He Was A Rising Star—Until He Wasn’t
At the tender age of seven, Brandon deWilde became a national star after his Broadway run of The Member of the Wedding. Starring TV and film roles followed along with the accolades to match. But a single, fateful accident ended his career, and his life, too soon.
1. He Had Actors For Parents
Brandon deWilde was just a stage name. Andre Brandon deWilde was the boy born to actor and Broadway stage manager Frederic “Fritz” deWilde and his wife, part-time actress Eugenia deWilde, in Brooklyn, New York. He was born on April 9, 1942, and he would be an even bigger star than his parents by the end of the decade.
2. He Wasn’t Meant To Become An Actor
Despite having Broadway actors for parents, Brandon deWilde didn’t seem that interested in acting at all. Nevertheless, his parents played a big role in his first role. One of his father’s friends, who was casting the upcoming Broadway play The Member of the Wedding, saw the young deWilde and thought he’d be great for an open part.
There was just one problem.
3. He Couldn’t Read His Lines
Biographer Virginia Spencer Carr, writing in her book Understanding Carson McCullers, said, “[Ethel] Waters and Julie Harris had been signed for the principal roles, and every part was cast except for the role of John Henry West, which was assigned, finally, to five year old [sic] Brandon De Wilde”. The problem? He was too young to even know how to read his lines.
The solution was genius.
4. He Knew Everyone’s Lines
In Understanding Carson McCullers, Carr explained that deWilde’s father—who was playing the role of the bridegroom in the play—decided to read his son’s lines to him. But the trick worked too well. DeWilde didn’t just learn his lines; he learned everyone else’s. That prompted one castmate to retort to the five-year-old, “Now honey, I don’t want you to bother me anymore,” after he kept prompting her for her lines.
He clearly knew what he was doing.
5. He Became A National Treasure
When the curtains rose on The Member of the Wedding for the first time, Brandon deWilde was just seven years old. And his Broadway debut went better than anyone could have expected. A wildly successful run of 492 performances made the child actor a national sensation. Fans and critics alike couldn’t get enough of the young star.
6. He Even Stunned The Stars
Even veteran actors noticed that deWilde had something special. The esteemed British actor and stage director John Gielgud heaped praise on deWilde for his performance in The Member of the Wedding. He called it “a wonderful performance," noting deWilde’s “extraordinary subtlety and emphasis”. Clearly, the critics agreed.
7. He Was The Youngest To Ever Do It
It wasn’t just throngs of fans across America or skilled thespians who noticed Brandon deWilde’s talent and potential. The critics noticed too. For his role in The Member of the Wedding, deWilde became the “first child performer” and youngest-ever recipient of the Donaldson Award, snagging the trophy for Best Male Debut. His best, however, was yet to come.
8. He Made His TV Debut
DeWilde didn’t stop with The Member of the Wedding. He followed up his Broadway debut with television appearances on The Philco Television Playhouse. But it was his return to Broadway in Mary Chase’s Mrs McThing that catapulted him further into fame. Following his second Broadway triumph, he landed on the cover of Life magazine.
The only thing bigger than a magazine cover was a big screen.
9. He Made It To The Big Screen
In 1952, the Austrian-American film director and producer Fred Zinnemann decided to bring the magic of The Member of the Wedding from Broadway to the big screen. But to do so, he knew he needed the star that made it magic: Brandon deWilde. For the film adaptation, deWilde reprised his Broadway role, making his big-screen debut.
10. He Was A Golden (Globe) Boy
For his Broadway turn in The Member of the Wedding, deWilde had become the youngest-ever recipient of the Donaldson Award for Best Male Debut. Then he set a similar record for his big-screen turn. At the 1953 Golden Globes, deWilde snagged the award for Juvenile Performance, proving that he was the production’s true breakout star.
Even bigger things lay ahead.
11. He Found His Hero
By the time he was collecting his Golden Globe, Brandon deWilde had already filmed his next major role. After years of editing, Paramount finally released Shane on April 23, 1953. The George Stevens Western starred Alan Ladd as the titular Shane, a drifter with a past. DeWilde supported Ladd as Joey Starrett, the son of homesteaders, awestruck by the sharpshooting Shane.
One line was all it took for deWilde to claim the spotlight.
12. He Had The Last Word
Every great Western needs a great ending, and Shane’s belonged to deWilde. As Ladd’s character rides out into the sunset, deWilde’s Joey isn’t far behind. As his hero disappears into the distance, deWilde lets loose with a desperate plea: “Shane! Come back!” Decades later, the American Film Institute ranked it #47 among the greatest movie quotes of all time.
Behind the scenes, the goodbye was far less tearful.
13. He Cracked Up His Co-Star
On camera, Brandon deWilde was delivering tear-jerking one-liners. Off camera, he was offering up laughter-inducing antics. While they were trying to film the emotional farewell, every time Ladd looked down at his young co-star, he saw a cross-eyed kid with his tongue hanging out looking back. Even as a skilled actor, Ladd burst out laughing every time.
It wasn’t until Ladd begged deWilde’s father to get the boy to behave that they could film a successful take. Ladd wasn’t the only one that deWilde had won over.
14. He Won Over The Times
Impressing a New York Times critic is no small feat. DeWilde did it at 11. Bosley Crowther credited the young actor with helping set Shane apart from the average Western. Moviegoers, he wrote, couldn’t help but fall for deWilde’s “bright face," “clear voice," and “resolute boyish ways”. The Academy was paying attention, too.
15. He Made Oscar History
At the 26th Academy Awards, Frank Sinatra went home with Best Supporting Actor for From Here to Eternity. But the real story of the night was one of the nominees he beat. Brandon deWilde hadn’t even hit his teens when Shane put him in the running for film’s greatest prize. At the time, no one younger had ever landed a nomination in a competitive Oscar category.
Too bad nobody told him.
16. His Parents Didn’t Say A Thing
Most actors would campaign hard to try to win an Academy Award. DeWilde, however, never got the chance. Years went by before he learned he’d ever been up for an Oscar at all. According to at least one source, Fritz and Eugenia deWilde never said a word about the nomination to their son. By then, he’d long since conquered another medium.
17. He Got His Own Show
Just three days after Shane hit theaters, Brandon deWilde showed up in America’s living rooms. ABC’s Plymouth Playhouse (AKA ABC Album) gave him the title role in Jamie on April 26, 1953. The episode was meant as a pilot, and it did its job. Before long, David Susskind’s company, Talent Associates, was building a weekly series around the young star.
There would be no room for mistakes.
18. He Performed Without A Net
For Jamie, deWilde had to learn to keep his childish antics in check—there would be no second takes. Every Monday night, right at prime time, deWilde and his castmates went out live on ABC for half an hour. Whatever happened on set, viewers saw it happen. For a whole year and 22 episodes, deWilde beamed his radiant talent right into America’s living rooms.
The role was challenging.
19. He Played A Little Orphan
For Brandon deWilde, the role of Jamison Francis McHummer was no easy feat. At the tender age of 11, he had to bring gravitas to the role. Unlike him, his character had no parents and had bounced between relatives, none of whom wanted him. Eventually, he landed on the doorstep of his Aunt Laurie, a widow—and finally found a home.
His parents were aware of the dangers of such a serious role for such a young boy.
20. He Had An Escape Hatch
Fritz and Eugenia deWilde weren’t your average stage parents. They fiercely guarded their son’s well-being, driving a hard bargain with the mammoth studio. They ensured that deWilde’s Jamie contract came with a unique clause: they reserved the right to yank him off the show the moment they felt that the weight of the production was harming his mental health.
And deWilde himself could quit whenever he liked, on hardly any notice.
21. His Show Had Heart
Jamie showed audiences the full range of deWilde’s talents. The show could make viewers laugh one week and tear up the next. It dealt with everything from a birthday that slipped everyone’s mind to a rich relative visiting from Boston. But the show’s real heart was in how deWilde portrayed his bond with his on-screen Grandpa McHummer—one of them just starting out in life, the other nearing the end of his.
Unfortunately, the show was nearing its own end.
22. His Show Got The Axe
Jamie had made it through a full season, and Brandon deWilde was ready for more. But just two episodes into Season 2, the show was gone. It wasn’t because deWilde wanted out, or because the show’s ratings dropped. Behind the scenes, ABC had butted heads with one of the show’s sponsors over business matters that were, reportedly, “mundane”.
Just like that, deWilde’s show was over. But not yet gone.
23. His Work Survived
Somewhere in the archives of the Paley Center for Media, a piece of deWilde’s childhood lives on. The center holds five kinescopes of Jamie—film recordings captured during the live broadcasts. The oldest is the pilot that started it all. The newest is the show’s last-ever broadcast, from October 4, 1954. Fans hoping for a home-video release, meanwhile, are still waiting.
By then, deWilde was already eyeing a return to the big screen.
24. He Kept Good Company
The cancellation of Jamie didn’t slow Brandon deWilde down one bit. He quickly found himself back on the big screen in 1956 with Good-bye, My Lady—a John Wayne production. The film, about a boy coming into his own, put him alongside Walter Brennan, Phil Harris, and a young Sidney Poitier. Brennan, in particular, would become a familiar face in deWilde’s career.
25. He Lent His Voice To The Classics
That same year, Brennan and deWilde teamed up in the recording studio to read from The Stories of Mark Twain. It wasn’t the teenager’s only gig behind a microphone, either. At 14, deWilde narrated recordings of two pieces written to introduce young listeners to music: Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.
But audiences still wanted to see his face. Before long, he was back in the saddle.
26. He Rode With Legends
After Shane, Brandon deWilde was no stranger to Westerns. And in 1957, he got to ride alongside two of the genre’s biggest names. James Stewart and Audie Murphy headlined Night Passage, with deWilde as Joey Adams. A year later, deWilde’s name went right to the top of the poster. The Missouri Traveler, a coming-of-age tale set in the early 1900s, gave him equal billing with Lee Marvin.
His next role would be far more controversial.
27. He Tackled A Taboo
By the age of 17, deWilde had outgrown his wholesome boyish roles. Arthur Bartley, his character in the 1959 drama Blue Denim, was a teenager with a grown-up problem. When his girlfriend, played by Carol Lynley, turns up pregnant, the pair go looking for someone to quietly end the pregnancy. It was daring stuff for the time.
But a more controversial role would never make it to the screen.
28. He Impressed The King Of Horror
When Brandon deWilde appeared in an episode of Boris Karloff’s anthology Thriller, he left audiences terrified. One viewer in particular. DeWilde delivered such a powerful performance in the episode “Pigeons from Hell” that the famed horror writer Stephen King later called it the series’ scariest episode. Believe it or not, deWilde could still be scarier.
29. His Episode Was Too Much For TV
Alfred Hitchcock loved pushing boundaries, but when he teamed up with deWilde, NBC pushed back. The network shelved “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, a 1961 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In it, deWilde’s character tries to recreate a magician’s famous trick of sawing a person in half…a little too successfully. Despite having deWilde in the episode, NBC thought it was too much for TV audiences.
Thankfully, his next role would make it to the screen.
30. He Had To Dodge His Fans
By 1963, Brandon deWilde was a 20-year-old heartthrob. In fact, his star had grown so bright, he almost couldn’t film in peace. Even working on the relatively quiet set of Martin Ritt’s Hud in a small Texas Panhandle town, deWilde couldn’t escape his fans. DeWilde had to repeatedly change hotel rooms to avoid the overzealous female fans who kept following him around.
Even under that kind of pressure, he kept delivering the goods.
31. He Charmed The Critics Again
The critics were just as crazy about deWilde as his female fans, albeit because of his acting, not his looks. And they loved what they saw in Hud. The New York Times raved that he was “eloquent of clean, modern youth”. The Chicago Tribune was just as smitten, noting that deWilde managed to play sweet without ever getting sappy, bringing “innocence and vulnerability” to the role.
Oscar voters, however, had other ideas.
32. He Accepted Someone Else’s Oscar
Hud was a hit with the Academy—just not for deWilde. Three of the film’s four leads landed Oscar nominations. DeWilde was the only one left out. Ironically, he still ended up on the Oscar stage. When co-star Melvyn Douglas won Best Supporting Actor but couldn’t make it to the 1964 ceremony, deWilde stepped up to collect the golden statuette on his behalf.
Off screen, he had even more reason to celebrate.
33. He Tied The Knot
The former child star was all grown up and ready to do grown-up things. In 1963, Susan M Maw—a writer by trade—became Mrs deWilde. Before long, the young couple welcomed a son, Jesse, into the world. Tragically, deWilde wouldn’t be around to watch his son grow up as he had. Before his tragic demise, however, work kept him busy.
34. He Took What He Could Get
Not every gig was a star-making turn. The same year he got married, deWilde guest-starred on the medical drama The Nurses. He also popped up in A Gathering of Eagles—without even getting his name in the credits. And in 1964, he joined the cast of The Greatest Show on Earth, a TV drama set under the big top. Then, the House of Mouse came calling.
35. He Signed With Disney
Few studios could turn a young actor into a household name like Disney. So when it offered deWilde a two-picture deal in 1964, he signed on without hesitation. First up was The Tenderfoot, a comedy Western that aired in three parts on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. Brian Keith starred alongside deWilde, and the pair worked so well together that Disney wanted an encore.
36. He Reunited With Old Friends
Disney got its encore in 1965—and it came with a bonus. Keith wasn’t the only familiar face on the set of Those Calloways. Walter Brennan, deWilde’s old Good-bye, My Lady co-star, signed on too, with deWilde playing Bucky Calloway. That same year, deWilde finally shared the screen with John Wayne himself in In Harm’s Way.
But his biggest brush with fame that year had nothing to do with movies.
37. He Hung Out With The Beatles
In February 1965, deWilde was in the Bahamas at the same time as the biggest band on the planet. The Beatles were there shooting Help!, and deWilde spent time with the Fab Four. At one point, he got a front-row seat to music history, watching intently as Paul McCartney worked on a new song called “Wait”. McCartney never forgot him. Years later, he described deWilde as “a nice guy”.
The encounter might have left an impression on deWilde.
38. He Wanted To Be A Musician
Acting wasn’t deWilde’s only passion—or talent. He dreamed of making it in music, too, and he found the perfect partner in country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons. The two became close friends and often sang together. And deWilde was good. According to guitarist John Nuese, only one person ever blended her voice with Parsons’ better than deWilde did: Emmylou Harris.
So deWilde decided to take things to the next level.
39. His Record Never Saw The Light Of Day
Sadly, the world would never get to hear the record deWilde dreamed of making. Though it wasn’t for lack of trying. DeWilde went as far as booking studio time at RCA, with Parsons and his group, the International Submarine Band, on backing duty. Nothing from the session was ever released. With his music dreams stalled, deWilde went back to acting.
But the roles weren’t what they used to be.
40. He Became A Guest Star
The former Oscar nominee was now bouncing from one TV show to the next. From Combat! and The Virginian to Hawaii Five-O, Night Gallery, and Ironside, deWilde spent the late 1960s and early 70s as a guest star for hire. He was still working steadily—just rarely as the headliner. Privately, deWilde had a plan to change that.
41. He Had A Plan
DeWilde’s plan to restart his acting career was simple, if a little unusual: stop acting. At least for a time. Once he hit 40, he figured he’d be the right age for character parts. In the meantime, he speculated that his boyish good looks and youthful charm were working against him. As author Linda Ashcroft put it, he was “a bit too pretty” for the roles he wanted.
Unfortunately, his personal life was falling apart, too.
42. His Marriage Fell Apart
Five years after saying “I do," Susan Maw wanted out. In March 1969, she filed for divorce from the 26-year-old deWilde. Maw asked for alimony, plus support for the couple’s son, Jesse, who was just two years old at the time. And she didn’t hold back in her filing, either, accusing deWilde of treating her terribly. Their time together would end sooner than either of them knew.
43. He Rode Off Into The Sunset
DeWilde made his name in a Western. In 1971, he made his last one. Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis cast him as Lieutenant Ferguson in The Deserter, a spaghetti Western. Night Gallery and Ironside kept him busy on the small screen that year, too—though nobody knew at the time that it would be the last TV work of his career.
Still, there was some good news on the horizon.
44. He Found Love Again
After his divorce, deWilde was ready to give love another try. In April 1972, Janice Gero became the second Mrs deWilde. Sadly, the young newlyweds would barely get any time together. Roughly three months after the wedding, deWilde’s life would come to a tragic and unexpected end. Before then, he had one last bow to take.
45. He Took His Final Bow
DeWilde’s final film was a far cry from Shane. In Wild in the Sky (1972), an action comedy centered on hippies in the Vietnam era, he played a character named Josh. But his last curtain call came where it all began: on stage. Alongside Maureen O’Sullivan and Karen Grassle, deWilde spent two weeks starring in Butterflies Are Free at Denver’s Elitch Theatre.
The show closed on July 1, 1972. Five days later, tragedy struck.
46. He Lost Control
The camper van lay on its side in Lakewood, Colorado, with deWilde pinned inside. It was around 3:25 pm on July 6, 1972. Moments earlier, the van had gotten away from him. It careened off the road, bounced off a roadside barrier, and crashed into a parked construction vehicle before tipping over. What caused the crash, however, remains a mystery.
47. His Crash Remains A Mystery
Investigators couldn’t even determine whether deWilde’s van had skidded before the crash. And the weather only muddied things further. It had been raining that afternoon, but the newspapers couldn’t agree on how hard. Some described a drizzle. Others described a deluge. Even the story of where he was headed has changed over the years.
48. His Story Got Twisted
One popular version puts deWilde on a motorcycle, headed for the theater when he collided with a truck. But that account doesn’t line up with the facts. Reporters at the time placed him behind the wheel of a camper van. Other accounts add that he hadn’t buckled up—and that he was on his way to visit his wife in the hospital.
Whatever the details, the outcome was the same.
49. He Was Gone Too Soon
DeWilde held on for four more hours. He made it to St Anthony Hospital, but his injuries were too severe. He’d fractured his spine, his neck, and one of his legs. At 7:20 pm, the still-promising star passed on. He was just 30 years old. Today, he rests at Pinelawn Memorial Park in Farmingdale, New York—though it wasn’t his first resting place.
He was originally laid to rest in Hollywood, until his parents brought him home. Now, his memory lives on in song.
50. His Friend Immortalized Him
Gram Parsons never forgot his old singing partner. Along with Emmylou Harris—the only voice said to blend with his better than deWilde’s—Parsons co-wrote “In My Hour of Darkness”. The song’s very first verse tells the story of that final drive, which ended on a “deadly Denver bend”. Thanks to his friend, his story lives on.
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