Brandon De Wilde
Biography
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Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (2) | Trivia (11)
Overview (4)
Born April 9, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York, USA
Died July 6, 1972 in Denver, Colorado, USA (road accident)
Birth Name Andre Brandon deWilde
Height 5' 8½" (1.74 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Born into a theatrical family, he made a much-acclaimed Broadway debut at the age of nine in "The Member of the Wedding." He was the first child actor to win the Donaldson Award and went on to repeat his role in the film version directed by Fred Zinnemann in 1952. As the blonde, blue-eyed Joey who idolizes the strange gunman (Alan Ladd) in Shane (1953), he stole the picture and was rewarded with an Oscar nomination the following year. He starred in his own television series Jamie (1953) during 1953-54 and made his mark as a screen adolescent during the 1960s, playing younger brothers in All Fall Down (1962) and Hud (1963) starring Paul Newman. However, he managed to keep his career building up to his adult status. While en route to visit his wife at a hospital where she had recently undergone surgery, he was killed in a vehicle accident as the camper van he was driving struck a parked truck. He was only thirty years old.
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Spouse (2)
Janice Gero (25 March 1972 - 6 July 1972) (his death)
Susan Margot Maw (19 December 1963 - 21 March 1970) (divorced) (1 child)
Trivia (11)
Although he was the only one of the four principal players not nominated for an Oscar for the 1963 film Hud (1963), Brandon got to share Oscar night glory nevertheless when he went on stage to accept the Best Supporting Actor trophy for co-star Melvyn Douglas, who was in Israel at the time. Patricia Neal won for "best actress," but Paul Newman lost "best actor" to Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field (1963).
When he died he left behind one small son.
The son of a stage-manager father and actress mother. Made his stage debut at age seven in 492 performances of the Broadway hit, "The Member of the Wedding." He also became the first juvenile to win the Donaldson Award.
De Wilde is pronounced duh-WIL-duh.
Close friend (and sometimes singing partner) country-western legend Gram Parsons immortalized De Wilde's tragic death in Parsons' and Emmylou Harris's song In My Hour of Darkness: "Once I knew a young man went driving through the night. Miles and miles without a word, with just his high-beam lights. Who'd have ever thought they'd build such a deadly Denver bend. To be so strong, to take as long as it would till the end.".
His son's name is Jesse.
He was killed as the result of a traffic accident that occurred in the Denver suburb of Lakewood on the evening of July 6, 1972 at about 3:25 PM. He had been en route to visit his wife at a Denver hospital. He was driving a camper van, lost control and crashed into a parked construction truck on the side of the road, causing his camper to roll onto its side, pinning him in the wreckage of his vehicle for a while before being taken to St. Anthony Hospital where he died at 7:20 PM of multiple injuries including a broken back, neck, and leg. He was not wearing a seat belt. De Wilde had been in the Denver area to co-star in the Elitch Theatre production of Butterflies Are Free, which ended July 1.
Originally buried in Hollywood, California, but his parents later moved his remains to Pinelawn Memorial Park in Farmingdale, New York in Suffolk County, to be closer to their home in Long Island. Father, Frederick De Wilde died in 1980 and mother, Eugenia De Wilde died in 1987.
De Wilde had hoped to embark on a music career. He watched as Paul McCartney wrote the song Wait during the filming of the Beatles movie Help! (1965).
In the beginning of both movies for which he is most well known, Shane and Hud, the bad guy tramples the flower bed just outside the house.
In an interview during a day of film tributes to her on TMC, Angela Lansbury (with whom De Wilde co-starred in "All Fall Down") commented how all the co-stars of that movie grieved together when they heard the news of the actor's death. Lansbury added, though, that she had always felt Brandon was a far more troubled child than anyone ever realized, and that when she tried to intervene a bit with his family, she was quickly rebuked. She said his death was a shock, but not entirely a surprise.
Amanda S. Stevenson 
Kathy Pinna 
