Brandon De Wilde

Born into a theatrical family, he made a much-acclaimed Broadway debut a "The Member of the Wedding. " , when he was 9 years old. 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 blond-haired, blue-eyed Joey who idolizes the strange gunman, (played by Alan Ladd) in the film Shane (1953), he stole the picture, and received an Oscar nomination for his work in it.

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).

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). The song appeared on the Beatles next album, Rubber Soul.

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.