Frankie Darro
Frankie Darro ( born December 22, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois, † December 25, 1976 in Huntington Beach, California; actually Frank Johnson Jr.) was an American film actor.
Life
Frankie Darro was born in 1917 the son of Frank and Ada Johnson (born Seigest ) in Chicago. Through his parents, who appeared as "The Flying Johnsons " on the trapeze in the circus, Darro rose early one into show business. With six years he worked in his first film. There followed a series of silent films such as Little Mickey Grogan (1927) and The Circus Kid ( 1928), with whom he became a child star. Due to his small stature and his youthful appearance of only 1.60 meters tall actor was still occupied with over 20 as a teenager. He was also often seen as a jockey, for example in The Marx Brothers: A Day at the Races ( A Day at the Races, 1937). In most cases, however, he played boys who go off the rails, such as in the B- movie Juvenile Court (1938 ), where he played the leader of a gang and the brother of Rita Hayworth. Characteristic of this was his always hoarse voice, which also came in a speaking role in Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio 1940 used.
As he grew older, Darro received only a few offers, which is why he had to keep during the 1940s with small roles in productions inferior to water and worked as a stunt double at the end of the decade. In the 1950s he worked only sporadically in film productions, such as a robot Robby in the science fiction film Forbidden Planet (Forbidden Planet, 1956) or as a slave in Cecil B. DeMille's monumental epic The Ten Commandments ( The Ten Commandments, 1956). By 1975, however, he was repeatedly seen in the U.S. television series, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Perry Mason, The Addams Family and Batman.
From his first wife Aloha Wray 1941, he was divorced. With his second wife, Betty, who in 1951 filed for divorce, he had a daughter, Darlene. Frankie Darro died in 1976 at the age of 59 of a heart attack when he visited friends in Huntington Beach, California. His ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean.