Clifton Young

Biography

Clifton "Bobby" Young gained notoriety as a child actor playing "Bonedust" during Our Gang's sound transition period. Of all the graduates of Our Gang (with the exception of Jackie Cooper and, arguably, Dickie Moore), Clifton had the greatest shot at adult stardom - at least as far as strong character roles were concerned. With his Kirk Douglas cleft chin, Clifton was active in several top-drawer postwar pictures: Dark Passage (1947), especially memorable as a weaselly blackmailer who picks up escaped convict Humphrey Bogart, Pursued (1947), directed by Raoul Walsh, Possessed (1947), and Blood on the Moon (1948). He was also a semi-regular in Warner Bros.' popular "Joe McDoakes" comedy shorts and played a bad guy in two 'Roy Rogers' Republic oaters. Clifton hit a rough personal period in 1951 and had moved into a hotel after a painful divorce, where he died smoking in bed.