Freddie Bartholomew
Bartholomew in Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
Born Frederick Cecil Bartholomew
March 28, 1924
Harlesden, London, England[1]
Died January 23, 1992 (aged 67)
Sarasota, Florida, U.S.
Education Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts
Occupation Actor
Years active 1930–1951
Spouses
Maely Daniele (m. 1946; div. 1953)
Aileen Paul (m. 1953; div. 1977)
Elizabeth Grabill (m. 1976)
Children 2
Frederick Cecil Bartholomew (March 28, 1924 – January 23, 1992), known for his acting work as Freddie Bartholomew, was an English-American child actor. One of the most famous child actors of all time, he became very popular in 1930s Hollywood films. His most famous starring roles are in Captains Courageous (1937) and Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936).
He was born in London,[1] and for the title role of MGM's David Copperfield (1935), he immigrated to the United States at the age of 10 in 1934, living there the rest of his life.[3] He became an American citizen in 1943 following World War II military service.[4][5]
Despite his great success and acclaim following David Copperfield, his childhood film stardom was marred by nearly constant legal battles and payouts, which eventually took a huge toll on both his finances and his career. In adulthood, after World War II service, his film career dwindled rapidly, and he switched from performing to directing and producing in the medium of television.
Biography
Early life
Bartholomew was born Frederick Cecil Bartholomew[1][2][6] in March 1924 in Harlesden in the borough of Willesden, Middlesex, London.[1][6][7] His parents were Cecil Llewellyn Bartholomew, a wounded World War I veteran who became a minor civil servant after the war, and Lilian May Clarke Bartholomew.[2][8][9] By the age of three, Freddie was living in Warminster, a town in Wiltshire in southwest England, in his paternal grandparents' home. He lived under the care of his aunt "Cissie", Millicent Mary Bartholomew, who raised him and became his surrogate mother.[6][10] Bartholomew was educated at Lord Weymouth's Grammar School in Warminster, and by his Aunt Cissie.[11]
Child star
Herbert Mundin, Bartholomew and Jessie Ralph in David Copperfield (1935)
Basil Rathbone, Greta Garbo and Bartholomew in Anna Karenina (1935)
Dolores Costello and Bartholomew in Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
From England to Hollywood
In Warminster, Bartholomew was a precocious actor and was reciting and performing from age three.[12] By age five he was a popular Warminster celebrity, the "boy wonder elocutionist", reciting poems, prose, and selections from various plays, including Shakespeare.[13] He sang and danced as well.[14] His first film role came by the age of six, in 1930.
He also pursued acting studies at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London,[15] and appeared in a total of four minor British films. American filmmakers George Cukor and David O. Selznick saw him on a 1934 scouting trip to London and chose him for the young title role in their MGM film David Copperfield (1935).[16] Bartholomew and his aunt immigrated to the United States in August 1934, and MGM gave him a seven-year contract.[3][17][18]
David Copperfield, which also featured Basil Rathbone, Maureen O'Sullivan, W. C. Fields, and Lionel Barrymore, was a success, and made Bartholomew an overnight star.[19] He was subsequently cast in a succession of film productions with some of the most popular stars of the day. Among his successes of the 1930s were Anna Karenina (1935) with Greta Garbo and Fredric March; Professional Soldier (1935) with Victor McLaglen and Gloria Stuart; Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) with Dolores Costello and C. Aubrey Smith; Lloyd's of London (1937) with Madeleine Carroll and Tyrone Power; The Devil is a Sissy (1936) with Mickey Rooney and Jackie Cooper; and Captains Courageous (1937) with Spencer Tracy.
Captains Courageous was the movie he most enjoyed working on. The film took an entire year to make, and much of it was shot off the coasts of Florida and Catalina Island, California. He later recalled, "For a kid, it was like one long outing. Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore, Mickey Rooney, Melvyn Douglas and I – we all grew very close toward one another in those 12 months. When the shooting was finished, we cried like a bunch of babies as we said our goodbyes."[20]
His acting skills, open and personable presence, emotional range, refined English diction, and angelic looks made him a box-office favorite. He quickly became the second-highest-paid child movie star after Shirley Temple. Ring Lardner Jr. had high praise for him, saying of his performance as the star of Little Lord Fauntleroy, "He is on the screen almost constantly, and his performance is a valid characterization, which is almost unique in a child actor, and, indeed, in three fourths of adult motion-picture stars."[21] Of his role as the protagonist of Captains Courageous, Frank Nugent of the New York Times wrote, "Young Master Bartholomew ... plays Harvey faultlessly."[22]
By April 1936, following the very popular Little Lord Fauntleroy, Bartholomew's success and level of fame caused his long-estranged birth parents to attempt to gain custody of him and his fortune.[23][24] A legal battle of nearly seven years ensued, resulting in nearly all the wealth that Bartholomew amassed being spent on attorneys' and court fees, and payouts to his birth parents and two sisters.[2][25][26]
Actor. Born in Dublin according to his family, the son of Lilian May Clarke and Cecil Bartholomew. As an infant, he was handed into the care of his aunt, Millicent Bartholomew, by his disinterested parents. By the age of three, he had made his film debut, appearing in the British productions "Fascination" in 1930 and "Lily Christine" in 1932. In 1934, he and his aunt traveled to Hollywood, California where he made his American motion picture debut in "David Copperfield" in 1935. He was then immediately cast in a series of vehicles including "Anna Karenina" (1935), "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (1936), "Lloyds of London" and "Captains Courageous" (1937), and "Kidnapped" (1938), becoming the second most popular child star of the era. At the peak of his career, his estranged parents reappeared and attempted to gain custody of their money-making son. Bartholomew, however, preferred to remain with his aunt and fought a protracted legal battle against them. He saw much of his wealth spent on legal fees. He appeared in "Tom Brown's Schooldays" in 1940, but with the advent of World War II, his appeal began to dwindle. In 1944 he was drafted and served in the United States Army Air Force as an aircraft mechanic. While working on a bomber engine, he fell from a scaffold and broke his back. After a year in the hospital, he was discharged in 1945. He attempted a return to movies and released the low-budget "The Town Went Wild" (1946) and his final feature film appearance in "St. Benny the Dip" (1949). He then gave up films and began a career in advertising in New York City, producing product-sponsored soap operas. He retired in 1991. Shortly thereafter, he did a segment for the documentary "MGM: When the Lion Roared."
He succumbed to emphysema the following year. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6667 Hollywood Boulevard. His ashes were interred at the Congregational United Church of Christ in Bradenton, Manatee County, Florida. When his widow moved back to Pennsylvania, she had his urn removed and moved to Pennsylvania. His name still appears on the plaque in Florida.
Amanda S. Stevenson 
