Andre Brandon De Wilde (April 9, 1942 – July 6, 1972) was an Academy Award-nominated American actor born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn. His father, Frederick A. De Wilde, was a Broadway production stage manager, and his mother, Eugenia De Wilde, was a part-time Broadway actress. The De Wilde family moved from Brooklyn to Baldwin, Long Island after he was born.
Brandon De Wilde made his much-acclaimed Broadway debut at the age of 7 in The Member of the Wedding, and was the first child actor to win the Donaldson Award. He also starred in the 1952 film version (directed by Fred Zinnemann).
As the tow-headed Joey who worshipped the mysterious gunman in Shane, he stole the movie and was nominated for an Oscar. He also starred in his own television series, Jamie (1953-1954) which, although popular, was cancelled due to a contract dispute.
In 1956 he starred opposite Walter Brennan and Phil Harris in the coming of age movie Good-bye, My Lady adapted from James Street's book. This movie showcased the then rare dog breed - Basenji, the African bark-less dog, to American audiences.
He shared an on-screen camaraderie with both James Stewart and Audie Murphy in the 1957 western Night Passage. De Wilde made his mark onscreen as an adolescent in the 1959 drama Blue Denim, co-starring Carol Lynley. He also appeared in Martin Ritt's Hud (1963) costarring with Paul Newman, Patricia Neal and Melvyn Douglas, and in All Fall Down (1962) opposite Warren Beatty and Eva Marie Saint.
Although the only lead actor not to be Oscar-nominated for Hud, he went on stage to accept the Best Supporting Actor trophy for co-star Melvyn Douglas (who was in Israel at the time).
De Wilde delivered another widely acclaimed performance at the age of 22 as Jere Torry, the screen son of John Wayne in In Harm's Way (1965). In a career spanning the years 1951 to 1972 (including six Broadway plays and 16 movies), he made his last screen appearance in Wild In The Sky.
Brandon De Wilde was critically injured in a traffic accident in the Denver suburb of Lakewood on the evening of July 6, 1972, while en route to perform in the play Butterflies Are Free. Swerving to avoid another vehicle, he struck a construction trailer parked on the side of the road, and was pinned under the wreckage of his motorcycle for some time before being taken to Denver General Hospital. He died four hours later. He was 30 years old.
De Wilde -- who watched as Paul McCartney wrote the song Wait during the filming of the Beatles movie Help! -- had hoped to embark on a music career. He asked his friend Gram Parsons (of The Byrds), and his band at the time, International Submarine Band, to back him in a recording session. Guitarist John Nuese claimed that De Wilde sang harmony with Parsons better than anyone except Emmylou Harris.
Parsons and Harris later co-wrote a song entitled "In My Hour Of Darkness", whose first verse refers to the accident that killed De Wilde: "Once I knew a young man / Went driving through the night, / Miles and miles without a word / But just his high-beam lights. / Who'd have ever thought they'd build / Such a deadly Denver bend; / To be so strong, to take so long / As it would till the end."
De Wilde was married to his second wife when he died. He left a son, Jesse.
He was originally buried in Hollywood, California, but his parents later moved his remains to Pinelawn Memorial Park in Farmingdale, New York in Suffolk County, to be closer to their home in Long Island. Frederick De Wilde died in 1980. Eugenia De Wilde died in 1987.
