David Jack Holt
Encyclopedia
David Jack Holt was an American
actor initially groomed at the age of seven to be the male Shirley Temple
. After being let down by Will Rogers
, stress, polio, and resentment from his father precipitated his downfall, which culminated in being reduced to starring in the cheap drugs-scare melodrama "She Shoulda Said 'No'!", at the age of 22. By the time he was 25, no acting parts were available for him and he eventually turned to songwriting, where he had some moderate success before his death in 2003 at the age of 76.
. Four years later, his sister Betty was born, who also became an actor. At a young age, Holt's dancing skills so impressed the actor and wit Will Rogers
that Rogers purportedly told Holt's mother that if ever they were in Hollywood they should contact him and he would get young David into pictures. Relying on this understanding, Holt's father promptly quit his job with Ford Motors. Intent on holding Rogers to his promise, the Holt family drove to California
. Despite their best efforts, Rogers refused even to see them.
With no income, Holt's father worked as a casual laborer. Holt's mother took Holt to auditions, sometimes sharing transport with Shirley Temple
and her mother. Initially, Holt found it difficult to get acting jobs. He did, however, get a job as "body double" for Cheeta
's chimpanzee predecessor in the 1933 film Tarzan the Fearless
and had a small role in the 1933 Our Gang
(Little Rascals) comedy Forgotten Babies
.
At age seven, in 1934, Holt got his acting break in the movie You Belong to Me, a melodrama
in which his character's mother dies. He was now a child star, and Paramount Pictures
put him under a long-term contract and promoted him as a male version of Shirley Temple. Over the next six years, Holt made 20 films, but did not come close the superstardom set by his friend, Shirley Temple.
Holt was initially cast in the title role in David Copperfield
, alongside W. C. Fields'
character, Wilkins Micawber
. However, producer David O. Selznick
developed misgivings about having an American youngster portray a quintessentially British boy. When English child actor Freddie Bartholomew
became available a couple of weeks into shooting, Holt was let go. Holt had a prominent role in the 1936 movie Straight from the Shoulder (also known as Johnny Gets His Gun) alongside noted actor Ralph Bellamy
. Holt eventually developed a reputation as a troublemaker, and found himself settling for supporting roles in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
(1939), Beau Geste
(1939), and Courage of Lassie
(1946) as Elizabeth Taylor's
older brother. Holt may be best remembered as the older Billy in the 1942 critically and publicly acclaimed film, The Pride of the Yankees
, where 17-year old Billy attends Lou Gehrig Day and shows Lou Gehrig
that Billy now can walk without a limp, implying that Gehrig's promised World Series
home runs many years ago helped a young Billy overcome his childhood illness.
Holt's stress may have been a source of his troublemaking and his restricted success as an actor. Holt made more money than his father, who openly expressed his resentment at making so much less income than his prepubescent son. The production line of movies in which Holt was cast compounded his household stress. Holt and his family's expenses soon exceeded Holt's income and the family eventually had to rely on soup kitchens. At one point Holt had polio, which he believed was a result of the stress he felt in the studios. Amidst all this, Holt's parents separated.
At age 14, Holt largely turned his back on acting in favor of songwriting and poetry. Attempting to return to acting in 1948, he found few parts available, and ended up starring in the 1949 cheap drugs-scare melodrama "She Shoulda Said 'No'!". By the early 1950s, the parts had dried up and Holt returned to song writing.
, and writing "The Christmas Blues" with Sammy Cahn
, which was recorded by Dean Martin
and eventually used on the 1997 soundtrack of L.A. Confidential
. In the 1990s, Holt was host of the television show American Music Shop, which featured a different country artist
each week.
Holt married, and had four children: Lamont, Janna, Hayley, and Tina. In the early 1960s, Holt went into the real estate business to take advantage of Southern California
's booming real estate market, retiring in 1985 at age 58.
Holt died on November 15, 2003 at age 76 of congestive heart failure in San Juan Capistrano, California
, leaving his autobiography "The Holts of Hollywood" unfinished.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor initially groomed at the age of seven to be the male Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
. After being let down by Will Rogers
Will Rogers
William "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s....
, stress, polio, and resentment from his father precipitated his downfall, which culminated in being reduced to starring in the cheap drugs-scare melodrama "She Shoulda Said 'No'!", at the age of 22. By the time he was 25, no acting parts were available for him and he eventually turned to songwriting, where he had some moderate success before his death in 2003 at the age of 76.
Biography
Holt was born on August 14, 1927 in Jacksonville, FloridaJacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
. Four years later, his sister Betty was born, who also became an actor. At a young age, Holt's dancing skills so impressed the actor and wit Will Rogers
Will Rogers
William "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s....
that Rogers purportedly told Holt's mother that if ever they were in Hollywood they should contact him and he would get young David into pictures. Relying on this understanding, Holt's father promptly quit his job with Ford Motors. Intent on holding Rogers to his promise, the Holt family drove to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Despite their best efforts, Rogers refused even to see them.
With no income, Holt's father worked as a casual laborer. Holt's mother took Holt to auditions, sometimes sharing transport with Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
and her mother. Initially, Holt found it difficult to get acting jobs. He did, however, get a job as "body double" for Cheeta
Cheeta
Cheeta is a chimpanzee character appearing in numerous Hollywood Tarzan movies of the 1930s–1960s as well as the 1966–1968 television series, as the ape sidekick of the title character, Tarzan...
's chimpanzee predecessor in the 1933 film Tarzan the Fearless
Tarzan the Fearless
Tarzan the Fearless is a 12 chapter film serial starring Buster Crabbe in his only appearance as Tarzan. It was also released as a 71-minute feature film which comprised the first four chapters of the serial version. Co-starring was actress Jacqueline Wells, who later changed her name to Julie...
and had a small role in the 1933 Our Gang
Our Gang
Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...
(Little Rascals) comedy Forgotten Babies
Forgotten Babies
Forgotten Babies is a 1933 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. It was the 121st Our Gang short that was released.-Plot:...
.
At age seven, in 1934, Holt got his acting break in the movie You Belong to Me, a melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
in which his character's mother dies. He was now a child star, and Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
put him under a long-term contract and promoted him as a male version of Shirley Temple. Over the next six years, Holt made 20 films, but did not come close the superstardom set by his friend, Shirley Temple.
Holt was initially cast in the title role in David Copperfield
Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger is a 1935 American film based upon the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield...
, alongside W. C. Fields'
W. C. Fields
William Claude Dukenfield , better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer...
character, Wilkins Micawber
Wilkins Micawber
Wilkins Micawber is a fictional character from Charles Dickens's 1850 novel, David Copperfield. He was modelled on Dickens's father, John Dickens, who like Micawber was incarcerated in debtors' prison after failing to meet his creditors' demands.Micawber's long-suffering wife, Emma, stands by him...
. However, producer David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
developed misgivings about having an American youngster portray a quintessentially British boy. When English child actor Freddie Bartholomew
Freddie Bartholomew
Frederick Cecil Bartholomew , known for his acting work as Freddie Bartholomew, was an English-American child actor. One of the most famous child actors of all time, he became very popular in 1930s Hollywood films...
became available a couple of weeks into shooting, Holt was let go. Holt had a prominent role in the 1936 movie Straight from the Shoulder (also known as Johnny Gets His Gun) alongside noted actor Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Bellamy was an American actor whose career spanned sixty-two years.-Early life:He was born Ralph Rexford Bellamy in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Lilla Louise , a native of Canada, and Charles Rexford Bellamy. He ran away from home when he was fifteen and managed to get into a road show...
. Holt eventually developed a reputation as a troublemaker, and found himself settling for supporting roles in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is an 1876 novel about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. The story is set in the Town of "St...
(1939), Beau Geste
Beau Geste (1939 film)
Beau Geste is a 1939 film produced by Paramount Pictures based on the novel of the same name by P. C. Wren. It was directed and produced by William A. Wellman from a screenplay by Robert Carson...
(1939), and Courage of Lassie
Courage of Lassie
Courage of Lassie is a 1946 MGM feature film starring Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Morgan, and dog actor Pal in a story about a collie named Bill and his young companion, Kathie Merrick. When Bill is separated from Kathie following a vehicular accident, he is trained as a war dog, performs heroically,...
(1946) as Elizabeth Taylor's
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
older brother. Holt may be best remembered as the older Billy in the 1942 critically and publicly acclaimed film, The Pride of the Yankees
The Pride of the Yankees
The Pride of the Yankees is a 1942 American film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Walter Brennan. The film is a tribute to the legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who died only one year before the film's release, at age 37, from amyotrophic lateral...
, where 17-year old Billy attends Lou Gehrig Day and shows Lou Gehrig
Lou Gehrig
Henry Louis "Lou" Gehrig , nicknamed "The Iron Horse" for his durability, was an American Major League Baseball first baseman. He played his entire 17-year baseball career for the New York Yankees . Gehrig set several major league records. He holds the record for most career grand slams...
that Billy now can walk without a limp, implying that Gehrig's promised World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
home runs many years ago helped a young Billy overcome his childhood illness.
Holt's stress may have been a source of his troublemaking and his restricted success as an actor. Holt made more money than his father, who openly expressed his resentment at making so much less income than his prepubescent son. The production line of movies in which Holt was cast compounded his household stress. Holt and his family's expenses soon exceeded Holt's income and the family eventually had to rely on soup kitchens. At one point Holt had polio, which he believed was a result of the stress he felt in the studios. Amidst all this, Holt's parents separated.
At age 14, Holt largely turned his back on acting in favor of songwriting and poetry. Attempting to return to acting in 1948, he found few parts available, and ended up starring in the 1949 cheap drugs-scare melodrama "She Shoulda Said 'No'!". By the early 1950s, the parts had dried up and Holt returned to song writing.
Later life and death
Holt did have some success as a jazz pianist and composer, writing the music for numerous jazz albums, including several that featured Pete JollyPete Jolly
Pete Jolly was an American West Coast jazz pianist and accordionist....
, and writing "The Christmas Blues" with Sammy Cahn
Sammy Cahn
Sammy Cahn was an American lyricist, songwriter and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area...
, which was recorded by Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
and eventually used on the 1997 soundtrack of L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential (film)
L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity...
. In the 1990s, Holt was host of the television show American Music Shop, which featured a different country artist
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
each week.
Holt married, and had four children: Lamont, Janna, Hayley, and Tina. In the early 1960s, Holt went into the real estate business to take advantage of Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
's booming real estate market, retiring in 1985 at age 58.
Holt died on November 15, 2003 at age 76 of congestive heart failure in San Juan Capistrano, California
San Juan Capistrano, California
San Juan Capistrano is a city in southern Orange County, California, located approximately southeast of Downtown Santa Ana. The current OMB metropolitan designation for San Juan Capistrano and the Orange County Area is “Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA.” The population was 34,593 at the 2010 census,...
, leaving his autobiography "The Holts of Hollywood" unfinished.
