Jackie Jenkins

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Jack Dudley "Butch" Jenkins (born August 29, 1937 in Los Angeles , † August 14, 2001 in Asheville , North Carolina ) was an American child star .

biography

Jackie "Butch" Jenkins was born the son of actress Doris Dudley (1917–1985) and one of the child stars of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the 1940s . He made his debut in 1943 with a major role in the Home Front movie And Life Goes On , directed by Clarence Brown and starring Mickey Rooney and Donna Reed . Another film by director Clarence Brown followed in 1944, Little Girl, Big Heart . Again he played alongside Mickey Rooney, while Elizabeth Taylor took over the female lead. Other films were Spring of Life (1945) by Roy Rowland with Edward G. Robinson and Margaret O'Brien , Little Master Jim (1946) by Fred Zinnemann with Spring Byington and Henry O'Neill , and The Bride Goes Wild (1948) by Norman Taurog with June Allyson and Van Johnson .

Most recently he starred in Norman Taurog's film Big City (1948) alongside Edward Arnold and Margaret O'Brien . With Summer Holiday , The Bride Goes Wild and Big City , his last three films appeared in theaters in just under a month. Like most American child actors, he could not continue his career into adulthood, which was mainly due to a stutter that Jenkins had developed in the meantime. Instead, he became head of East Texas' water system and later owner of a chain of car wash companies. He died in his sleep in 2001 at the age of 63.

Filmography

  • 1943: And Life Goes On ( The Human Comedy )
  • 1944: Reward Unlimited (short film)
  • 1944: An American Romance
  • 1944: Little Girl, Big Heart ( National Velvet )
  • 1945: Abbot and Costello in Hollywood ( Abbot and Costello in Hollywood )
  • 1945: Spring of Life ( Our Vines Have Tender Grapes )
  • 1946: Little Master Jim
  • 1946: Boys' Ranch
  • 1947: My Brother Talks to Horses
  • 1947: Little Mister Jim
  • 1948: My Old Town (short film)
  • 1948: Summer Holiday
  • 1948: The Bride Goes Wild
  • 1948: Big City

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Jenkins, Jackie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jenkins, Jack Dudley; Jenkins, Butch (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American child actor
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH los Angeles
DATE OF DEATH August 14, 2001
Place of death Asheville , North Carolina