Brandon De Wilde(1942-1972)

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. During 1953-54, Brandon starred in his own television series Jamie (1953), and made his mark as a screen adolescent during the 1960s, playing a younger brother in All Fall Down (1962) and nephew in Hud (1963) starring Paul Newman. Brandon managed to keep his career building, into early adulthood, when his career was tragically ended. While en route to visit his wife at a hospital where she had recently undergone surgery, he was killed in an accident as the camper van he was driving struck a parked truck. He was only 30 years old.