- Buddy McDonald
Thomas "Buddy" or "Bud" McDonald, (
1 October 1922 , in Coalinga,California –22 September 2008 ) was an American child actor. He is perhaps best known as one of the "Our Gang " kids of the early sound period, and McDonald is prominently featured in the "Our Gang" shorts "Teacher's Pet" (1930) and "School's Out" (1930). He appeared in several of the "Our Gang" comedies, and also appeared in a scene (later deleted) withLaurel & Hardy in "Pardon Us " (1931).Biography
Early career
McDonald was "discovered" when his mother wrote a letter, dictated from his father to
Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, in which they enclosed a newspaper article of Buddy's local spelling bee win. They received a phone call from the studio that same week.The studio gave him a screen test and called Buddy to work on his first picture, "Pups is Pups". From there, he worked on various bit parts with
Paramount Pictures andMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer . In addition, he sang on "Juvenile review", a weekend radio program onKFWB inLos Angeles . He attended grammar school on the studio lot with fellow Our Gang actorsDonald Haines andMary Ann Jackson . Additionally, he did scenes withThelma Todd andZasu Pitts .Childhood
Growing up in Bell, California, McDonald had a difficult upbringing; his parents were both alcoholics, and after they divorced in 1933, he and his mother went to live with his aunt in
Oregon . There he slept in a tent and picked fruit. Within a year, his family had made enough money to move back to their old house in Bell.While he and his mother were living in Oregon, his father told him that the studio had called asking for Buddy to do more work in the pictures. However, by that time the calls had already stopped, thus ending his childhood "career" in acting.
Life after the movies
During
Prohibition , his father owned a cafe on Florence Avenue in Bell and after Prohibition was repealed, he turned it into a bar.Buddy became quite famous in the community, as he was the only person living there at the time that was in pictures. As a teenager, he encountered his own problems with alcohol. McDonald was expelled from Bell High School and later attended
Jacob August Riis High School in Los Angeles, a reform school for boys.In later years McDonald joined the
United States Marine Corps , where he served inGuadalcanal duringWorld War II . After a run-in with the law upon returning, Buddy later joinedAlcoholics Anonymous . After more than 10 years of being sober, he and a friend started what they named the "Dana" School (Drugs, Alcohol, Narcotics, Awareness) in Downey, California. In 1972 they formed the Southern California Alcohol and Drug Program and in 1975 opened their first recovery house, the Cider House. In 1985, they established an additional recovery house for women and their children.Buddy McDonald lived in the retirement community of
Leisure World, California in Seal Beach. He served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Southern California Drug and Alcohol Abuse Center. He suffered congestive heart failure and died in his home on September 22, 2008.References
* [http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com/html/news/hn25.html "Found! Lost "Our Gang"er" -by Richard W. Bann, The Official Laurel & Hardy Homepage]
* [http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_10552538 Original 'Little Rascals' member McDonald dies]External links
*imdb name|id=0531641|name=Buddy McDonald
* [http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mcdonald-eisinger-life-2169503-loved-sober OC Register obituary]
* [http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-mcdonald26-2008sep26,0,2028306.story?track=rss LA Times obituary]
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