Freddie Bartholomew

Biography

One of the most popular child actors in film history, Freddie Bartholomew was born Frederick Cecil Bartholomew in London, England, in 1924. He was raised by his aunt, Millicent Bartholomew. Freddie had appeared on stage and in four minor British films when he was offered the title role in David Copperfield (1935) by MGM. This film made him an overnight star and he went on to appear in such classics as Anna Karenina (1935), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), and Captains Courageous (1937). His salary soared to $2,500 a week making him filmdom's highest paid child star after Shirley Temple. But with the advent of young manhood, his dimpled, angelic good looks began to fade. After a stint in the Air Force in World War II, his film career was all but finished. In 1954, he went to work for an advertising agency as a television producer and director, and remarked at the time that the millions he had earned as a child had been spent mostly on lawsuits, many of which involved headline court battles between his parents and his aunt for custody of young Freddie and his money. "I was drained dry," he said. Freddie Bartholomew died in Florida in 1992 at the age of 67.