Some child actors possess natural talent (the Fanning sisters), some have fantastic performances coaxed out of them (Tatum O'Neal), and some are cloying (Shirley Temple). Who do you think is the best of all time? Vote for one of these or comment with your own choice, y'all.
Best Child Actor Ever
by Anonymous | reply 157 | July 31, 2025 11:19 PM |
Alfred Lutter, duh
by Anonymous | reply 1 | April 19, 2022 4:10 AM |
Not Tatum O'Neal. Eww.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | April 19, 2022 4:11 AM |
NONE of these.
i would vote for Victoire Thivisol, who played the title role in "Ponette."
by Anonymous | reply 3 | April 19, 2022 4:12 AM |
Billy Mumy
by Anonymous | reply 4 | April 19, 2022 4:12 AM |
Pamelyn Ferdin
by Anonymous | reply 5 | April 19, 2022 4:14 AM |
Henry Thomas in E.T.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | April 19, 2022 4:15 AM |
Quinn Cummings
by Anonymous | reply 7 | April 19, 2022 4:15 AM |
Also, the kid from Big Little Lies. He was incredible.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | April 19, 2022 4:16 AM |
R3 But she wasn’t that great in Chocolat.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | April 19, 2022 4:17 AM |
What about Bonnie Blue from GWTW? What about Cousin Oliver from Brady Brunch? What about Pia Zadora in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians?
by Anonymous | reply 10 | April 19, 2022 4:19 AM |
What about the Culkins? What about Jacob Tremblay?
by Anonymous | reply 11 | April 19, 2022 4:21 AM |
Kim Fields
by Anonymous | reply 12 | April 19, 2022 4:23 AM |
Haley Joel Eisenberg
by Anonymous | reply 13 | April 19, 2022 4:24 AM |
Kim Richards
by Anonymous | reply 14 | April 19, 2022 4:24 AM |
I was gonna ask about Elizabeth Taylor, who is obviously the greatest, but then I started thinking about Linda Blair ramming a crucifix into her va-jayjay and being raped by a broom handle in a TV movie so I voted for her.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | April 19, 2022 4:24 AM |
^she was also convincing as a teen alkie. And later convincing on roller skates.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | April 19, 2022 4:26 AM |
Baby Vance
by Anonymous | reply 17 | April 19, 2022 4:27 AM |
I recently rewatched "The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane" (a movie that could NEVER be made today) and Jodie Foster turned in a completely formed adult performance and matched Alexis Smith line for line. Scott Jacoby, never a great actor, really suffered in comparison to Jodie.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | April 19, 2022 4:48 AM |
Ana Torrent
by Anonymous | reply 19 | April 19, 2022 5:06 AM |
Bobs Watson - The Story of Alexander Graham Bell 53:00-56:05
Honorable mention: Danny Lloyd: The Shining Henry Thomas: Raggedy Man & ET Tyler Hoechlin: The Road to Perdition
by Anonymous | reply 20 | April 19, 2022 5:07 AM |
Dean Stockwell
Christian Bale
Elijah Wood
by Anonymous | reply 22 | April 19, 2022 5:41 AM |
Kristen Stewart
by Anonymous | reply 23 | April 19, 2022 5:50 AM |
Ricky Schroeder
by Anonymous | reply 24 | April 19, 2022 5:54 AM |
Where the fuck is Nicholas Hoult? He's such a rare gem among boy actors.
by Anonymous | reply 25 | April 19, 2022 5:56 AM |
Freddie Bartholomew
by Anonymous | reply 26 | April 19, 2022 6:07 AM |
Christian Bale, Empire of the Sun
by Anonymous | reply 27 | April 19, 2022 6:11 AM |
R25 Because he was only good when he was little?
by Anonymous | reply 28 | April 19, 2022 7:07 AM |
Asa Butterfield?
by Anonymous | reply 29 | April 19, 2022 7:18 AM |
R25, oh, please. Now that we know you don't have any streaming subscriptions.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | April 19, 2022 7:26 AM |
Jodie shits all over all others.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | April 19, 2022 7:32 AM |
The little girl in "Annette" was amazing. Stole the movie.
by Anonymous | reply 32 | April 19, 2022 7:49 AM |
The Fanning horrors are by far the worst.
by Anonymous | reply 33 | April 19, 2022 7:52 AM |
Natalie Portman in Leon The Professional. She was funny, believable and not irritating.
by Anonymous | reply 34 | April 19, 2022 8:03 AM |
The children in Moonlight and The Florida Project were natural and believable. Most child actors make me want to vomit.
by Anonymous | reply 35 | April 19, 2022 8:28 AM |
Hands down, Sydney Lucas in her performance of Fun Home, this song portrays the impressive range that she has, but she sustained this level throughout the whole show. She was breathtaking to watch and listen too and she did it all effortlessly.
by Anonymous | reply 36 | April 19, 2022 9:15 AM |
Any one of these are better than the ones listed:
Matthew Stymie Beard
Virginia Weidler
Spanky McFarland
Alfalfa Schweitzer
Mickey Rooney
Judy Garland
by Anonymous | reply 37 | April 19, 2022 9:23 AM |
Natalie Wood - Miracle on 34th Street. Her performance propelled the entire story.
by Anonymous | reply 38 | April 19, 2022 9:29 AM |
Jodie Foster is great.
But a poll that does not include the inimitable Hayley Mills and Patty Duke is meaningless. Personal favorite, more of a teen actor, Elinor Donahue.
by Anonymous | reply 39 | April 19, 2022 9:44 AM |
Kirsten Dunst
Mickey Rooney
Hayley Mills
To name three who should be on the list.
by Anonymous | reply 40 | April 19, 2022 9:54 AM |
And Roddy Macdowell, whose beautiful young performances on films like How Green Was My Valley are often forgotten.
by Anonymous | reply 41 | April 19, 2022 9:57 AM |
How can you even call this a list without Buck Mother Fucking Wheat?
Billie Thomas, AKA Buckwheat!
by Anonymous | reply 42 | April 19, 2022 10:12 AM |
"Best Child Actor Ever"
The ones who say, "Yes", to a pool party invitation.
by Anonymous | reply 43 | April 19, 2022 10:21 AM |
Ronnie Howard best
Larry Matthews worst
by Anonymous | reply 44 | April 19, 2022 10:37 AM |
Thora Birch. She was the little girl in Patriot Games and the skeptical girl in the Miracle on 34th Street remake. She was in a film with Elijah Wood called "Paradise." Great little film.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | April 19, 2022 11:12 AM |
r45 Mara Wilson was in Miracle on 34th Street. Thora Birch was in a non-classic called All I want for Christmas.
by Anonymous | reply 46 | April 19, 2022 11:55 AM |
Though as far as I know she only ever made one film as a child Mary Badham in To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the greats.
by Anonymous | reply 47 | April 19, 2022 12:48 PM |
Drew Barrymore.
by Anonymous | reply 48 | April 19, 2022 8:34 PM |
Lindsey Lohan
The Bitch played twins when she was only 11!
by Anonymous | reply 49 | April 21, 2022 12:04 PM |
^^^^^ Lindsay Lohan
by Anonymous | reply 50 | April 21, 2022 12:05 PM |
Single performance, Patty McCormack in 'The Bad Seed"
by Anonymous | reply 51 | April 21, 2022 12:28 PM |
Virginia Weidler. Mara Wilson.
by Anonymous | reply 52 | April 21, 2022 12:36 PM |
Mara Wilson was the best part of the remake but the movie itself was poor.
by Anonymous | reply 53 | April 21, 2022 1:43 PM |
I'm thinking Jodie Foster, but I'm also glad someone mentioned Elijah Wood and Patty Duke.
by Anonymous | reply 54 | April 21, 2022 2:46 PM |
Jacob Tremblay is very good.
by Anonymous | reply 55 | July 27, 2025 3:54 PM |
The Claude kid with the deer and Gregory Peck.
by Anonymous | reply 56 | July 27, 2025 4:05 PM |
Hunter Carson, Karen Black's son was really good in Paris, Texas. It was his first role. He wasn't in anything significant afterwards
by Anonymous | reply 57 | July 27, 2025 4:21 PM |
Kristy McNichol. She could convey six different emotions before uttering a single line.
by Anonymous | reply 58 | July 27, 2025 4:21 PM |
Patty McCormack and Patty Duke gave complex, powerhouse performances in the movies for which each was nominated for the Oscar, with Duke winning in 1963. They each also had pretty good careers as adult actors, and each could jump between comedy and drama. Jodie Foster was a good actor as a child, but she comes across as cold and humorless as an adult actor.
by Anonymous | reply 59 | July 27, 2025 4:55 PM |
JUDY FUCKING GARLAND, OP. GFY.
by Anonymous | reply 60 | July 27, 2025 5:02 PM |
R3, it’s a fucking amazing performance. Genuinely staggering.
by Anonymous | reply 61 | July 27, 2025 5:02 PM |
Jodie was incredible in Taxi Driver
Kirsten Dunst was great in Interview With the Vampire and Little Women
by Anonymous | reply 62 | July 27, 2025 5:04 PM |
Abigail Breslin
by Anonymous | reply 65 | July 27, 2025 5:10 PM |
Glad to see Jodie is leading the poll. Her run of performances in the 70s will probably never be equalled. And I think her performance in Taxi Driver is the best juvenile performance committed to film.
by Anonymous | reply 66 | July 27, 2025 5:11 PM |
Anna Pauquin in The Piano
by Anonymous | reply 67 | July 27, 2025 5:12 PM |
Claude Jarman, Jr from The Yearling was a good child actor
by Anonymous | reply 68 | July 27, 2025 5:12 PM |
People toss around 'child star' way too loosely. Shirley Temple wasn’t just a child star, she was a full-blown industry. Between the ages of 3 and 10, she made 29 films. Not YouTube shorts, not commercials, actual feature-length Hollywood movies. That kind of output from a kid is unheard of.
And she wasn’t just working, she was 'carrying' the studio. Adjusted for inflation, her films pulled in around 3 BILLION dollars. Billion. With a B. During the Depression. She kept Fox Studios alive when no one else could.
No other kid before or since has done that. Not even close. And for the record, I’m not even a Shirley Temple fan. Not my thing. But facts are facts.
by Anonymous | reply 69 | July 27, 2025 5:14 PM |
Yeah, what R59 said!
Literally, Helen Keller could tell you the answer to this question, OP.
by Anonymous | reply 70 | July 27, 2025 5:15 PM |
r69, Shirley Temple's box office success that little to do with whether she was a good child actor or not.
For example, Barbara Cartland sold 500 million books, but that does not make her one of the greatest novelists of all time.
by Anonymous | reply 71 | July 27, 2025 5:19 PM |
6.1 percent you motherfuckers? At least more of you voted for me than my sister. I think it's rather hilarious that Miss Flabigail Breslin did not make OP's list. Thank fucking Christ for that.
by Anonymous | reply 72 | July 27, 2025 5:21 PM |
And your mother sucks donkey dicks in hell, R33.
by Anonymous | reply 73 | July 27, 2025 5:23 PM |
Welp, I’ve gone full Shirley spiral rabbit hole, curls, dimples, and all:
People forget just how freakishly talented Shirley Temple was. This wasn’t just a cute kid smiling on cue, she was singing on pitch, tap dancing in complex routines, and acting circles around adults. It was reported she picked up Bill Robinson’s choreography just by LISTENING to his FEET.
by Anonymous | reply 74 | July 27, 2025 5:24 PM |
Shirley Temple wasn't much of a child actress. She just mugged a lot for the camera.
But she was a GREAT child dancer. That and being exceptionally adorable were her genuine talents.
Here she is dancing with Buddy Ebsen in "Captain January." (I will also give that she can stay more or less on pitch while he cannot.)
by Anonymous | reply 75 | July 27, 2025 5:33 PM |
Chiming in for Dean Stockwell.
Loved Connie Marshall, too. Her performance as a physically abused child in Daisy Kenyon was outstanding.
And let's not forget Billy Gray.
by Anonymous | reply 76 | July 27, 2025 5:58 PM |
Judy Garland.
Elizabeth Taylor.
Roddy McDowall.
Margaret O'Brien was pretty great (Orson Welles thought so).
Peggy Ann Garner.
Claude Jarman, Jr.
Ivan Jandl (the kid in The Search, w/ Montgomery Clift.) Won a special Oscar.
Dean Stockwell.
by Anonymous | reply 77 | July 27, 2025 6:00 PM |
That kid in A Thousand Clowns was so good, too.
Barry Gordon (had to look him up).
by Anonymous | reply 78 | July 27, 2025 6:01 PM |
Brandon deWilde, especially in SHANE, was an outstanding really young actor.
by Anonymous | reply 79 | July 27, 2025 6:34 PM |
Brooke Shields
Regina King
Jackie Cooper
Roddy McDowall
Baby Peggy
Ethan Cutkosky
Malcolm-Jamal Warner
All the "Little Rascals" (including Petey)
by Anonymous | reply 80 | July 27, 2025 6:36 PM |
Connie Marshall was weird and zombie-like but effective.
by Anonymous | reply 81 | July 27, 2025 6:39 PM |
Melissa Gilbert wasn't bad.
The old-movie child actors seemed better, though.
by Anonymous | reply 82 | July 27, 2025 6:42 PM |
Natalie Wood.
by Anonymous | reply 84 | July 27, 2025 6:43 PM |
Jean-Pierre Léaud, in The 400 Blows.
Brilliant.
by Anonymous | reply 85 | July 27, 2025 6:44 PM |
C. Thomas Howell in The Outsiders.
by Anonymous | reply 86 | July 27, 2025 6:45 PM |
Martin Stephens in The Innocents 1961 and Village of the Damned 1960
by Anonymous | reply 87 | July 27, 2025 6:53 PM |
I can't believe Margaret O'Brien has received so little attention for where performance as hypochondriac, chronic liar and general psycho in Meet Me In St. Louis. Granted, she was hammy as hell but her scenes with Judy Garland were quite good.
By the time she was in Little Women, her cute affectation had become tiresome. She made Beth even more insufferable than she already was. I can see why she never became an adult actor. But Tootie is still a great performance.
by Anonymous | reply 88 | July 27, 2025 7:08 PM |
Only one brief mention of Peggy Ann Garner, by far the best child actor of the classic period?
She was a plain, blond little girl, with a direct, open way with a line and an expressive face that showed every emotion. Great in her brief role in “Jane Eyre,” her finest hour is probably “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.” She’s fun as the adolescent girl at the center of “Junior Miss,” but to see her as an adult actor is to see a conventionally down-to-earth character not-very-pretty actress who along the way had lost the freshness of her early work. She’s terrible and looks ghastly in the Technicolor film noir murder mystery “Black Widow.”
When studying acting as an adult, she got the idea her early work and technique was bad and that she wasn’t a ‘real’ actress. Her first husband actor Albert Salmi was a major underminer. And she died young. It’s a pity.
by Anonymous | reply 89 | July 27, 2025 7:09 PM |
Macaulay Culkin. Box office receipts, anyone?
by Anonymous | reply 90 | July 27, 2025 7:10 PM |
Recently I watched "Carnage," a purposely stage-y version of the stage play. Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz and Jodie Foster were the stars. All were terrific, but, yes, Jodie stole the thing. She's always been a character actor who gets leading lady parts.
by Anonymous | reply 91 | July 27, 2025 7:41 PM |
Margaret O'Brien was very good in Our Vines Have Tender Grapes. She was also good as June Allyson's little sister in Music For Millions. Considering she could have been very annoying with that voice of hers, she wasn't.
by Anonymous | reply 92 | July 27, 2025 7:53 PM |
Jane Powell was pretty good, too, though she was better as an adult.
by Anonymous | reply 93 | July 27, 2025 7:55 PM |
Fuck Jacob Tremblay!
by Anonymous | reply 94 | July 27, 2025 8:15 PM |
Sparky McFarland was such a natural when he was a little guy. He grew out of his naturalness as he aged up, but he was such a personality!
Same for Matthew “Stymie” Beard. Dickie Moore, Beard’s “Our Gang” costar and best friend, was also an actor of some depth at a young age.
All of them are in the short I attached.
by Anonymous | reply 95 | July 27, 2025 8:42 PM |
R94. I accept that challenge!
by Anonymous | reply 96 | July 27, 2025 9:19 PM |
Did Jodie Foster give many great performances as a child? She was a teen by the time Taxi Driver came out. She was great in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane.
Anything else pre-teenage years?
by Anonymous | reply 97 | July 28, 2025 2:05 AM |
Financial notes on some child actors, post-Coogan Act:
Although taxes were paid on Hayley Mills' earnings from 1959-1966 the British equivalent of the I.R.S. took over 90% of this income. She fought them for seven years to no avail.
When Shirley Temple retired in the late 1940s, she found that her father had squandered her income and she was left with very little.
Johnny Whitaker (Family Affair) income enhanced his family's lifestyle. I think he was left with nothing.
by Anonymous | reply 99 | July 28, 2025 6:11 AM |
David Henesy as "David Collins" in Dark Shadows (1966-70)
277 episodes of scripts that he had to perform live-to-tape.
by Anonymous | reply 100 | July 28, 2025 6:18 AM |
What about Kristen Dunst? She matched Tom Cruise & Brad Pitt (no big lift I know, but still) note for note in Interview With A Vampire
by Anonymous | reply 101 | July 28, 2025 7:47 AM |
And can we acknowledge that David Henesy has his lines down as compared to, say Joan Bennett or Jonathan Frid?
by Anonymous | reply 103 | July 28, 2025 10:13 AM |
The correct answer is Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz. Next: Jackie Cooper in The Champ
by Anonymous | reply 104 | July 28, 2025 10:45 AM |
Scott Jacoby won an Emmy as a kid in the groundbreaking TV movie That Certain Summer.
He was also great in The Little Girl who Lives Down the Lane.
by Anonymous | reply 105 | July 28, 2025 11:47 AM |
Rodney Allen Rippy
by Anonymous | reply 106 | July 28, 2025 11:50 AM |
Mason Reese
by Anonymous | reply 107 | July 28, 2025 11:50 AM |
Hayley Mills
Pamela Franklin
by Anonymous | reply 108 | July 28, 2025 12:29 PM |
Noah Jupe was really good in Wonder and A Quiet Place
by Anonymous | reply 109 | July 28, 2025 12:47 PM |
WHAT? This is DL and we do not even nominate the star of the most watched movie in the WORLD? For God sakes, Judy Garland owns this thread. Period!
by Anonymous | reply 110 | July 28, 2025 12:49 PM |
Jane Withers, I would also like to mention that I sold a caftan to Margaret O'Brien.
by Anonymous | reply 111 | July 28, 2025 2:09 PM |
Brad Renfro.
Even the Bryan Singer trolls seem to have forgotten him.
by Anonymous | reply 112 | July 28, 2025 2:20 PM |
Dickie Moore eventually married Jane Powell when they were older.
by Anonymous | reply 113 | July 28, 2025 2:52 PM |
Billy Chapin. The kid in The Night of the Hunter. Brother of Father Knows Best's Lauren Chapin.
by Anonymous | reply 114 | July 28, 2025 2:55 PM |
George "Foghorn" Winslow
by Anonymous | reply 115 | July 28, 2025 2:56 PM |
Baby Leroy
by Anonymous | reply 116 | July 28, 2025 3:01 PM |
Baby Peggy
by Anonymous | reply 117 | July 28, 2025 3:12 PM |
Jodie was 12 when Taxi Driver was shot.
by Anonymous | reply 118 | July 28, 2025 3:15 PM |
I don't know if he was the best child actor ever but I've never forgotten Enzo Staiola who, at the age of 8, played the role of the son in Vittorio de Sicca 1948 film, BICYCLES THIEVES. The last scene where he holds his (humiliated) father's hand still brings tears to my eyes every time. I just watched it and I am crying. Beautiful raw performances by both actors rarely, if ever, seen in a Hollywood movie.
by Anonymous | reply 119 | July 28, 2025 3:17 PM |
R69 not to mention, Shirley Temple (b. 1928) was the #1 movie star for 4 straight years -- 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938.
In 1934 she was #8, and in 1939 she was #5.
by Anonymous | reply 120 | July 28, 2025 3:17 PM |
I like that baby who was always playing with sharp knives in the Icicle Thief.
by Anonymous | reply 122 | July 28, 2025 3:21 PM |
The kid in Summertime with Katharine Hepburn was good.
by Anonymous | reply 123 | July 28, 2025 3:22 PM |
Just saw this on MSN right now. Published 11 hrs ago. Kristy McNichol. 62. "Nearly unrecognizable." They say. I think I'd recognize her.
by Anonymous | reply 124 | July 28, 2025 3:24 PM |
Of course there was Bobby (Robert) Blake. He was actually a very good child actor (in Treasure of the Sierra Madre and a lot of other movies of the time.)
by Anonymous | reply 125 | July 28, 2025 3:26 PM |
That documentary about her (and with her), Wait for Your Laugh, is really great. (Rose Marie.)
by Anonymous | reply 127 | July 28, 2025 3:29 PM |
Jackie Coogan in "The Kid." More than held his old vs Chaplin.
Here he is in a Criterion interview from later in life, reflecting on the film.
by Anonymous | reply 128 | July 28, 2025 3:29 PM |
Manuel Padilla
by Anonymous | reply 129 | July 28, 2025 3:29 PM |
No love for Mara Hobel? You little homosexual boys are slipping.
by Anonymous | reply 130 | July 28, 2025 3:31 PM |
Why can't posters just nominate someone they like rather than tediously complain that other people haven't nominated that person before ("you bitches are slipping")?
by Anonymous | reply 131 | July 28, 2025 3:37 PM |
[quote]Patty McCormack and Patty Duke gave complex, powerhouse performances in the movies for which each was nominated for the Oscar, with Duke winning in 1963. They each also had pretty good careers as adult actors, and each could jump between comedy and drama.
Incidentally, Patty McCormack was the first to play Helen Keller in William Gibson's THE MIRACLE WORKER when it premiered on television in 1957 on the CBS anthology drama series PLAYHOUSE 90.
Teresa Wright co-starred as Anne Sullivan.
The program was so well-received, they decided to bring it to Broadway in 1959.
Both Wright and McCormack were unavailable, so Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke were cast instead.
And the rest is history.
by Anonymous | reply 132 | July 28, 2025 3:43 PM |
Casted
by Anonymous | reply 133 | July 28, 2025 3:46 PM |
Mickey Rooney
by Anonymous | reply 134 | July 28, 2025 4:11 PM |
Freddie Bartholomew
by Anonymous | reply 135 | July 28, 2025 4:12 PM |
Coogan also gets extra credit (in my book) for growing up to 1) sue his parents for mismanaging his childhood earnings in the landmark case that became the California Child Actor's Bill (i.e. "The Coogan Law") and 2) become the very first Uncle Fester on TV's "Addams Family."
by Anonymous | reply 136 | July 28, 2025 4:24 PM |
Jackie Cooper
by Anonymous | reply 137 | July 28, 2025 4:33 PM |
Jackie Coogan said playing Uncle Fester was his favorite role.
If you want to read a good book about the child stars of yore, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (But Don’t Have Sex or Take the Car) by Dickie Moore is wonderful. He became a journalist later in life and wrote this book in the early 80s. He was the last person to interview Natalie Wood.
by Anonymous | reply 138 | July 28, 2025 4:58 PM |
Jackie Coogan's first wife was Betty Grable, who was the biggest female film star during the WW2 era.
by Anonymous | reply 139 | July 28, 2025 5:08 PM |
One of the greatest performances by a child (although it became understood it wasn't so much of a performance as a real life depiction) was Fernando Ramos Da Silva in Babenco's "Pixote". Canby said he had one of the most expressive faces ever on screen. Even though the movie was not shot chronologically, his sweet innocent face grows harder, angrier as the movie progresses.
by Anonymous | reply 140 | July 28, 2025 5:09 PM |
[quote]Baby Rose Marie
My 102 year old mother has an autographed photo of Baby Rose Marie. Kept it all these years.
by Anonymous | reply 142 | July 28, 2025 8:27 PM |
R138 another great one is Hollywood’s Children by Diana Serra Carey aka Baby Peggy.
by Anonymous | reply 143 | July 28, 2025 9:40 PM |
Enzo Staiola is also the first I think of when this question comes up—and not just for the final scenes—so I was sad to read he died at the beginning of last month.
by Anonymous | reply 144 | July 28, 2025 10:11 PM |
It pains me to say it, but Jackie Coogan's star turn in "The Kid" wasn't the only memorable, if darkly auspicious, performance by a child actor in that film.
Lita Grey appears as the "Flirting Angel" who woos Chaplin during the Dreamland sequence ("Sin creeps in." "Vamp Him!"). Twelve years old at the time (in 1921), she became physically involved with him 3 years later, and he married her the following year (when she was 16 and he was 35). It's really uncomfortable to see the clip in this day and age, because she plainly looks like a kid.
A very hazardous profession with no protection for kids, and total immunity for those with star power and studio pull (as Chaplin had in spades at that time).
by Anonymous | reply 145 | July 28, 2025 10:20 PM |
...Also, can't believe we've made to 146 replies in this thread, and DL hasn't yet mentioned the performance by Huckleberry Fox in "Terms of Endearment."
by Anonymous | reply 146 | July 28, 2025 10:24 PM |
Jodie has been great since the start. I wish she'd make another film, she deserves another Oscar as much as Katherine Heipburn.
by Anonymous | reply 147 | July 28, 2025 10:30 PM |
Was bored, threw the show on just to have something in the background while I cleaned up. Next thing I know, I'm glued to the screen, totally transfixed. Watching on HBO, though I think it's airing elsewhere too.
Only thing I can't wrap my head around: how the hell were people holding up their phones filming all that chaos? I'd have dropped mine in pure terror.
by Anonymous | reply 148 | July 29, 2025 12:41 AM |
^^Oops wrong thread^^
by Anonymous | reply 149 | July 29, 2025 12:43 AM |
Kodi Smit-McPhee in The Road
by Anonymous | reply 150 | July 29, 2025 12:50 AM |
I picked Jodie Foster, but imo I think it's Christian Bale. As someone posted above watch him in Empire of the Sun.
by Anonymous | reply 151 | July 29, 2025 1:07 AM |
There’s also Owen Cooper, the kid in Netflix’s “Adolescence.” He is amazing and could win an Emmy this season.
by Anonymous | reply 152 | July 29, 2025 2:59 AM |
Another for Henry Thomas in E.T.
by Anonymous | reply 153 | July 29, 2025 3:19 AM |
Owen Cooper, I have a feeling he's going to win the Emmy.
by Anonymous | reply 154 | July 31, 2025 7:59 PM |
R90: Stymie!! As a lover of artichokes (from the time I was a little kid), the line from Little Rascals that has stuck with me for 50+ years: "It may have choked Artie, but it ain't goin' choke Stymie!"
by Anonymous | reply 155 | July 31, 2025 9:22 PM |
Oops, meant to type R95 above.....
by Anonymous | reply 156 | July 31, 2025 9:23 PM |
Reply 20 (re: Alexander Graham Bell movie), in the 40s, when you made a call, one would say. "I gotta make a quick Ameche."
by Anonymous | reply 157 | July 31, 2025 11:19 PM |