Scotty Beckett

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Scott Hastings Beckett (born October 4, 1929 in Oakland , California , USA , † May 10, 1968 in Los Angeles , California, USA) was an American film and stage actor and child actor of the 1930s and 1940s. In the last few years of his life, Beckett stood out for his crime.

biography

Success as a child star

Scotty Beckett was born in Oakland in 1929, but he moved to Los Angeles with his family at the age of three . While Beckett's father was recovering from an illness there at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center , his son visited him and sang to him. The nurses heard his singing and got him to sing for other patients on a regular basis. When after a while a casting director happened to be present, Beckett was hired for Hollywood . In 1933, at the age of four, he made his debut in the children's film Gallant Lady alongside Dickie Moore . Beckett's father died that same year. In 1934 Beckett was hired for Die kleine Trolche . Under his real name he played the best friend and partner of George "Spanky" McFarland , and Carl Switzer later took on a similar role as Alfalfa. His trademark with the little rascals was a crooked cap and an oversized, somewhat tattered sweater. Before he left the Little Rascals, he worked in 16 films in the series.

Beckett then focused on a career as a child actor in feature films. He played alongside Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland in the adventure film The Treason of Surat Khan and alongside Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in My Favorite Woman . In 1939 he returned to the little thugs in guest appearances for the films Cousin Wilbur and Dog Daze , playing Alfalfa's cousin Wilbur. In 1944 he played the younger self of the title character in Ali Baba and the Forty Robbers and in 1946 the entertainer Al Jolson as a youth in the biography The Jazz Singer . Puberty did not seem to jeopardize his career and his accomplishments received critical acclaim. In parallel to his film work, he attended high school in Los Angeles from 1943 and appeared on stage in theater plays on Broadway .

Career kink and social decline

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As he entered adulthood, Beckett was a popular party guest, accompanied by Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor , among others . In 1948 he was charged with drunk driving, but was able to avoid imprisonment on bail. He spent the money he earned as a child with full hands. The film offerings also suffered from this behavior, which was followed by a descent into criminality.

In September 1949 Beckett announced his engagement to tennis player Beverly Baker , whom he married a few days later on September 28, 1949. The marriage ended in divorce after five months on February 5, 1950.

In 1951 he met the actress Sunny Vickers and began a relationship with her. Vickers accidentally became pregnant. Because of the conservative mood in America in the 1950s, which did not allow children out of wedlock, the couple married on June 27, 1951 in Phoenix, Arizona . Five months later, on November 6, 1951, Scott Hastings Beckett Jr. was born. Between 1952 and 1954 Beckett was only seen in two B-movies .

In February 1954, Beckett was suspected of a robbery when the Cavalier Hotel in Hollywood was robbed and Beckett was picked up with a gun and knife near the crime scene. Beckett was released again on bail because the loot could not be found on him. Beckett then fled to Mexico with his wife and child and tried to start a new life under the false name of Sean Bullock .

In Mexico, Sunny and Scotty Beckett were soon arrested for check fraud and extradited to the United States in September 1954 after four months in prison. After pleading "guilty", he was sentenced to only three years probation. In early 1955 he was arrested again in Las Vegas for a counterfeit check .

Due to his criminal past, there were no film offers and Beckett began to study medicine. However, he quickly broke off his studies when he managed to get small film roles in relatively unknown westerns .

In February 1957, Beckett was caught importing drugs on the Mexican-American border . On February 15, 1957, he divorced his wife Sunny. After custody of six-year-old Scotty junior was granted to the mother, Beckett committed a suicide attempt.

In April 1959 he was arrested again for drunk driving and was seriously injured in a traffic accident caused by alcohol in August of the same year, and was henceforth dependent on crutches.

On February 17, 1961, Beckett married Margaret C. Sabo, who brought a daughter into the marriage. In September 1963, Beckett was arrested again after threatening to shoot his neighbor in an argument. Three days later, Beckett made his second suicide attempt by cutting open his wrist. Margaret Beckett then left him, but the marriage did not end in divorce. A few weeks later, Beckett was intoxicated with his stepdaughter and became violent when she tried to get some belongings from the shared apartment.

death

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
It is not clear from sources that he was beaten up for a drug deal that had failed. There is nothing about this in the linked newspaper reports in the EN article. You can find texts that seem to prove this, but all copy & paste, and the origin is unclear.

On May 8, 1968, Beckett checked into the Royal Palms Hotel , a nursing home in Hollywood. He was beaten up in the street after a drug deal broke. Two days later, on May 10, 1968, he was found dead in his room. The coroner later found barbituric acid in his blood . On the third attempt to take his own life, he was finally successful. Scotty Beckett was only 38 years old. He is buried in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery.

reception

Leonard Maltin described Beckett's biography as the saddest fate of a Hollywood child star.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Scotty Beckett's appearance as Al Joson in the review
personal data
SURNAME Beckett, Scotty
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Beckett, Scott Hastings
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film actor
DATE OF BIRTH October 4, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Oakland , California , USA
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1968
Place of death Los Angeles , California , USA