David Holt

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David Jack Holt (born August 14, 1927 in Jacksonville , Florida , † November 15, 2003 in San Juan Capistrano , California ) was an American child actor and later writer, composer and editor .

life and career

David Holt was born the son of a Ford employee. He attracted attention from an early age with good dancing skills, and comedian Will Rogers recommended that his family sign him in Hollywood. David Holt made one of his first film appearances in 1933 when he was six years old in a monkey costume, where he doubled the chimpanzee Cheetah in the film Tarzan the Fearless . Holt's big break came a year later with the film You Belong to Me , in which he has to cope with the death of his mother. Paramount Pictures attempted to market Holt as a "male Shirley Temple " - Temple was actually a good friend of Holt's. In addition to film roles, he also played regularly in the theater.

In 1935, the title role in the lavish literary film adaptation of David Copperfield based on Charles Dickens was initially intended. But producer David O. Selznick found Holt too American for the role of a British orphan boy and therefore preferred Freddie Bartholomew , who became a child star through this role. In the next few years he got some good supporting roles, for example in the musical The Big Broadcast of 1936 and as the pesky Sid Sawyer in the literary film adaptation of Tom's Adventure . But the big breakthrough to child star was never to come. When he reached puberty, David Holt's popularity fell sharply, as did many other child actors, so that at the end of the 1940s he increasingly withdrew from the acting business after around 40 films. For the next several decades he only had occasional television appearances.

Holt began to compose at the age of 14 and turned to the music business after the end of his acting career. After the Second World War , Holt became managing director of a music publisher. In 1952 he joined ASCAP , the American Association of Actors, Composers, Editors and Authors. There he worked with well-known composers such as Johnny Mercer , Paul Francis Webster and Sammy Cahn . Holt and Cahn composed the song The Christmas Blues , which was featured in the 1997 film LA Confidential . Holt also wrote the song What Every Girl Should Know (1960) for Doris Day . He also ran a real estate business for many years.

In Holt's autobiography, The Holts of Hollywood , before the completion of which he died, he spoke of how he would rather have become a great jazz pianist and composer than an actor. Today, however, Holt is mainly remembered as a child actor. His siblings Ricky and Betty were also child actors. David Holt had four children with his wife. He died of a heart attack at the age of 76.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www2.dre.ca.gov/PublicASP/pplinfo.asp?License_id=00223237
  2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 6, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / slick.org
personal data
SURNAME Holt, David
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Holt, David Jack
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor, writer, composer, and editor
DATE OF BIRTH August 14, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Jacksonville , Florida
DATE OF DEATH November 15, 2003
Place of death San Juan Capistrano , California