- Born
- Died
- Birth nameAndre Brandon deWilde
- Height1.74 m
- Brandon De Wilde was born into a theatrical family and made a much-acclaimed Broadway debut in "The Member of the Wedding" at age 9. 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 L'Homme des vallées perdues (1953), he stole the picture and received an Oscar nomination for his work. 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 L'Ange de la violence (1962) and nephew in Le plus sauvage d'entre tous (1963), starring Paul Newman. He managed to keep his career-building into early adulthood, but his career was tragically cut short: en route to visit his wife at a hospital where she had recently undergone surgery, he was killed when the camper-van he was driving struck a parked truck. He was only 30 years old.- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous
- SpousesJanice Gero(March 25, 1972 - July 6, 1972) (his death)Susan Margot Maw(December 19, 1963 - March 21, 1970) (divorced, 1 child)
- ChildrenJesse Ian deWilde
- ParentsFrederic André "Fritz" deWildeEugenia "Jeanie" Wilson
- 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.
- Although he was the only one of the four principal players not nominated for an Oscar for the 1963 film Le plus sauvage d'entre tous (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 Les Lys des champs (1963).
- 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.
- Close friend (and sometimes singing partner) country-rock 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.".
- Is survived by Jesse, his son with Susan Maw.
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