Darryl Hickman(1931-2024)

Although younger brother Dwayne Hickman (1934 - 2022) is probably the better-remembered sibling today with his cult following as TV's favorite love-struck teenager Dobie Gillis and a few "Beach Party" films, it is Darryl Hickman who is certainly the more prolific brother in the movies. At one time, he was deemed one of Hollywood's most talented child stars of World War II and post-war film.

Hickman was born in Hollywood, California on July 28, 1931, to Milton Hickman, an insurance salesman, and his wife, Katherine. Taking dance classes at age 3, Darryl's looks and talent were discovered by his dance school director who eventually had him placed at age 5 with a child troupe (Meglin School for Kiddies).

Paramount Studios subsequently took notice and signed him to a contract, making his unbilled film debut as Ronald Colman's son in the classic adventure Le prisonnier de Zenda (1937). Darryl then appeared briefly in a second Colman film, Le roi des gueux (1938). He grew up within the studio system and on the studio sets. Fellow classmates included Jackie Cooper.

Appearing in the Bing Crosby musical biopic Frou-frou de Broadway (1939), Crosby took notice of young Darryl's promise and referred him to his talent agent brother Everett Crosby. Everett was impressed as well, and took Darryl under his wing. Placed in the Paramount films Untamed (1940) and The Way of All Flesh (1940), the boy was eventually featured in his most prominent role, that of young, impoverished Winfield Joad in the classic film Les Raisins de la colère (1940). MGM quickly showed interest and bought out the boy's Paramount contract.

A popular loan-out child player, Darryl appeared in a "poverty row" version of one of Jack London's more popular adventure stories Sign of the Wolf (1941); appeared in 12-year-old Shirley Temple's last film for Fox Jeunesse (1940); showed up in Universal's Mob Town (1941) and another Fox film Young America (1942). While at MGM, Darryl found himself working with the studio's top echelon of stars including Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Taylor and Mickey Rooney. Notable in-house roles included that of "Flip" in Des hommes vivront (1941), "Johnny Smith" in Un Américain pur sang (1942), "(young) Blackie" in Northwest Rangers (1942); "Jeb" in the Tracy/Hepburn drama La flamme sacrée (1942), "Etienne" in Un commando en Bretagne (1943), and as young "Lionel" in the classic "Americana" film Et la vie continue (1943).

Darryl progressed from child to juvenile parts with equal skill. He was featured in the role of WWI flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker as a lad in the biopic Capitaine Eddie (1945) starring Fred MacMurray and also featuring brother Dwayne; played composer Ira as a teenager in the Gershwin story Rhapsodie en bleu (1945); reunited with Shirley Temple in the "Corliss Archer" comedy L'apprentie amoureuse (1945); played the ill-fated brother-in-law of evil Gene Tierney in the drama Péché mortel (1945); portrayed the younger version of Van Heflin in the film noir L'Emprise du crime (1946); tangled with priest Pat O'Brien as a young troublemaker in the "Boy's Town"-like crime drama Ses mauvais garçons (1948); was upgraded to Shirley Temple's boyfriend in the light comedy L'amour a toujours raison (1949); played a prep school problem along with co-star Dean Stockwell in the comedy Années de jeunesse (1950) and a disturbed ranch caretaker along with equally disturbed older sister Mercedes McCambridge in Lightning Strikes Twice (1951).

Darryl attended the Immaculate Heart Grammar School in Los Angeles as well as the studio schools at Paramount and then MGM. In September 1951, the 20-year-old, who had grown unhappy and disenchanted with Hollywood and the studio system in its inability to protect child actors, abandoned his career and entered a monastery, the Passionist Seminary, with the intent on becoming a priest. Within a year, however, he left when he realized he was not cut out for a life in the priesthood.

Trying to regain his acting momentum proved challenging. He began on 50's TV with guest shots on such shows as "Sky King," "The Lone Ranger," "Annie Oakley," "Biff Baker, U.S.A., "Perry Mason," "Public Defenders," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Wanted: Dead or Alive," "Gunsmoke," "The Millionaire" and several anthology programs. He also guested on brother Dwayne's popular "Dobie Gillis" TV show. On the film front, he found featured roles in Destination Gobi (1953), Aventure dans le Grand Nord (1953), Prisonnier de guerre (1954), Thé et sympathie (1956), The Persuader (1957) and Le Désosseur de cadavres (1959).

By the early 1960s, as film and TV offers began to dry up, Darryl wisely moved behind the scenes. Starting out as a TV writer, he eventually became a program executive. During the 1970s, he briefly attempted TV producing. In later years, he became a respected acting coach in Los Angeles. He made guest appearances on such 1960s/70s shows as "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color," "Dr. Kildare," "Love, American Style," "All in the Family" and "Maude," before finding an "in" with an abundance of 1980s animated voice work: Space Stars (1981), Pac-Man (1982), The Biskitts (1983), The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible (1985) and Scooby-Doo: Agence Toutou Risques (1988). One of his last visible appearances was in a 1999 episode of "The Nanny."

Hickman married actress Pamela Lincoln, whom he first met on the film set of Le Désosseur de cadavres (1959). They had two children, but divorced in 1982.

At the time of his death, he was married to production assistant Lynda Farmer Hickman.