Raisins of Wrath, Leave Her to Heaven actor was 92

Darryl Hickman, who appeared in films such as Grapes of Wrath And Leave her in paradise as a youth before becoming a CBS executive in charge of daytime drama series and an actor once again, has died. He was 92 years old.

Hickman, who lived in Montecito, died Wednesday, his family announcement.

He was the older brother (by three years) of the late Dwayne Hickman, who starred in the CBS comedy from 1959 to 1963. The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Darryl appeared with his brother in Captain Eddie (1945) – he played the famous fighter pilot Eddie Rickenbacker as a child – and in three episodes of the first season of Doby as older brother Davey, who is home from college.

In 1951, after appearances in more than 40 films, Hickman – who had been a contract actor at Paramount and MGM – became disillusioned with the business and entered a monastery, although he soon returned to show business.

Hickman made his first film appearance in The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) and had a line of dialogue in If I were king (1938) before singing and tap dancing in The star maker (1939), with Bing Crosby.

Bing's brother, Everett Crosby, became his agent and got Hickman an interview with director John Ford, who starred as Winfield, the youngest member of the Joad family, in an adaptation of John's classic Dust Bowl Steinbeck. Grapes of Wrath (1940).

Around 100 children were invited to play the role. When asked why he gave Hickman the job, Ford said, “He was the only kid who didn't act like an actor.” Hickman said he had a great time during production “riding on the roof of this truck on Route 66 with Shirley Mills” (she played his sister, Ruthie).

In the Technicolor film noir classic Leave her in paradise (1945), directed by John M. Stahl, Hickman stood out as Cornel Wilde's disabled younger brother who drowns in a lake while Gene Tierney watches uncaringly.

Hickman also played younger versions of Van Heflin's Ira Gershwin (Robert Alda) and Sam Masterson in Rhapsody in Blue (1945) and The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), respectively; was a mentally slow child in war melodrama The human comedy (1943); and played the son of a gambling house owner (Clark Gable) in Any number can play (1949).

He spent over a year on Broadway, succeeding Robert Morse as J. Pierrepont Finch in the original production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Tryingwhich took place from 1961 to 1965.

Hickman also appeared in the acclaimed Paddy Chayefsky film Network (1976) as director of West Coast TV and starring as Burt Reynolds Sharky's machine (1981) as a cop who goes bad.

Darryl Gerard Hickman was born in Los Angeles on July 28, 1931, the son of an insurance salesman. He was discovered by one of his father's clients, Ethel Meglin, a former Ziegfeld girl who chaired Meglin's Kiddies, a troupe of young performers.

After Grapes of WrathHickman appeared with Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney in Men of Boys Town (1941) and in the comedy Our Gang I'm going to press (1942). In Meet me in St. Louis (1944), his character, scalawag Johnny Tevis, says, “Tootie, if you don't hit Mr. Braukoff in the face with flour and say, 'I hate you,' the Banshee will haunt you forever!”

Hickman graduated from Cathedral High School in Los Angeles in 1948, with Elizabeth Taylor, appeared in A kiss for Corliss (1949) — he had also appeared on a radio show — and, after his short stay in a monastery, enrolled at Loyola University.

He made his living in the 1950s mainly by guesting on television shows including The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Perry Mason, Climax!, Alfred Hitchcock presents, General Electric Theater, Studio One in Hollywood And Tales from Wells Fargo.

Hickman wrote for NBC The Loretta Young Show in 1961 and also starred that year as a Union soldier in a short-lived series for the network, Americans.

In 1970s New York, Hickman worked as a producer on the CBS soap opera Love of life (starring a then-young Christopher Reeve as bad boy Ben Harper) and spent about five years in charge of the network's daytime programming.

He returned to Los Angeles in 1977 to produce A year at the top, a TAT Communications sitcom from Norman Lear starring Paul Shaffer. He also taught theater, worked on singing on Jonny Quest and other cartoons and appeared on Baywatch And The nanny.

In 2006, Hickman appeared in Turner Classic Movies, where, along with other former child actors Margaret O'Brien (her Meet me in St. Louis co-star), Dickie Moore and Jane Withers, he was interviewed by the late Robert Osborne. “I had 12 psychiatrists and it cost me $85,000 to be able to sit here with any degree of sanity,” he said.

Hickman's book on theater, The unconscious actor: out of control, in controlwas released in 2007. He said he was greatly influenced by Tracy and director George Cukor after working with them in Keeper of the Flame (1942).

Hickman married actress Pamela Lincoln in 1960, whom he had met on the set of Vincent Price's horror film. The Tingler (1959). A few years after their divorce, their youngest son, Justin, committed suicide in 1985.

Dwayne Hickman died in January 2021 from complications of Parkinson's disease at the age of 87.

Duane Byrge contributed to this report.