Jackie Searl

Biography

A fairly well-known child actor who never made it to the ranks of a Jackie Cooper or Freddie Bartholomew, Jackie Searl nevertheless gained a film following in the 1930s. A bratty counterpart to Jane Withers, the blond, freckled, clean-cut Jackie was born in Anaheim, California in 1921 and started on L.A. radio in "The Children's Hour" at the age of three. By the end of the 1920s, film beckoned and Jackie hit it big playing mean little Sid Sawyer in the early Mark Twain film classic Tom Sawyer (1930). Paramount Pictures promptly signed the youngster up and he followed this with Finn and Hattie (1931), Huckleberry Finn (1931), Skippy (1931), Topaze (1933), and as Dormouse in Alice in Wonderland (1933). Infamous at playing sissified brats, obnoxious squealers, and sandbox bullies, he was a natural scene-stealer and aptly labeled on the Paramount sets as "The Kid Everybody Wants to Spank." He continued playing secondary parts into his teens with roles in Ginger (1935), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), That Certain Age (1938), and Small Town Deb (1941). He joined the service in WWII and tried to resurrect his career following his discharge, but had a tough time of it. In the 1960s he played character parts, nominally as minor heavies, in such films as The Couch (1962), and Shotgun Wedding (1963) and on TV dramas. He retired in the 1970s and died in 1991.