Darryl Hickman

Darryl Hickman
Darryl Hickman in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
Born	Darryl Gerard Hickman (1931-07-28) July 28, 1931 (age 85) Hollywood, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1937–99
Spouse(s)	Pamela Lincoln Hickman (married 1959–1982, divorced); 2 sons Lynda Farmer Hickman (19??–present)
Relatives	Dwayne Hickman (brother)

Darryl Gerard Hickman (born July 28, 1931) is an American film and television actor, television executive, and acting coach.

Hickman was born in Hollywood, California to Milton and Katherine Hickman. His father sold insurance and his mother was a housewife. In the mid-1930s, Darryl was discovered by a dance school director and subsequently became a student there. The following year, the famed Hollywood studio Paramount signed a contract with the child actor.

His first film role was as Ronald Colman's son in The Prisoner of Zenda in 1937. He attended Paramount's school in California and had classmates like Gene Nelson and Jackie Cooper.

In preparation for the 1939 Bing Crosby movie The Star Maker, Paramount casting agents, led by Leroy Prinz, interviewed over 1000 children. Hickman won one of the parts in the film. Pleased with Hickman's performance, Crosby notified his older brother and talent agent Everett Crosby of the young actor.

After this, he went on to appear in multiple motion pictures throughout the 1930s and 1940s in a wide array of genres. A busy performer, he would sometimes work at different films simultaneously.

In 1940, he was cast in 20th Century Fox's film adaption of John Steinbeck's best-selling novel from 1939 The Grapes of Wrath, starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford. He portrayed the role of "Winfield Joad", the youngest member of a family trying to cope with the hardships of The Great Depression.

The film was a critical and commercial success, with Ford winning an Academy Award for best director, while actress Jane Darwell won for Best Supporting Actress. Another notable role during this time included the war-time melodrama The Human Comedy, where he played a mentally slow child. He made a featured appearance in the 1942 Our Gang comedy Going to Press.