# Which 'child actor' bankrupted himself **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 27, 2022, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936 "2022-06-27T02:09:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/21 "2022-06-29T23:36:34Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > It’d probably be a shorter list if you asked about child stars who actually kept their money and lead happy lives. I made a thread about that years ago. There are a lot. Probably much more than made the tabloids. There is also a big overestimation as to how much a child star would make while being in one hit tv show. Quite a few may have spent it all but except for a very few outliers we are not talking vast wealth. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/22 "2022-06-30T00:18:30Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Macaulay Culkin Interesting to me is that [Bonnie Bedelia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_Bedelia) (“They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” etc.) is a Culkin, and in fact is his aunt, so it isn’t like the family’s first brush with fame. > [@Cardigan](#): > > the actor (Switzer?) who played Alfalfa on ‘Our Gang’ ended up getting shot trying to collect on a $50 debt [Carl Switzer.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_%22Alfalfa%22_Switzer) Messed up item from the “Our Gang” files, with regard to Jackie Cooper… > While under contract to [Hal Roach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Roach) Studios, in [1931](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1931) Cooper was loaned to [Paramount](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_Pictures) to star in _[Skippy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skippy_(1931_movie)),_ directed by his uncle, Norman Taurog. and > Cooper’s autobiography, _Please Don’t Shoot My Dog_ , was published in 1982. The title refers to an incident during the filming of _Skippy,_ when Norman Taurog, who was directing Cooper in a crying scene, ordered a security guard to take away his dog and pretend to shoot him backstage. The stunt resulted in genuine tears; however, even upon discovering his dog was fine, Cooper was left with ill feelings toward his uncle.[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Cooper#cite_note-shoot-4) [Wikipedia source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Cooper) One that I read about awhile back: Jaimee Foxworth. Urkel’s popularity basically killed off her character. She ended up doing some porn. More here… > **[Former Child Stars Who Went Off The Deep End :: GentNews](https://gentnews.com/index.php?m=entertainment&d=viewvideo&id=247295)** > > Child stars bring home some serious bacon before even hitting their teens. But making that infamous transition from baby-faced cutie to bona fide industry powerhouse has been a notoriously difficult task. While some celebs manage to successfully make... ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/23 "2022-06-30T18:08:52Z")
I think Shirley Temple’s parents squandered most of her money. Judy Garland was financially and emotionally abused by everybody. Kid actors who were left with nothing were the reason behind the Coogan Trusut Fund laws, named, of course, after Jackie Coogan. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/24 "2022-06-30T18:22:36Z")
Interesting!.. Actor Paul Peterson who was on tv in the 50’s started an organization for former child actors, since the fallout from after their careers has damaged so many. The child actor I was thinking of, I thought it was Gary Coleman, who bought a huge house and a dozen cars in his late teens or 20’s, all with his salary from being second banana on a kids show. I remember thinking, maybe ‘his people’ should have tried to tell him the gravy train was going to come to an end. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/25 "2022-06-30T23:39:34Z")
common for pro athletes to go bust after retiring especially in the NFL. All leagues now have financial classes for rookies Don’t know if the classes are required ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/26 "2022-06-30T23:54:27Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Judy Garland was financially and emotionally abused by everybody. As well as molested/seduced by Louis B. Mayer, Spencer Tracy and others. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/27 "2022-07-01T00:16:25Z")
> [@salinqmind1](#): > > Interesting!.. Actor Paul Peterson who was on tv in the 50’s started an organization for former child actors, since the fallout from after their careers has damaged so many. Jay North(Dennis the Menace) was also involved with this group, right? His experience as Dennis the Menace was not all perfect…though perhaps not the worst of the worst, I think? ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/28 "2022-07-01T00:43:55Z")
Patty Duke’s early years in show business were horrendous. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/29 "2022-07-01T04:40:48Z")
Not quite what the OP is asking about, but Corey Feldman was emancipated at age 17. At the time, it was generally assumed that he had to do that to keep his parents from mismanaging his earnings. Decades later, he admitted the truth: they were not spending his money; they were trying to keep him from blowing it all up his nose. Which he did anyway, after emancipation. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/30 "2022-07-01T08:04:15Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Jay North(Dennis the Menace) was also involved with this group, right? His experience as Dennis the Menace was not all perfect…though perhaps not the worst of the worst, I think? Still pretty bad. He received nothing for his work and was subject to physical abuse by his guardian. Like other child actors he was supposed to be provided with an education but this requirement was routinely ignored and ineffective on it’s own. He was never paid for some of the few opportunities he had as a minor following Dennis the Menace. Some reports of a life in ruins were exaggerated but his life was pretty bad. He had made the Dennis the Menace TV show a successful product that also tied back to the continued marketing of the original comic strip character yet he made less than nothing from the show. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/31 "2022-07-01T13:21:43Z")
In Shirely Temple’s case, it didn’t ruin her life. She went on to a diplomatic career, serving as U.S. ambassador to Ghana and Czeckoslovakia, and at the United Nations. And she had a drink named after her. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/32 "2022-07-01T14:56:00Z")
Bobby Driscoll’s story is a sad one. Walt Disney Studios: Exploiting talented children since the 1940s. Another sad story (not affiliated with Disney) was Charles Herbert, who was essentially bankrupted by his parents. Baby boomers will remember him from “The Fly,” “The Colossus of New York” and “13 Ghosts,” in which he was top billed. He acted in some 20 movies and 50 TV shows from age 4 to when he hit puberty, and that was the end of his career, pretty much. His parents didn’t work, and Charles became the family’s breadwinner. He made lots of money, and his parents blew it all, leaving him with just $1700 when he reached age 21. I read an interview with him years ago. When he asked his parents where all of his money went, they said “What do you think we’ve been living on all these years?” With no skills or much education, he led a reckless life and died at 66. It was really too bad. He was a damn good actor. even for a kid. A real standout in everything he did. But when he was no longer cute, he was cast aside. Tommy Rettig of “Lassie” fame had a hard life, but his successor, Jon Provost, left acting voluntarily, went to college and turned out OK. So did Richard Eyer (the genie in “7th Voyage of Sinbad”) who became a teacher. I think a child actor’s parents have a lot to do with how they turn out. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/33 "2022-07-01T15:10:54Z")
Crispin Glover was a friend of mine when we were teens. We lost touch when his career took off and I went to college. His dad was a made a good living as a working actor and knew the industry well. Crispin wanted to be an actor from a very young age. Bruce Glover told him that you can do school drama or community theater but there was no way he would be a Hollywood child actor. He said that if you still want to act when you turn 16, that he could get an agent and get started then. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/34 "2022-07-01T15:26:54Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Jay North(Dennis the Menace) was also involved with this group, right? His experience as Dennis the Menace was not all perfect…though perhaps not the worst of the worst, I think? According to the Wikipedia article: > His mother continued to work at AFTRA full-time, and hired business managers to invest his earnings.[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_North#cite_note-Pittsburgh_Post-Gazette-3)[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_North#cite_note-Filmfax-5)[[8]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_North#cite_note-The_Washington_Post-8) In a 1993 interview with _Filmfax_ magazine, North spoke highly of his mother, saying: “I want to make it very clear about one thing. I never supported my mother during [_Dennis the Menace_]. She earned her own money from AFTRA. She never lived off my earnings. I know that sometimes happens with child actors, but it was not true in my situation.”[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_North#cite_note-Filmfax-5) The article also says he was ‘financially secure’ and ‘financially well-off’. But yeah, he was abused by his aunt. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/35 "2022-07-01T18:55:42Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > And she had a drink named after her. I feel like as she got older, they should have added alcohol to the drink. Is there such a thing as “Adult Shirley Temple” as a drink? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/36 "2022-07-01T19:53:36Z")
Yes, also called a Dirty Shirley Temple, usually made with vodka so the flavor of the drink doesn’t change much. There are other similar concoctions that are known for their sweet ‘liquor is quicker’ quality. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/37 "2022-07-01T21:05:36Z")
Shirley Temple also got pregnant and married at 17, was a mother before she was 18, divorced at 20 and remarried two weeks after her divorce. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/38 "2022-07-01T21:17:06Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Shirley Temple also got pregnant and married at 17, was a mother before she was 18, divorced at 20 and remarried two weeks after her divorce I had no idea. In fact, I really haven’t read all that much about her as an adult, though I do remember her death and hearing about all she had done. Quite a life, actually. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/39 "2022-07-01T21:19:22Z")
According to Wikipedia, she divorced John Agar on December 5, 1949; met Charles Black in January 1950; and married him on December 16, 1950. Still a bit of a whirlwind, but not quite that bad. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936/40 "2022-07-01T21:25:01Z")
You’re right. She met her second husband two weeks after her divorce. She was still on her second marriage by age 22, though it could have been worse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-child-actor-bankrupted-himself/966936.md?page=3)