Trivia

Bond played "Butch" in the "Our Gang" comedies. He and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer (who played antagonists onscreen), were the best of friends in real life, off-camera.

Good friends with actors Mickey Rooney, and Dean Stockwell from his MGM days as a child actor.

Bond played Jimmy Olsen in the first live-action Superman movies: Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950), both chapter serials. But he turned down the role of Olsen in the TV series, Adventures of Superman (1952), starring George Reeves.

Bond's wife Polly Bond (aka Polly Ellis), a former model and Miss California, turned down the role of "Miss Kitty" on Gunsmoke (1955).

The monument that stood at 1716 North Vine Street, commemorating the first movie made in Hollywood, made by Bonds company, the 'American Mutoscope & Biograph Co. [us]'. was stolen April, 2005. Bond felt because of the monument's size, it had to have been an "Inside Job". He was so upset, he swore that the company would never shoot any project in the district of Hollywood.

Worked in prop management on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967).

His original role in the "Our Gang" comedies was as another member of the Gang. He was later recast as another character, the bully "Butch.".

Son, Thomas R. Bond II, is a producer as well as the President/CEO of the family corporation, known as American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.

Things didn't go well for the other "Our Gang" members. Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer was shot dead in 1959 age 31; Darla Hood contracted hepatitis in hospital and died aged 47; William "Buckwheat" Thomas died of a heart attack age 49; and "Pete" (the dog), was fatally poisoned. Robert "Bobby" Blake, as of 2019 the sole surviving actor of "Our Gang", was tried and acquitted of his wife's murder.

Despite being known as Butch the Bully in The Little Rascals he was described by many to be a very friendly man, very opposite of the signature role that made him famous.

After being promised twice, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce "Walk of Fame" committee, turned down Mr. Bond for a star on Hollywood Blvd., after over 65 years in show business and 72 movies. The same year, three disc jockeys from local Los Angeles radio stations all received stars on the Walk of Fame.

Bond was one of the first "Charter" members of the newly formed Screen Actors Guild (USA) when he joined in 1938 at the age of 11 years old. His sponsor was Eddie Cantor.

As a boy, was an actor in the movie Adventure in Washington (1941), along with his friend, actor Gene Reynolds, who later became a producer of the hit CBS series M*A*S*H (1972).

He was the neighbor's son, the boy on the staircase with the ball, in the Laurel and Hardy film Block-Heads (1938). He later recounted that Stan Laurel developed the scene on the spot.

Bond worked closely with director George Sidney who started out as a director with the OurGang/Little Rascals comedies in the 1930's.

After college in 1951, he quit acting and became an assistant director at Channel 11 (KTTV-TV) in Los Angeles; in 1972. To escape the pollution and traffic of Los Angeles, he moved with his family to the San Joaquin Valley, where he worked at Channel 30 (KFSN-TV) until he retired in 1990.

He and his wife were severely injured in a car crash in 1996.

He recently hosted the new home video The Rascals (2004) made by 'American Mutoscope & Biograph [us]' .

Co-hosted "The Little Rascals Theater" TV series with Dr. Jackie Lynn Taylor and Mathew ("Stymie") Beard. "The Little Rascals Theater" was syndicated in a few TV markets during the 1970s.

Interestingly, he was the only redhead to play "Jimmy Olsen". The other actors who played the character had dark hair, while in the comics Jimmy was, and still is a redhead. Also, because of the "Superman" serials being shot in black and white, his red hair wasn't noticeable.

Buried at Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside, Riverside County, California.