Hollywood Child actor Billy Chapin passes away at 72 Billy Chapin, known for featuring in films like ‘The Kid from Left
Field’ and ‘The Night of the Hunter’ as a child actor, has died. He was
72.His sister and fellow former child actor,
Lauren, announced the news on Facebook on Saturday.She wrote that Billy
had died on Friday night ‘after a long illness’. “Billy was a wonderful
brother to both Michael and me,” Lauren
wrote. “And he made us proud of
all the great films he was in… He will be greatly missed.”Billy, Lauren
and their brother, Michael, were all successful child actors during the
1940s and 1950s. Billy, born as William McClellan Chapin is the middle
of the three siblings who were all born here. Apart from several stage
appearances as a newborn, Billy got his start in 1951 in the Broadway
production of ‘Three Wishes for Jamie’. His first big on-screen role was
as the ‘Diaper Manager’ Christie Cooper in the 1953 baseball film ‘The
Kid from Left Field’. The family film also starred Dan Dailey, Anne
Bancroft and Lloyd Bridges.Billy’s most recognisable role came in 1955
in the film ‘Night of the Hunter’ directed by Charles Laughton. Although
it was considered a critical and commercial failure at the time, in
1992, the United States Library of Congress selected the picture for
preservation in the National Film Registry, forever preserving its
legacy. After ‘Night of the Hunter’, his film career declined, then his
television roles wrapped up as well until his career in Hollywood ended
in 1959.
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