de Wilde got to share Oscar night glory nevertheless when he went on stage to accept the Best Supporting Actor trophy for co-star Melvyn Douglas, who was out of the country visiting Israel at the time.

De Wilde delivered a widely acclaimed performance at the age of 23 as Jere Torry, the screen son of John Wayne in the 1965 war film, In Harm's Way
. His last film was Wild In The Sky (1972) in which he played a young rebel that steals a nuclear bomb with the help of two friends. In retrospect, Hud and In Harm's Way stand as his definitive roles as an adult, and Shane as his overall greatest achievement. During his career that spanned the years 1951-1972 he appeared in 6 Broadway plays, 16 films, and 27 television shows.

Brandon de Wilde was critically injured in a car crash in the Denver suburb of Lakewood while en route to appear in the play, Butterflies Are Free
. De Wilde had swerved to avoid another vehicle and struck a construction trailer parked on the side of the street. He was pinned in the wreckage of the truck he was driving for some time before finally arriving at Denver University Hospital. He died four hours after the accident on the evening of July 6, 1972. He was 30 years old.

The young actor was also indirectly involved with the music industry. In 1965, de Wilde vacationed in the Bahamas and watched as Paul McCartney of The Beatles wrote the song "Wait" during the filming of the Beatles movie, Help." With the help of his friend Gram Parsons, most notably of The Byrds, de Wilde attempted to embark on a music career. He invited Parsons and his band at the time, International Submarine Band, to back him in a recording session. Guitarist John Nuese claimed that De Wilde sang harmony with Parsons better than anyone besides Emmylou Harris. She and Parsons later cowrote a song, "In My Hour Of Darkness", whose first verse references the car accident that killed de Wilde: "Once I knew a young man / Went driving through the night, / Miles and miles without a word / With just his high-beam lights. / Who'd have ever thought they'd build / Such a deadly Denver bend; / To be so strong, to take so long / As it would till the end."

De Wilde was originally buried in Hollywood, California. His family later moved his grave to Pinelawn Memorial Park, Farmingdale, New York, in Suffolk County near their Long Island, New York home to be near his mother who died in 1987. De Wilde's father died in 1980.

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Actors - Brandon De Wilde

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