Brandon De Wilde(1942-1972)

Brandon De Wilde was born into a theatrical family and made a much-acclaimed Broadway debut in "The Member of the Wedding" at age 9. 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 blond-haired, blue-eyed Joey who idolizes the strange gunman played by Alan Ladd in the film Shane (1953), he stole the picture and received an Oscar nomination for his work. During 1953-54, Brandon starred in his own television series, Jamie (1953), and made his mark as a screen adolescent during the 1960s playing a younger brother in All Fall Down (1962) and nephew in Hud (1963), starring Paul Newman. He managed to keep his career-building into early adulthood, but his career was tragically cut short: en route to visit his wife at a hospital where she had recently undergone surgery, he was killed when the camper-van he was driving struck a parked truck. He was only 30 years old.