BEN ALEXANDER AUTOGRAPH ON CARD MEASURING APPROXIMATELY 3 3/8 X 1 3/4 INCHES ACCOMPANIED WITH 2 SCRAPBOOK PAGES (FRONT AND BACK) FEATURING HIM AS A CHILD ACTOR
Nicholas Benton Alexander III (June 27, 1911 – July 5, 1969) was an American motion picture actor, who started out as a child actor in 1916. He is best remembered for his role as Officer Frank Smith in the Dragnet franchise.
Life and career
Ben Alexander as a child actor
After a number of silent films, he retired from screen work, but came back for the World War I classic, All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), in which Alexander received good notices as an adult actor as "Kemmerich", the tragic amputation victim.[1]
He found a new career as a successful radio announcer in the late 1940s, including a stint on The Martin and Lewis Show. Alexander also acted on radio, playing Philip West in the 1939–40 soap opera Brenthouse on the Blue Network.[2][3]
From October 1950 to January 1951, Alexander hosted Party Time at Club Roma, a nightly late-night television show on NBC described as "part Truth or Consequences-type stunt show and part talent contest".[4]
In 1952, Jack Webb, actor-producer-director of Dragnet, needed a replacement for Barton Yarborough, who had played Detective Romero opposite Webb's Sgt. Joe Friday. Webb selected Alexander, but had to wait until he was available. A few actors filled in as Friday's partners until Alexander appeared in the newly created role of Officer Frank Smith, first in the radio series, then reprised the role in film and on television. The popular series ran until 1959. When Webb revived it in 1966, he wanted Alexander to rejoin him, but Alexander had just signed to play the role of Sgt. Dan Briggs on the weekly ABC series Felony Squad.[3][5]
On July 5, 1969, Alexander was found dead as the result of a massive heart attack in his Los Angeles home when his wife and children returned from a camping trip.[5]
He was cremated.[6]
For his contributions to the entertainment industry, Ben Alexander was awarded three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for television, radio, and movies.[1][3]
Other
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Alexander and his family in 1961, pictured are his daughter, Lesley, his son, Bradford, and his wife, Lesley.
Alexander owned and operated the Ben Alexander Ford car dealership in the Highland Park neighborhood of northeast Los Angeles, from around 1953 until his death in 1969, along with the Ben Alexander Ford car delership in San Francisco, which was formed in 1959.[7]
In the mid-1950s, Ben Alexander's Dream House Motel was located at 1815 North Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Alexander ran a talent show for young people out of Oakland, The Ben Alexander Talent Show which was broadcast on Oakland's KTVU TV, a local station in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Ben Alexander in 1925
In 1960, he was a semi-regular panelist on Ernie Kovacs' offbeat game show Take a Good Look.
Filmography
Each Pearl a Tear (1916)
The Little American (1917) - Bobby Moore
What Money Can't Buy (1918) - Child
Hearts of the World (1918) - The Boy's Littlest Brother
The Lady of the Dugout (1918) - The Lady's Son
The Heart of Rachael (1918) - Jim
The One Woman (1918) - Boy
Little Orphant Annie (1918) - Orphan
The Turn in the Road (1919) - Bob
The White Heather (1919) - Donald Cameron
Josselyn's Wife (1919) - Tommy Josselyn
The Hushed Hour (1919) - Gondy
The Mayor of Filbert (1919) - Carroll
Tangled Threads (1919) - 'Sonny Boy' Wayne
The Better Wife (1919) - Little Dick
The Triflers (1920) - Rupert Holbrook
The Family Honor (1920) - Little Ben Tucker
The Notorious Mrs. Sands (1920) - Child
Through Eyes of Men (1920) - Little Billy
Blue Streak McCoy (1920)
The Heart Line (1921) - The Child
In the Name of the Law (1922) - Harry O'Hara - age 9, prologue
Penrod and Sam (1923) - Penrod Schofield
The Yankee Spirit (1923, Short)
Jealous Husbands (1923) - Bobbie (later called Spud)
Boy of Mine (1923) - Bill Latimer
Barnum Junior (1924, Short)
Junior Partner (1924, Short)
A Self-Made Failure (1924) - Sonny
Dirty Hand (1924, Short)
Flaming Love (1925) - Benny Keene
Pampered Youth (1925) - George Minafer, as a child
Wildcat Willie (1925, Short)
The Shining Adventure (1925) - Benny
The Highbinders (1926) - Roy Marshall
Scotty of the Scouts (1926) - Scotty Smith
Fighting for Fame (1927) - Danny Ryan
Two to One (1927)
The Divine Lady (1929) - Young Lieutenant (uncredited)
The Lunkhead (1929, Short) - Ben - Billy's Chum
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - Franz Kemmerich
Many a Slip (1931) - Ted Coster
It's a Wise Child (1931) - Bill Stanton
Are These Our Children? (1931) - Nicholas 'Nick' Crosby
Suicide Fleet (1931) - Kid
A Wise Child (1931)
Mystery Ship (1931)
High Pressure (1932) - Geoffrey Weston
The Wet Parade (1932) - Evelyn's Friend (uncredited)
Tom Brown of Culver (1932) - Cpl. John Clarke
The Vanishing Frontier (1932) - Lucien Winfield
Alias the Professor (1933, Short)
Mister Mugg (1933, Short)
Roadhouse Queen (1933, Short) - Junior Knox
Daddy Knows Best (1933, Short) - Billy Todd
What Price Innocence? (1933) - Tommy Harrow
This Day and Age (1933) - Morry Dover
Stage Mother (1933) - Francis Nolan
Once to Every Woman (1934) - Joe
The Most Precious Thing in Life (1934) - Gideon 'Gubby' Gerhart
The Life of Vergie Winters (1934) - Barry Preston
Flirtation (1934) - Dudley
Grand Old Girl (1935) - Tom Miller
Born to Gamble (1935) - Paul Mathews
Reckless Roads (1935) - Wade Adams
Annapolis Farewell (1935) - Adams
Splendor (1935) - Western Xnion Messenger (uncredited)
The Fire Trap (1935) - Bob Fender
Hearts in Bondage (1936) - Eggleston
Red Lights Ahead (1936) - George Wallace
Shall We Dance (1937) - Evans - a Bandleader (uncredited)
The Legion of Missing Men (1937) - Don Carter
The Outer Gate (1937) - Bob Terry
Western Gold (1937) - Bart
The Life of the Party (1937) - Orchestra Leader (uncredited)
The Spy Ring (1938) - Capt. Don Mayhew
Russian Dressing (1938, Short) - Band Leader Bill Farraday
Mr. Doodle Kicks Off (1938) - Larry Weldon
Convict's Code (1939) - Jeff Palmer
Buries Alive (1939) - Riley
The Leather Pushers (1940) - Dan Brown, Announcer
Criminals Within (1941) - Sgt. Paul, the Traitor
Dragnet (1954) - Officer Frank Smith
Man in the Shadow (1957) - Ab Begley
Television
Party Time at Club Roma (1950—1951) - Host
Dragnet (regular, 1952–1959) - Officer Frank Smith
The Joseph Cotten Show, also known as On Trial (1 episode, 1957)
The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford (January 24, 1957)
Take A Good Look (Semi-regular 1959–1960) - Himself / Panelist
About Faces (1960–1961) - Himself - Host
Batman (1 episode, 1966) - Detective Beside Trash Can
Felony Squad (Unknown episodes, 1966–1969) - Desk Sgt. Dan Briggs
Judd, for the Defense (1 episode, 1969)
Writer
Dragnet (Co-writer, 6 episodes)
Born Nicholas Ben Alexander on May 26, 1911 in Goldfield, Nev.
Died July 5, 1969 of heart attack in Westchester, CA
Ben Alexander just about grew up on the stage. His education, except for three years at Stanford University, was mainly the product of studio tutors.
Alexander, the corpulent sidekick of the "Dragnet" star and director Jack Webb, began his movie debut in 1916 when he played cupid in "Each Pearl a Tear."
He was a child movie actor for 11 years. When no longer able to play the role of "Cupid" as he grew older, Alexander accepted "bad boy"-type roles.
In 1929, while enrolled at Stanford, he had a leading role in what was to be his last major film, "All Quiet on the Western Front."
In the early 1930s, Alexander left Stanford and entered radio as an emcee, announcing for such programs as "Father Knows Best" and "The Charlie McCarthy Show."
But he was best known as Frank Smith, the fat and sympathetic little officer on the "Dragnet" series.
"I feel like Frank Smith," he once said. "We're both a little fat, take things easy, and enjoy life."
—Stanley O. Williford in the Los Angeles Times July 6, 1969
Ben Alexander was an Emmy-nominated American motion picture actor, who started out as a child actor in 1915.
Born Nicholas Benton Alexander III in Goldfield, Nevada and raised in California, Alexander made his screen debut at age of five in Every Pearl a Tear. He went on to portray Lillian Gish’s young brother in D.W. Griffith’s Hearts of the World. After a number of silent era films, he retired from screen work but came back for the World War I classic, All Quiet on the Western Front, in which Alexander made his first positive impression as an adult actor in the role of Kemmerick, the tragic amputation victim.
When Alexander’s acting career slowed down in the mid-1930s, he found a new career as a successful radio announcer in the late 1940’s, including for The Martin and Lewis Show, and in 1952, Jack Webb chose him to replace Barton Yarborough, who had suddenly and unexpectedly died and had played Friday’s original partner, Ben Romero. A few actors filled in as Friday’s partners until Alexander was hired as a permanent replacement in the newly created role of Officer Frank Smith, first, in the radio series, and then, in the TV series Dragnet. In 1966, Alexander returned to TV police work as Sergeant Dan Briggs on the weekly ABC cop series Felony Squad.
For his contribution to the entertainment industry Ben Alexander has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for television, radio and movies.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a 1930 American pre-Code epic anti-war film based on the 1929 novel of the same name by German novelist Erich Maria Remarque. Directed by Lewis Milestone, it stars Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy, and Ben Alexander.
All Quiet on the Western Front opened to wide acclaim in the United States. Considered a realistic and harrowing account of warfare in World War I, it made the American Film Institute's first 100 Years...100 Movies list in 1997. A decade later, after the same organization polled over 1,501 workers in the creative community, All Quiet on the Western Front was ranked the seventh-best American epic film.[5][6] In 1990, the film was selected and preserved by the United States Library of Congress' National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[7][8] The film was the first to win the Academy Awards for both Outstanding Production and Best Director. It is the first Best Picture winner based on a novel. Due to being a film published in 1930, it will enter the public domain on January 1, 2026, following the expiration of the copyright on the novel in 2024.[9][10]
Its sequel, The Road Back (1937), portrays members of the 2nd Company returning home after the war.
Plot
Professor Kantorek gives an impassioned speech to his German students about the glory of serving in the Army and "saving the Fatherland". On the brink of becoming men, the boys in his class, led by Paul Bäumer, are moved to join the army as the new 2nd Company. Their romantic delusions are quickly broken during their brief but rigorous training under the abusive Corporal Himmelstoss.
The new soldiers arrive by train at the chaotic combat zone. One in the group is killed before the recruits can reach their post, to the alarm of one of the new soldiers (Behn). The new soldiers are assigned to a unit composed of older, unwelcoming veterans. Having not eaten in days, they pay cigarettes to Corporal "Kat" Katzinsky (who has stolen a slaughtered hog from a field kitchen) in exchange for a meal.
The recruits' first trip to the trenches with the veterans is a harrowing experience, during which Behn is killed. A depiction of trench warfare follows with many casualties on both sides. Eventually, they are sent back to the field kitchens to get their rations; each man receives double helpings, simply because of the number of dead.
Ad with book cover art in The Film Daily, 1929
They hear that they are to return to the front the next day and begin a semi-serious discussion about the causes of the war and of wars in general.
One day, Corporal Himmelstoss arrives at the front and is immediately spurned because of his bad reputation. He is forced to go over the top with the 2nd Company and is promptly killed. In an attack on a cemetery, Paul stabs a French soldier and is distraught as he spends the night trapped in a hole with the dying man. He tries and fails to save him, and begs for forgiveness. Later, he returns to the German lines and is comforted by Kat.
Going back to the front line, Paul is severely wounded and taken to a Catholic hospital, along with his good friend, Albert Kropp. Kropp's leg is amputated and Paul is taken to the bandaging ward, from which, according to its reputation, nobody has ever returned alive. Still, he later returns to the normal rooms triumphantly, only to find Kropp in depression.
Paul is given a furlough and visits his family at home. He is shocked by how uninformed and optimistic everyone is about the war's actual situation. When Paul visits the schoolroom where he was originally recruited, he shares his experiences and disillusionment with the war to Professor Kantorek and his young students, who call him a "coward".
Disillusioned and angry, Paul returns to the front and comes upon another 2nd Company filled with new young recruits, who are now also disillusioned. He discusses the people's inability to comprehend the futility of the war with Kat. Kat's shin is broken when a bomb dropped by an aircraft falls nearby, so Paul carries him back to a field hospital, only to find that a second explosion has killed Kat. Crushed by the loss of his mentor, Paul leaves.
In the final scene, Paul is back on the front line. He sees a butterfly just beyond his trench. Smiling, he reaches out for the butterfly. While reaching, however, he is shot and killed by an enemy sniper. The final sequence shows the 2nd Company arriving at the front for the first time, fading out to the image of a cemetery.
Cast
Duration: 2 minutes and 29 seconds.2:29
Original trailer for the American film All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)
Lew Ayres as Paul Bäumer
Louis Wolheim as Stanislaus Katczinsky
John Wray as Himmelstoss
Arnold Lucy as Professor Kantorek
Ben Alexander as Franz Kemmerich
Scott Kolk as Peter Leer
Owen Davis, Jr. as Peter
William Bakewell as Albert Kropp
Russell Gleason as Friedrich Müller
Richard Alexander as Haie Westhus
Harold Goodwin as Detering
Slim Summerville as Tjaden
Walter Browne Rogers as Behn
G. Pat Collins as Lieutenant Bertinck
Edmund Breese as Herr Meyer, the Stammtisch speaker
Beryl Mercer as Frau Bäumer, Paul's mother
Marion Clayton as Erna, Paul's sister (uncredited)
Heinie Conklin as Joseph Hammacher (uncredited)
Bertha Mann as Sister Libertine, nurse (uncredited)
Raymond Griffith as the murdered French soldier (uncredited)
William Irving as Ginger, the army cook (uncredited)
Yola d'Avril as Suzanne (uncredited)
Edwin Maxwell as Herr Bäumer (uncredited)
Bodil Rosing as Mother of hospital patient (uncredited)
Maurice Murphy as Soldier (uncredited)
Arthur Gardner as classroom student (uncredited) (at the time of his death in December 2014, he was the last surviving member of the cast or crew)
Production
In the film, Paul is shot while reaching for a butterfly. This scene is different from the book, and was inspired by an earlier scene showing a butterfly collection in Paul's home. The scene was shot during the editing phase, so the actors were no longer available and Milestone had to use his own hand as Paul's.
Noted comedienne ZaSu Pitts was originally cast as Paul's mother and completed the film but preview audiences, used to seeing her in comic roles, laughed when she appeared onscreen so Milestone re-shot her scenes with Beryl Mercer before the film was released. The preview audience remains the only one who saw Pitts in the role, although she does appear for about 30 seconds in the film's original preview trailer.
The film was shot with two cameras side by side, with one negative edited as a sound film and the other edited as an "International Sound Version" for distribution in non-English speaking areas.
A great number of German Army veterans were living in Los Angeles at the time of filming and were recruited as bit players and technical advisers. Around 2,000 extras were utilized during production.[11] Among them was future director Fred Zinnemann (High Noon, From Here to Eternity, A Man for All Seasons, Julia), who was fired for impudence.
Releases
The original version of this all talking picture, lasting 152 minutes,[2] was first previewed in Los Angeles on April 21, 1930, and again in New York on April 25, 1930.[12] The film was edited and some scenes reshot after these previews due to inappropriate laughter coming from audiences whenever ZaSu Pitts appeared on the screen. All scenes with ZaSu Pitts had to be reshot and she was replaced with Beryl Mercer. The re-edited all talking version of the film went on general release in the US on August 24, 1930.[2] A 147-minute version was submitted to the British censors, which was cut to 145 minutes[13][14] before the film premiered in London June 14, 1930.[12] The sound version was re-released in 1939, though cut down to ten reels.[2] This same version, running 102 minutes, was re-released very successfully by Realart Pictures in 1950, and Universal-International brought it back to theaters in 1958.
On its initial release, Variety wrote:[15]
The League of Nations could make no better investment than to buy up the master-print, reproduce it in every language, to be shown in all the nations until the word "war" is taken out of the dictionaries.
Some of the credit for the film's success has been ascribed to the direction of Lewis Milestone:
Without diluting or denying any ... criticisms, it should be said that from World War I to Korea, Milestone could put the viewer into the middle of a battlefield, and make the hellish confusion of it seem all too real to the viewer. Steven Spielberg noted as much when he credited Milestone's work as partial inspiration for Saving Private Ryan ... Lewis Milestone made significant contributions to [the genre of] the war film.[16]
Later re-releases were substantially cut and the film's ending scored with new music against the wishes of director Lewis Milestone.[17] Before he died in 1980, Milestone requested that Universal fully restore the film with the removal of the end music cue. Two decades later, Milestone's wishes were finally granted when the United States Library of Congress undertook an exhaustive restoration of the film in 2006. This version incorporates all known surviving footage and is 133 minutes long.[14]
Home media
Various edited versions have been distributed on video, including a Japanese subtitled Laserdisc with a running time of 103 minutes. The US Laserdisc from 1987 and the first US DVD, released in 1999, use the same unrestored 131-minute British release print. Since 2007, there have been numerous international releases of the 2006 Library of Congress restoration on DVD and Blu-ray.[18] The latter format additionally contains a 133-minute restoration of the International Sound Version, albeit mislabeled as the "silent version".[19]
Reception
Critical response
"17 London Papers Go Wild!" All Quiet on the Western Front ad from The Film Daily, 1930
All Quiet on the Western Front received tremendous praise in the United States. In the New York Daily News, Irene Thirer wrote: "It smack [sic] of directional genius—nothing short of this; sensitive performances by a marvelous cast and the most remarkable camera work which has been performed on either silent or sound screen, round about the Hollywood studios. [...] We have praise for everyone concerned with this picture."[20] Variety lauded it as a "harrowing, gruesome, morbid tale of war, so compelling in its realism, bigness and repulsiveness".[15]
In a retrospective review, American film critic Pauline Kael commented, "The year 1930 was, of course, a good year for pacifism, which always flourishes between wars; Milestone didn't make pacifist films during the Second World War—nor did anybody else working in Hollywood. And wasn't it perhaps easier to make All Quiet just because its heroes were German? War always seems like a tragic waste when told from the point of view of the losers."[21]
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 97% based on 77 reviews, with an average rating of 9.2/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Director Lewis Milestone's brilliant anti-war polemic, headlined by an unforgettable performance from Lew Ayres, lays bare the tragic foolishness at the heart of war."[22] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 91 out of 100 based on 16 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[23]
Controversy and bannings
However, controversy would attend the film's subject matter elsewhere. Due to its anti-war and perceived anti-German messages, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party opposed the film. During and after its German premiere in Berlin on December 4, 1930, Nazi brownshirts under the command of Joseph Goebbels disrupted the viewings by setting off stink bombs, throwing sneezing powder in the air and releasing white mice in the theaters, eventually escalating to attacking audience members perceived to be Jewish and forcing projectors to shut down. They repeatedly yelled out "Judenfilm!" ("Jewish film!") while doing this.[24][25]
Goebbels wrote about one such disruption in his personal diary:
Within ten minutes, the cinema resembles a madhouse. The police are powerless. The embittered crowd takes out its anger on the Jews. The first breakthrough in the West. 'Jews out!' 'Hitler is standing at the gates!' The police sympathize with us. The Jews are small and ugly. The box office outside is under siege. Windowpanes are broken. Thousands of people enjoy the spectacle. The screening is abandoned, as is the next one. We have won. The newspapers are full of our protest. But not even the Berliner Tageblatt dares to call us names. The nation is on our side. In short: victory!
The Nazi campaign was successful and German authorities outlawed the film on December 11, 1930. A heavily cut version was briefly allowed in 1931, before the Nazis came to power in 1933 and the film was outlawed again. The film was finally re-released in Germany on April 25, 1952, in the Capitol Theatre in West Berlin.
Between 1930 and 1941, this was one of many films to be banned in Victoria, Australia, on the ground of 'pacifism', by the Chief Censor Creswell O'Reilly.[26] However, it was said to enjoy "a long and successful run" in other states, though the book was banned nationally.[27] The film was also banned in Italy and Austria in 1931, with the prohibition officially raised only in the 1980s, and in France up to 1963.[28]
Awards and honors
Carl Laemmle holding the Outstanding Production Best Picture Oscar
1929–1930 Academy Awards
Category Receptor Result
Outstanding Production Universal (Carl Laemmle Jr., Producer) Won
Best Director Lewis Milestone Won
Best Writing George Abbott, Maxwell Anderson and Del Andrews Nominated
Best Cinematography Arthur Edeson Nominated
It was the first talkie war film to win Oscars.
Other wins:
1930 Photoplay Medal of Honor – Carl Laemmle Jr.
1931 Kinema Junpo Award for Best Foreign Language Film – Sound to Lewis Milestone
1990 National Film Registry
American Film Institute recognition
100 Years...100 Movies – #54
100 Years...100 Thrills – Nominated
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes
"And our bodies are earth. And our thoughts are clay. And we sleep and eat with death." – Nominated.
100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated
AFI's 10 Top 10 – #7 epic film
See also
All Quiet on the Western Front (1979 film)
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022 film)
List of World War I films
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated terms include teenage actor or teen actor, an actor who gained popularity as a teenager.
Famous earlier examples include Elizabeth Taylor, who started as a child star in the early 1940s in productions like National Velvet before becoming a popular film star as an adult in movies.
Many child actors find themselves struggling to adapt as they become adults, mainly due to typecasting. Macaulay Culkin and Lindsay Lohan are two particular famous child actors who eventually experienced much difficulty with the fame they acquired at a young age. Some child actors do go on to have successful acting careers as adults; notable actors who first gained fame as children include Mickey Rooney, Tim Matheson, Drew Barrymore, Shia LaBeouf, Jake Gyllenhaal, Mila Kunis, and Molly Ringwald. Other child actors have gone on to successful careers in other fields, including director Ron Howard, politicians Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński, and singer Jenny Lewis.
Regulation
In the United States, the activities of child actors are regulated by the governing labor union, if any, and state laws. Some projects film in distant locations specifically to evade regulations intended to protect the child. Longer work hours or risky stunts prohibited by California, for example, might be permitted to a project filming in British Columbia. US federal law "specifically exempted minors working in the entertainment business from all provisions of the child labor Laws."[citation needed] Any regulation of child actors is governed by disparate state laws.
California
Due to the large presence of the entertainment industry in Hollywood, the state of California has some of the most explicit laws protecting child actors. Being a minor, a child actor must secure an entertainment work permit before accepting any paid work. Compulsory education laws mandate that the education of the child actor not be disrupted while the child is working, whether the child actor is enrolled in public school, private school or even home school. The child does their schoolwork under the supervision of a studio teacher while on the set.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, a child actor is defined as someone under school leaving age.[1] Before a child can work, they require a performance license from their Local Education Authority as well as a licensed chaperone; a parent can only chaperone their own child, and a chaperone's duties include acting in loco parentis and recording arrivals and departure time from the work place, the time a child is working, their breaks, and the amount of tutoring.[1][2] A child requires minimum of three hours of tutoring daily and a lesson must be a minimum of 30 minutes to count towards the total and with regards to 16 and 17-year-old in further education, considerations are made in regards to their studies.[3]
There are regulations and guidance to safeguard all actors under the age of 18; OFCOM guidance states a child's health and safety, well-being and welfare are paramount in television production and factors such as their age, maturity and life experiences can affect their performance.[4] OFCOM also advises that broadcasters undertake risk assessments, consider seeking expert advice and follow best practices.[4]
Issues
Ownership of earnings
In the United States before the 1930s, many child actors never got to see the money they earned because they were not in charge of this money. Jackie Coogan earned millions of dollars from working as a child actor only to see most of it squandered by his parents. In 1939, California weighed in on this controversy and enacted the Coogan Bill, which requires a portion of the earnings of a child to be preserved in a special savings account called a blocked trust.[5] A trust that is not actively monitored can also be problematic, however, as in the case of Gary Coleman, who after working from 1974, later sued his adoptive parents and former business advisor for $3.8 million over misappropriation of his trust fund.[6][7]
Competitive pressure
Some people[who?] also criticize the parents of child actors for allowing their children to work, believing that more "normal" activities should be the staple during the childhood years. Others[who?] observe that competition is present in all areas of a child's life—from sports to student newspaper to orchestra and band—and believe that the work ethic instilled or the talent developed accrues to the child's benefit.[citation needed]
The child actor may experience unique and negative pressures when working under tight production schedules. Large projects which depend for their success on the ability of the child to deliver an effective performance add to the pressure.[citation needed]
Ethel Merman, who several times worked in long-running stage productions with child actors, disliked what she eventually saw as their over-professionalization—"acting more like midgets than children"—and disapproved of parents pushing adulthood on them.[8]
After the childhood success
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Jodie Foster in 1974
There are many instances of troubled adult lives due to the stressful environment to which child actors are subjected. It is common to see a child actor grow up in front of the camera, whether in films, TV shows or both. However, it is not uncommon to see child actors continue their careers throughout as actors or in a different professional field.
Jodie Foster started acting at age 3, becoming the quintessential child actor during the 1970's with roles in films such as Tom Sawyer (1973), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), Bugsy Malone (1976), The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976), and Freaky Friday (1976). A child prodigy, Foster received her first Academy Award nomination at age 13 and later took a sabbatical from films to attend Yale University. She made a successful transition to adult roles, winning two Academy Awards for Best Actress before the age of 30, and starring in several successful and acclaimed films such as The Accused (1988), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Nell (1994), Maverick (1994), Contact (1997), and The Brave One (2007), thus establishing herself as one of the most accomplished and sought-after actresses of her generation. She has also ventured into directing and her directing credits include films such as Little Man Tate (1991), Money Monster (2016) and television shows such as House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black, and Black Mirror.
Now adults, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, the three leads of the acclaimed Harry Potter film series (2001–2011), starred in every installment in the series, and have since continued to act in film, television, and theater in their early 30's. 2010s, Greyson Chance, is an American singer-songwriter and musician
Dakota Fanning rose to prominence after her breakthrough performance at age 7 in the film I Am Sam (2001). Her performance earned her a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination at age 8 in 2002, making her the youngest nominee in SAG history. She later appeared in major Hollywood productions, in such acclaimed blockbuster films as Man on Fire (2004), War of the Worlds (2005), Charlotte's Web (2006), Hounddog (2007), The Secret Life of Bees (2008), Coraline (2009), The Twilight Saga film series (2009–2012), The Runaways (2010), and The Motel Life (2012). Fanning's younger sister, Elle Fanning also rose to prominence as a child actress, having appeared in many films since before she turned 3.
Miranda Cosgrove, known mainly for her role as Megan on the Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh as a child, gained more attention for her role as a teenager in the show iCarly. Since the end of the show she has been featured in other roles, including as the voice of Margo in the Despicable Me franchise. Once she was of age, she decided to pursue a college degree in film at the University of Southern California.[9]
Late actress Shirley Temple became a public figure and diplomat, beginning in the 1960's. Some of her duties included representing the United Nations, and becoming a U.S. ambassador in countries such as Ghana and Czechoslovakia.[10]
Mary-Kate Olsen, who shared the role of Michelle Tanner with her twin sister Ashley on the ABC sitcom Full House, was treated for an eating disorder, deemed anorexia, but Ashley remained less troubled. In an article with the magazine Marie Claire, Mary-Kate expressed the bittersweet nature of the twins' childhood. "I look at old photos of me, and I don't feel connected to them at all," she said. "I would never wish my upbringing on anyone... but I wouldn't take it back for the world." The twins eventually retired from acting to pursue a full-time career in the fashion industry, which, to this day, is continuously successful with an estimated net worth of approximately $100,000,000.[11][12]
Mandy Moore is one of the child stars to have success as an adult with the start of her growing career in 1993.
Drew Barrymore, a former child star, started acting at age 3. During her childhood she battled with drugs, but recovered and currently continues to act.
Natalie Portman took a small break in acting to get a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Harvard University before continuing her career as an actress.
Rider Strong, known as "Shawn Hunter" in Boy Meets World, was educated at Columbia University and now runs a successful blog and has published a graphic novel.[13] Neil Patrick Harris started his career as a child actor in Doogie Howser, M.D. He continues to act in television, films and theater. Harris is now a cult figure icon.
Jonathan Lipnicki, known mostly for the Stuart Little films, now successfully competes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.[13] Sara Gilbert is known for her role on Roseanne and later created and served as a co-host for CBS's The Talk. Also from Roseanne, Michael Fishman continued to work in film, but behind the scenes and has since been nominated for an Emmy for the work he did in Sports Science. Both Gilbert and Fishman returned for the later series based on Roseanne, The Conners, with Gilbert also serving as an executive producer and guiding the series through its transition after Roseanne Barr was fired after the tenth season of the revived Roseanne.[13] Kirsten Dunst and Lacey Chabert both made the transition from a child actress to an adult actress with a rough patch including depression. After a stay in a rehabilitation center, Dunst was able to recover and continue her career. She proves that the pressures of growing up under the spotlight may not come without repercussions.[14]
Roddy McDowall, who had a long and outstanding career including as the regular star of the Planet of the Apes series; Micky Dolenz, who started his career as a child star in the 1950s, grew up to be a musician of the successful 1960s pop group The Monkees, which had its own successful television show; Ron Howard, who, in addition to being the star of both of the long running The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days television series, became an Academy Award-winning director in adulthood; Elijah Wood, who continued his career successfully into adulthood, starring as Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings film series and starring as Ryan Newman in the television series Wilfred.
Other careers
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Many actors' and child actors' careers are often quite short. Many actors, out of personal choice, that start their careers as child actors decide not to pursue the same careers as adults. Shirley Temple, for example, became a public figure and diplomat. Peter Ostrum, appearing in his only role, the lead character of Charlie Bucket in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, became a large-scale veterinarian surgeon. While Jenny Lewis, formerly of film Troop Beverly Hills in 1989, is a well-known singer-songwriter indie rock musician. Renee Olstead became a Jazz musician.
In Poland, former child actors and identical twin brothers Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński became successful politicians, at one time Lech being president and Jarosław the prime minister.