David Holt (actor) - Biography

Biography

Holt was born on August 14, 1927 in Jacksonville, Florida. 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.