Whom Do You Consider The Greatest Kid Actor In Movie History? Not TV. Repeat: No TV

Christian Bale in [italic]Empire of the Sun[/italic] is worth seeing.

Gary Coleman

Soliel Moon Frye

Lindsay Lohan. I still love her performance in The Parent Trap. She lit up the screen.

Anna Paquin

Certainly not Tatum O’Neal

Dakota Fanning. Probably the best at the youngest age.

Kristen Dunst in Interview With a Vampire

Roddy McDowall. Not just a beautiful sweet boy but had a great lifetime career. It's maybe unfortunate his most known role is Cornelius, but he gave that chimp his all and sold that franchise.

R1

Coogan and McDowall.

Honorable mention to Haley Joel Osmet. All three more sophisticated than most child actors.

Coogan's money was stolen by his mother and stepfather, resulting in Coogan's law, to protect future child actors. I'm still mad at Roddy for shelving his memoirs for 100 years, r8, but I agree with you you completely on every count.

Haley Joel Osment.

Had zero interest in seeing "Pollyanna" but Hayley Mills was coming to CHILLER in Jersey and she won the Oscar for it so I bought and had her sign it. A few weeks later I decided to give it a try but surprise, not only is it a terrific movie, she truly did give a great performance

Last week I met Patty McCormack and had "The Bad Seed" signed.

But I have to vote for Patty Duke who I also met and have "The Miracle Worker" signed.

Dean Stockwell was great in "The Boy with Green Hair" and "The Secret Garden." I think he was 11: both were big, interesting roles and he never seemed like an cloying Hollywood brat. Butch Jenkins had a narrow range, but was a natural, especially good in "Our Vines Have Tender Grapes." Sarah Pickering was unforgettable in the title role of "Little Dorrit"; she never made another movie.

Mason Reese - without question

Lauren Chapin

I would think Kristy MacNichol on FAMILY.

Or DL icon Anissa Jones?

There's actually been quite a few.

Came to say Christian Bale, like r1, but I'm not 87 years old, so this thread is probably not for me.

Also the kid in Bicycle Thieves, don't know his name.

Hayley, Patty D, and Tatum

Mickey Rooney

Hayley for sure. Still love her, but also Freddie Bartholomew.

Connie Marshall is my all-time favorite. Outsanding child actress with a natural line delivery and gift for sensitive expression. Her sad eyes remind me a bit of Gail Russell. She was touching in Daisy Kenyon as the little girl whose upper-middle class mother beats her in secret.

Henry Thomas

Mary Badham’s best scene—at her most natural with Gregory Peck

Tatum O’Neal in Paper Moon .

Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver.

Daniel Radcliffe.

Greatest? Shirley Temple, hands down. There will never be another child who could repeat lines and learn dance steps at age 3.

Didn’t her parents shave a year off her age?

Mickey Rooney was great in "The Human Comedy".

[quote]Greatest? Shirley Temple, hands down. There will never be another child who could repeat lines and learn dance steps at age 3.

She was a very fine performer, r29, but not a great actress.

As much as I hate to say it, Leonardo in, "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?". Then it all went downhill from there.

It is Shirley Temple. In one of those dreadful "past Oscar winner" things they used to do, the audience roars for only one star: Shirley Temple at around 10:10.

Another vote for Mickey Rooney.

R32 Good point,

That doesn't take anything away from her remarkable skills, r37, regardless of whether her parents shaved off a year or two. She was a seriously talented little tyke.

I'm r10 as well, but I have to agree with those who mentioned Jodie Foster and Tatum O'Neal.

I have never been impressed by Mickey Rooney.

Good thread topic, OP, thanks!

Fun Fact:: Elle Fanning played sister Dakota's younger character in 'I Am Sam.'

Shirley Temple.

Her success, long career until puberty and her not being able to adapt her style, Her being the biggest thing in the industry, and for her knowing when to do other things.

She did a TV show, Shirley Temple's Storybook, 1958-1961, which I loved as a kid.

Don't know who is the greatest, but Virginia Weidler is great in 'The Philadelphia Story,' stealing every scene she's in with Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. She was in 46 (!) other movies before retiring at age 16 (!!),

R31. I have always been a fan of Mickey Rooney and think he is underrated as an actor, but my favorite performances of his were ones he gave as an adult—The Human Comedy the best among them. It’s really a wonderful film. Sentimental, yes, but real and earned sentiment.

Add Milo Machado Graner to the list. He’s amazing in Anatomy of a Fall.

Freddie Highmore. Hayden Panettiere was also a fantastic child actress.

Hugh O'Conor gave a wonderful performance as the young Christy Brown in My Left Foot, he didn't have the screen time that Danile Day Lewis did, but he was equally as effective in her performance as DDL. O'Conor was also in a little seen Irish film released a couple years before that with Liam Neeson about an Irish borstal school called Lamb, where he was also impressive.

Cannot believe no one has mentioned Jodie Foster's performance in Taxi Driver. One of the greatest performances by an actor (adult or child, male or female) on film. I have been pretty underwhelmed with Jodie's performances as an adult, if for no other reason than she lacks warmth and hasn't the slightest hint of sexual chemistry with any co-star male or female (I haven't seen Nyad, yet) but she could be quite poignant as a child.

Freddie Bartholomew - brilliant in Captains Courageous, David Copperfield, and Anna Karenina. Became an executive and lived in Leonia, New Jersey.

Dean Stockwell - this kid was amazing. Especially in Gentlemen’s Agreement and a kind of western remake of Captains Courageous called Cattle Drive, or something.

Ivan Jandl in The Search, with Montgomery Clift.

Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet, and her bit in Jane Eyre.

Judy Garland in her early movies.

Margaret O’Brien in that great scene in a train berth with June Allyson in Music For Millions, and in Our Vines Have tender Grapes.

I mean, if we're looking by a single performance.. Sarah Polley was only 17 when she did The Sweet Hereafter. Scarjo was 17 in Lost in Translation.

Anissa Jones in the first season of “Family Affair” was simply amazing. Just raw emotion. Considering how tragic her life was, I’m not sure she was acting.

Kristy McNichol was very natural and talented child actor, and Ivan Jandl in the Montgomery Clift movie “The Search” gives one of the great child performances in motion picture history. And when Opie accidentally kills a bird on “The Andy Griffith Show,” Ronny Howard breaks me up every time.

Virginia Weidler who I adore in The Philadelphia Story; I had no idea she was in so many films and then retired at 16.

Her Wiki page includes this bit of information: After her retirement, Weidler gave no interviews for the remainder of her life. She was married to Krisel until her death at age 41 at her Los Angeles home on July 1, 1968. She had suffered from a heart ailment for many years and died of a heart attack.

Wow...

Gary Coleman

Rodney Allen Rippy

R47, is 17 really a kid? I know they would have to sign a minor's contract, but I think of a child actor as 13 or under. YMMV.

Jenna Malone - Bastard Out of Carolina

Freddie Bartholomew. No contest, IMO.

Child star alert, R52: Sandy Descher is in 'The Opposite Sex,' the color remake of 'The Women' in the role originated by Virginia Weidler, today (11/16) at 5:45PM on TCM. Be sure to watch the Jerry Antes dancing scene near the beginning, IIRC.

Sarah Polley started off way younger than 17. She was roughly 10 when she appeared as the evil little girl in the premiere episode of Friday the 13th: The Series.

Child star alert II: 'All This and Heaven, Too' is currently on TCM On Demand until Nov. 21, starring Virginia Weidler, June Lockhart and Ann E. Todd.

I agree with almost everyone's choices here lol.

But Claude Jarman Jr. needs a mention. His performance in The Yearling is practically unwatchable it's so good. He even received a special Academy Award as outstanding child actor of 1946.

And he's still alive at 89, a totally normal guy. Somehow when I know that child actors have had a sad life it affects my enjoyment of their performances.

Jarman Jr. was also great in Intruder in the Dust.

Traci Lords

R56, I think Polley was even younger when she played Beverly Cleary's iconic Ramona character on the same titled tv series which ran on PBS in the U.S. (not sure if it was originally a Canadian production), and then was on the Disney series Avonlea.

[quote]The Greatest Kid Actor In Movie History?

[quote]Christian Bale in Empire of the Sun is worth seeing.

Was in the running, but lost points for singing and dancing.

I though Joey King and McKenna Grace were very good child actors.

[quote]My choice…..Hayley Mills. See Tiger Bay, Whistle Down The Wind .... Inherited her father's acting chops.

Please! She couldn't even do an American accent.

In POLLYANNA, she's supposed to be from Vermont, and in THE PARENT TRAP, she plays identical twins from Massachusetts and California, but Hayley sounds veddy Briddish.

Yet she won a Juvenile Oscar for the former. Go figure!

No wonder they discontinued that pointless award after her win.

Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland could do it all. Comedy, drama, singing, dancing.

Can you imagine if they weren't high?

Macaulay Culkin is perfection in the Home Alone movies. I didn’t read the whole thread. Was Margaret O’Brien mentioned?

The Breslins and the Fannings were great as children.

Oh I see O’Brien was mentioned. OP is hard to read.

Justin Henry in Kramer vs. Kramer; Alfred Lutter in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (also Jodie Foster as "Audrey"

Anna Paquin in The Piano.

Jacob Tremblay was very good in Room, but his big scene in Doctor Sleep was unforgettable (and not in a pleasant way). He crushed it.

He was funny in Good Boys. He's going to be in the new Mike Flanagan movie, The Life of Chuck, based off a Stephen King book. It'll be interesting to see if he's one of those natural child actors that start to 'act' when they get older and aren't as good.

The two standouts for me are:

Christian Bale in The Empire Of The Sun,

Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver.

R69, Margaret O'Brien was FOUR years old when she made her debut in 'Babes on Broadway' starring Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland (and the Gumm sisters) and Virginia Weidler. O'Brien, 87 in two months, filmed 'Prepper's Grove' recently, with Tom Sizemore and Johnny 'Family Affair' Whitaker.

[quote]Scarjo was 17 in Lost in Translation.

R47 That was in 2003. Scarjo was starred in and was excellent in Manny & Lo in 1996. She had quite a career as a kid.

[quote]There will never be another child who could repeat lines and learn dance steps at age 3.

Ahem.

Buckwheat owns this thread

R76 Good one! I forgot about her. There's a great documentary about her life and her career - Wait for Your Laugh. She had friendships with gangsters as a child -- they loved and protected her! She was so much more than Sally Rodgers on the Dick VanDyke show.

I know he grew up to be MAGA trash, but Ricky Schroeder was quite a good child actor before he was cast on Silver Spoons. Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Earthling, and The Champ, which made him the youngest Golden Globe winner ever.

Martin Stephens' performance as Miles in THE INNOCENTS is perfectly creepy and haunting.

Whittni Wright (who was discovered in a clog dancing class) is so good in I’LL DO ANYTHING.

She has a scene at the end where the chips are down and she’s called upon to cry that is amazing. And Nick Nolte is truly great in that scene, too.

Wright’s probably so good in this as an untrained actress because virtually all her scenes are with him.

I haven't seen anything else she's done, but Julia Butters was amazing in 'Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood' where she played an eight-year-old Method Actor, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio.

[quote] Whittni Wright (who was discovered in a clog dancing class) is so good in I’LL DO ANYTHING.

"I'll Do Anything" was shot as a full blown musical with original songs by Prince, Carly Simon, Carole King and choreography by Twyla Tharp. It tested awful and all the songs were cut except the short one. James L Brooks was devastated and when asked later if there would ever be a directors restored cut, I remember he said something like, no,it would be like showing your dead baby.

The only clogging in a Helen Lawson film is with the kitchen sink.

Yeah, right the "kitchen sink," Helen, THAT'S what you're famous for clogging...uh huh...right...whatever you need to tell yourself, but the myriad scented candles in your bathroom tell another story...

You're thinking of Kirker, Anne.

Edna Mae Durbin, the thinking man's Judy Garland. Hayley Mills is a close second.

Ricky Schroeder in The Champ was outstanding. How he turned into a right-wing nutjob, I will never understand.

Bad link, sorry - trying again

There must’ve been something in the air on the Champ, because Jon Voight…well..you know.

Mary Ann Jackson

Quinn Cummings.

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Keisha Castle-Hughes was so good in, "Whale Rider". It's a shame she really couldn't be more successful, despite being in Star Wars movies and Game of Thrones.

R93 Well she wasn't good in anything else

2nd best scene

And Phillip Alford-he should have been better known…easily deserved his own nomination

[quote]r83 "I'll Do Anything" was shot as a full musical... It tested awful and all the songs were cut except the short one.

This number is disappointing.

In Hollywood circles I'm pretty sure it's widely accepted Jodie Foster is the greatest child actor in film. Whom Gene Siskel called a genius. Somone on another thread acutely explained why he said that. And it was because as a child she understood acting and that her part in a story is an important part of of a whole thing that you had to contribute to doing right. To tell the story.

Anna Paquin and Dean Stockwell

Martin Short hands down.

Agree R41, Virginia Weidler was great.

I think you're pretty, pretty R101

Have we named every child who ever acted yet?

^^^uh uh noooo

Good Old Summmertime I killed

Heather O'Rourke in Poltergeist was pretty effective, as was Drew Barrymore in Firestarter.

No particular order, Natalie Wood, Jackie Cooper& Coogan, Elizabeth Taylor, Roddy McDowell, Patty Duke

Mickey Rooney, Maragret O'Brien.

One's who made the studio the most $$$$-Shirley Temple, Mickey Rooney

Bobby Driscoll.

I’ll go along with Judy Garland. She was gifted.

Honorable mention to Ke Huy Quan. He carried Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Garland, Garland, Garland. There would be no " Wizard of Oz" mention in everything from Coen Brothers movies to commercials if Garland's performance were not a stone cold masterpiece. I agree others have been great or good, especially Taylor in " National Velvet " , but the emotional reality of Garland as a child actor- without any cuteness or egging for the camera- has never been beaten. And I am not a fan of all her adult films. But she still moves me at the end of " Oz" when she is saying goodbye in a way few actors have ever done or could do.

Dana Plato

Judy was 16 in The Wizard of Oz (and looked 22), that's pushing it in terms of the category "kid actor"

[quote]R103 Have we named every child who ever acted yet?

No.

Brandon de Wilde

R98 Tell us more about that Hollywood circle you run around in. You know, the one where everyone simultaneously talked about Jodie being the child actress of all time.

Shirley Fucking Temple.

[quote]No particular order

Which defeats ranking THE GREATEST. You fucking maroon.

Myself

Child Star Movies Alert: in the next month on TCM, all times Eastern.

'The Women' (1939), Virginia Weidler--6:30AM, Wed 11/22

National Velvet (1944), Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney--3:00PM, Thu 11/23

The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942), Mickey Rooney--1:30AM Fri 11/24

Little Women (1949), Elizabeth Taylor, Margaret O'Brien--3:15AM Fri 11/24 and 2:00PM 12/16

The Canterville Ghost (1944), Margaret O'Brien--9:45AM Fri 11/24

Two Andy Hardy movies with Mickey Rooney--6:00AM Sun 11/26

The Philadelphia Story (1940), Virginia Weidler--12:00AM Sat 12/2

Imitation of Life (1959), Terry Burnham--8:00PM Sat 12/2

David Copperfield (1935), Freddie Bartholomew--8:15AM Mon 12/4 and 6:00AM 12/14

The Night of the Hunter (1955), Billy Chapin--2:00PM Sat 12/9

I Remember Mama (1948), Peggy McIntyre (OK, maybe not very well known, but very beautiful... and still alive, sez IMDb)--1:30PM Wed 12/13

Treasure Island (1934), Jackie Cooper (one of the VERY best)--2:15PM Thu 12/14

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Margaret O'Brien, Judy Garland--12:00PM 12/16

Tenth Avenue Angel (1948), Margaret O'Brien--9:00AM Mon 12/18

Bonus kid-actor-over-the-top performance in A Christmas Carol (1938)--4:30PM Sat 12/2 and 6:45PM Mon 12/18. Ira Stevens plays Fan Scrooge, Ebeneezer's little sister, in the Christmas Past sequence and gives a scenery chewing performance that would be in the Kid Actor Hall of Fame if they had one. And Ronald Sinclair as young Scrooge is especially good looking. This is my favorite version of ACC (gag) anyway(s).

Mickey was hardly a child in any of those movies. In fact he was 24 at the time of National Velvet.

FORMER child stars Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland...

Martin Stephens was superb in Village of the Damned (1960) and The Innocents (1961)

Gigi Perreau, now famous for being Meghan Markle's acting teacher, was in a number of well-known movies before being in a number of well-known television shows before taking 30 years off and returning as a voice actor. Starting as a toddler, she was in 'God is My Co-Pilot', 'Green Dolphin Street,' Douglas Sirk's 'Has Anybody Seen My Gal' (fourth billed!) and with little sister Janine and Ann Carter in 'Song of Love' with Katharine Hepburn and Paul Henreid. She was even on 'The Brady Bunch' (at age 28 in S1.E17 "The Undergraduate").

These movies are also shown frequently on TCM:

The Curse of the Cat People, The Two Mrs. Carrolls: Ann Carter

Mr, Blandings Builds His Dream House: Sharyn Moffett, Connie Marshall

Them!: (screaming) Sandy Descher (also screaming very briefly in what I presume is a DL favorite, The Bad and the Beautiful). Also in The Opposite Sex, On Demand on TCM until 11/23. The Cobweb (1955) "Inmates and staff at a posh asylum clash over love and lunacy" is on Wed 11/22 at 2:30AM, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Richard Widmark, Lauren Bacall, Gloria Grahame and Sandy Descher.

The Last Time I Saw Paris: Sandy Descher, (adult) Elizabeth Taylor

The Boy With Green Hair: Dean Stockwell, 14-year old Dwayne Hickman and a small part for Ann Carter.

Fun Fact: Patty McCormack, Sandy Descher and Gigi Perreau are still alive.

Can’t believe no one has said River or Joaquin (when he was still going by “Leaf”) Phoenix. They’re the obvious answers in my book. Joaquin was even better than River (he outacted an entire cast of accomplished adult actors in PARENTHOOD) and River was obviously fantastic.

Brandon deWilde. You bitches are slipping.

R113 I would fuck you.

Cousin Oliver.

Baby Peggy

Baby Jane

Patty Duke was certainly very accomplished

I realize my powers of discrimination carry little weight on this wayward website, but I have to cast my vote for Patty Duke.

R118, I think a programmer at TCM is a DLer! I just posted on the "Psychological Thrillers" thread that TCM will be showing 3 great ones in a row this week, all of which were recently mentioned in that thread! 🤔

[quote]Martin Stephens' performance as Miles in THE INNOCENTS is perfectly creepy and haunting.

I was going to say that too; he was also in Village of The Damned.

Hayley was awful. She had a lot of tics on camera that should have been coached out and was really ugly though she did improve in her teens.

[quote] he outacted an entire cast of accomplished adult actors in PARENTHOOD

Fuck you, R124!

Maybe not the greatest child actor of all time, but arguably, Melissa Gilbert was an excellent child actor who performed some of the most memorable and touching scenes on LHOTP.

NO Television Child stars!!!

Does no one follow Directions here on DL? Poor OP, no wonder he's Mad, Mad I tell you!!

Yikes! Sorry, [R137]. I forgot. I’ve been following this thread and have enjoyed the discussion. Carry on.

Once upon a time I taught a school version of "The Turn of The Screw" and showed "The Innocents" as well. But it's Deborah Kerr whom I remember most, not the children.

Jane Withers

Thread closed

R64 So you think the reason she was a bad actress is that she couldn't do accents? I'm sure there are people who can't act at all who can do convincing accents.

The kid in The Night Of The Hunter was perfect.

R118

Virginia Weidler was stunning in The Women - her crying was more natural than most experienced actors’.

Another vote for Patty Duke Her performance in The Miracle Worker is truly extraordinary. It's remarkable that she doesn't blink or react when the adults around her are talking or arguing. She certainly gained from having originated the role on Broadway.

R144 You're not wrong about her being on Broadway, but just FYI the role was created first by Patty McCormack. William Gibson wrote the play first for Playhouse 90, in 1957. Teresa Wright played Annie Sullivan.

Scotty Beckett

Bobby Driscoll

Bobby Breen

R142. This was Billy Chapin. There were three Chapin kids. Micheal, Billy then Lauren. As each child got older Momma Chapin replaced them with the next kid. As a side note. The little girl (Sally Jane Bruce) that played his sister in "Night of the Hunter" is always mentioned when bad child actors are talked about.

To R116...HAPPY THANKSGIVING and a Big "Fuck Off" to you!! There is no "single greatest child actor or actress".

You can't pick just one, it's impossible. Let's add Deanna Durbin to the list!!

Sandy Descher (Them!) is in 'The Space Children' with kid actor Johnny Crawford and FORMER child star Jackie Coogan, along with Adam Williams ('North by Northwest'), Russell Johnson ('Gilligan's Island') and Raymond Bailey (248 episodes of 'The Beverly Hillbillies' as Mr. Drysdale). This stellar cast wasn't enough to prevent an MST3K version, available free on YouTube.

R145 Patty pays tribute to Patty

R147, I loved Sally Jane Bruce in Night of the Hunter! She's so oblivious its hilarious!

[quote]Another vote for Patty Duke Her performance in The Miracle Worker is truly extraordinary.

Well, at least her lines were easy to learn.

Who do I say what?

Everyone's missed it! Angela and Veronica Cartwright....both extraordinary child actors and underrated adult actors

Judy Garland

Bonita Granville. Particularly in These Three (1936), the first film version of The Children's Hour.

Thanks for the link, R150. My partner is a fan of Patty Duke, and I'm a fan of Patty McCormack. Glad they finally met.

Slight correction: the youngest sister in 'I Remember Mama' was played by even-more-obscure-but-prettier-than-Peggy McIntyre kid actor June Hedin (holding the cat in the picture). Along with Ann Carter, she had a very small part in 'The Member of the Wedding,' starring 27-year-old Julie Harris as 12-year-old Frankie Addams and kid actor Brandon De Wilde playing a kid.

Brandon De Wilde was great, too - forgot about him. Bobby Driscoll was very big, too. Sad end.

Natalie Wood was pretty amazing, too.

Natalie with Orson Welles

Jerry Mathers

Love Natalie in Miracle on 34th Street, nothing cutesy or contrived about her.

Oscar-winner Patty Duke for 'The Miracle Worker." Brilliant.

Not TV, R162. Repeat: NO TV!!

Jerry Mathers has to be a joke, Beaver seemed like he could barely feed and dress himself.

R166 = Eddie Haskell

The eternally young Corey Feldman. In fact, he could still play one of the molested kids in a Michael Jackson biopic... Oh, here's an idea! Let's make it happen!

[quote]Not TV, [R162]. Repeat: NO TV!!

For the ALL-CAPS idiot: Jerry Mathers appeared in a number of films including one directed by Hitchcock.

All caps = shouting, right? It was intentional, R169

....

'The Miracle Worker,' starring 15=year-old Patty Duke, is on TCM Sunday, 11/26 at 6:00PM Eastern. Haven't seen it in many years.

R165 Yes Jerry Mathers was in movies like The Trouble With Harry, and had a big part in The Certain Feeling (1956) - with Bob Hope and Eva Marie Saint - movie version of the play by Jean Kerr, King Of Hearts.

In all of which he was just awful.

Does anyone else have a soft spot for That Certain Feeling? I think it's really funny but it always gets poor reviews.

Sharyn Moffett was in a couple of memorable films. Her scene with Boris Karloff in 'The Body Snatcher' (1945) is very sweet until you realize what "Cabman Gray" is capable of. Moffett was also in 'Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House' with Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and the aforementioned Connie Marshall. She received top billing in 'Child of Divorce' (1946) co-starring Ann Carter ('The Curse of the Cat People') (1944) and was in 'Her First Romance' (1951) starring Margaret O'Brien and 14-year-old Elinor Donahue (who was also in 'Tenth Avenue Angel' (1948) with O'Brien). Donahue was in a number of movies before 'Father Knows Best' and was in DL favorite 'Imitation of Life' (1959) as "Lora's friend." Man, I love IMDb.

Weidler had a part in a film that starred John Barrymore. He complained to the director about the little bitch taking away the focus in his scenes with her. Apparently, she was sitting in his lap and playing with his tie while he delivered a monologue. He threatened to throw her across the set!

Judy.

If nobody's mentioned him yet, here's a shoutout to Terry Kilburn, who starred as Tiny Tim in the 1938 Christmas Carol, and was also wonderful in Good Mister Chips and They Shall Have Music. His partner of 50 years was Charles Nolte, who died in 2010. He's still alive at the age of 97!

That Woody Norman kid in the new horror movie Cobweb was pretty good. His performance made me think of Haley Joel Osment in Sixth Sense.

R174 Yes, I like it. I posted about it.

The two girls who played the leads in The World Of Henry Orient (1964) - Tippy Walker and Merrie Spaeth. (The ‘stars’ were Peter Sellers, Paula Prentiss, Angela Lansbury, Phyllis Thaxter, Tom Bosley and Dodie Goodman.)

I second the great, the incomparable, Pamelyn Ferdin.

^^wrong thread!

Has Nicholas Hoult been mentioned? Just saw him in About A Boy. Excellent acting chops for someone so young, as is his acting chops as an adult

R181 How could you leave out Bibi Osterwald?

The best performance I've seen by a child actor is without a doubt Freddie Bartholomew in Captains Courageous. Pretty astounding.Not a false note and the range of the role is enormous. How he goes through his transformation during the course of the film is tremendous.

Unfortunately you have to put up with Spencer Tracy who seems to have won his Oscar for worst performance ever by a male actor.

Greatest by a female is Peggy Ann Garner in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. When she finds the flowers on her school desk at graduation it's practically unwatchable her performance is so raw the way she breaks down in grief.

The kid in the Geico Peter Pan commercial . It’s TV but he may have been in a movie .

I’ve studied that commercial. I think my favorite moment is when he says “ Hey you don’t look a day over 70? Am I right ?”

Natalie Wood.

Does CZJ's turn as Pepper in the West End production of Annie (West End of Swansea, that is) in the early 2000s count?