Junior Durkin(1915-1935)
- Actor
Quiet, benign, blue-eyed, rangy-framed child/teen actor Junior Durkin,
who was an absolute natural on film and possessed major "down home"
appeal, showed strong promise in just the few 1930s films he appeared
in. A fatal roadster accident quickly ended the dreams of this young
"Henry Fonda" type just as he was about to transition into
grownup-roles.
He was born Trent Bernard ("Junior") Durkin in Atlantic City, New
Jersey on July 2, 1915. His father, Bernard, was a hotel owner who
abandoned the family while Junior was quite young. His mother, Florence
"Molly" Edwards, was an actress who quickly geared Junior and his two
older sisters, Gertrude Durkin and
Grace Durkin toward performing.
Junior first set foot on stage at age 2 1/2 playing the part of Cupid
in the play "Some Night". From there he was seen in such shows as "The
Squaw Man," "The Blue Bird," "Poppy," "Paid" and "Floradora." Following
a role in "Dagmar" starring legendary
'Nazimova' as a countess in January 1923, the 8-year-old Junior took his first bow on Broadway with the melodrama "The Lady" toward the end of that year with veterans 'Mary Nash'
and Elisabeth Risdon.
Junior returned to Broadway as Tommy Tucker in Gilbert & Sullivan's
musical "H.M.S. Pinafore" (1926), then earned his strongest reviews yet
in the Broadway comedy "Courage" (1928), also starring
Janet Beecher and featuring sister
Gertrude, which ran for 8 months. He and sister Gertrude also toured on
the vaudeville circuit around this time.
Following his mother's death in 1930, the young actor and both his
sisters, who now had stage and Broadway experience, headed West to
Hollywood to test "early sound" pictures. Junior was immediate placed
in the Warner Bros. domestic drama
Recaptured Love (1930) and
received noticeable reviews as the son of estranged parents. Junior was
next paired well with child actress
Mitzi Green in
The Santa Fe Trail (1930)
headlining Richard Arlen, with both
children receiving their share of praise.
Brief as it was, Junior became life-long friends with superstar
Jackie Coogan when he tested and won the
role of Huckleberry Finn opposite Coogan's Sawyer in what would prove
to be a highly popular movie version of the
Mark Twain classic
Tom Sawyer (1930). Both boys were the
same age. With Mitzi Green delightful as
Becky Thatcher, the three young actors received heaps of praise for
their naturalistic performances. The movie was so well received, in
fact, that all three were reunited in the film version of
Huckleberry Finn (1931). Blessed
with a shy, ingratiating smile, Junior, along with the other two,
received equal applause for these same roles.
Junior co-starred in the drama
Hell's House (1932) with an early
Bette Davis and
Pat O'Brien as a bucolic "good kid"
who gets mixed up with the wrong city crowd, a bootlegger and his dame,
and takes the fall for a crime his mentor committed. Junior's next film
Man Hunt (1933) showed off Junior's
natural charm as a boy sleuth who involves himself in a murder and
robbery. Returning then to the stage with a starring role in the comedy
"Growing Pains" at the Pasadena Playhouse, the show moved to Broadway
in November 1933 but ran only 29 performances.
Dropping the name "Junior" from the marquee, the young actor was fourth
billed as "Trent Durkin" in the
Richard Arlen/Ida Lupino
comedy Ready for Love (1934) in
his pursuit of a grownup image.
Big Hearted Herbert (1934)
with Guy Kibbee and
Louisa May Alcott's
Little Men (1934) with fellow kid
actors Dickie Moore,
Frankie Darro,
Tommy Bupp and
Cora Sue Collins followed. Junior's
last film would be RKO's
Chasing Yesterday (1935), which
would be released posthumously.
Junior had just been cast to play "Tommy" in the hotly anticipated film
version of Eugene O'Neill's drama
Ah Wilderness! (1935) when the
boy decided to take some spring time off to relax with his good friend
Jackie Coogan at the Coogan ranch just
outside San Diego. On their way back to the ranch while out on a
dove-hunting expedition one day in Coogan's new car, a 20th birthday
present from his dad, the vehicle (driven by Coogan, Sr.) swerved to
avoid an oncoming car, lost control and plunged into a ravine,
overturning more than seven times. Of all the occupants -- Jackie,
Jackie's father, Junior, actor-writer
Robert J. Horner and ranch foreman
Charles Jones -- young Jackie Coogan was
the sole survivor, the only one not thrown from the car.
Junior's death was attributed to a fractured skull. The highly beloved
youth had over two hundred guests attend his funeral, which was held at
Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California. Gone at 19, one can only
image what talents he still had to share or what kind of Hollywood
career he would have had as a full-fledged adult star.
who was an absolute natural on film and possessed major "down home"
appeal, showed strong promise in just the few 1930s films he appeared
in. A fatal roadster accident quickly ended the dreams of this young
"Henry Fonda" type just as he was about to transition into
grownup-roles.
He was born Trent Bernard ("Junior") Durkin in Atlantic City, New
Jersey on July 2, 1915. His father, Bernard, was a hotel owner who
abandoned the family while Junior was quite young. His mother, Florence
"Molly" Edwards, was an actress who quickly geared Junior and his two
older sisters, Gertrude Durkin and
Grace Durkin toward performing.
Junior first set foot on stage at age 2 1/2 playing the part of Cupid
in the play "Some Night". From there he was seen in such shows as "The
Squaw Man," "The Blue Bird," "Poppy," "Paid" and "Floradora." Following
a role in "Dagmar" starring legendary
'Nazimova' as a countess in January 1923, the 8-year-old Junior took his first bow on Broadway with the melodrama "The Lady" toward the end of that year with veterans 'Mary Nash'
and Elisabeth Risdon.
Junior returned to Broadway as Tommy Tucker in Gilbert & Sullivan's
musical "H.M.S. Pinafore" (1926), then earned his strongest reviews yet
in the Broadway comedy "Courage" (1928), also starring
Janet Beecher and featuring sister
Gertrude, which ran for 8 months. He and sister Gertrude also toured on
the vaudeville circuit around this time.
Following his mother's death in 1930, the young actor and both his
sisters, who now had stage and Broadway experience, headed West to
Hollywood to test "early sound" pictures. Junior was immediate placed
in the Warner Bros. domestic drama
Recaptured Love (1930) and
received noticeable reviews as the son of estranged parents. Junior was
next paired well with child actress
Mitzi Green in
The Santa Fe Trail (1930)
headlining Richard Arlen, with both
children receiving their share of praise.
Brief as it was, Junior became life-long friends with superstar
Jackie Coogan when he tested and won the
role of Huckleberry Finn opposite Coogan's Sawyer in what would prove
to be a highly popular movie version of the
Mark Twain classic
Tom Sawyer (1930). Both boys were the
same age. With Mitzi Green delightful as
Becky Thatcher, the three young actors received heaps of praise for
their naturalistic performances. The movie was so well received, in
fact, that all three were reunited in the film version of
Huckleberry Finn (1931). Blessed
with a shy, ingratiating smile, Junior, along with the other two,
received equal applause for these same roles.
Junior co-starred in the drama
Hell's House (1932) with an early
Bette Davis and
Pat O'Brien as a bucolic "good kid"
who gets mixed up with the wrong city crowd, a bootlegger and his dame,
and takes the fall for a crime his mentor committed. Junior's next film
Man Hunt (1933) showed off Junior's
natural charm as a boy sleuth who involves himself in a murder and
robbery. Returning then to the stage with a starring role in the comedy
"Growing Pains" at the Pasadena Playhouse, the show moved to Broadway
in November 1933 but ran only 29 performances.
Dropping the name "Junior" from the marquee, the young actor was fourth
billed as "Trent Durkin" in the
Richard Arlen/Ida Lupino
comedy Ready for Love (1934) in
his pursuit of a grownup image.
Big Hearted Herbert (1934)
with Guy Kibbee and
Louisa May Alcott's
Little Men (1934) with fellow kid
actors Dickie Moore,
Frankie Darro,
Tommy Bupp and
Cora Sue Collins followed. Junior's
last film would be RKO's
Chasing Yesterday (1935), which
would be released posthumously.
Junior had just been cast to play "Tommy" in the hotly anticipated film
version of Eugene O'Neill's drama
Ah Wilderness! (1935) when the
boy decided to take some spring time off to relax with his good friend
Jackie Coogan at the Coogan ranch just
outside San Diego. On their way back to the ranch while out on a
dove-hunting expedition one day in Coogan's new car, a 20th birthday
present from his dad, the vehicle (driven by Coogan, Sr.) swerved to
avoid an oncoming car, lost control and plunged into a ravine,
overturning more than seven times. Of all the occupants -- Jackie,
Jackie's father, Junior, actor-writer
Robert J. Horner and ranch foreman
Charles Jones -- young Jackie Coogan was
the sole survivor, the only one not thrown from the car.
Junior's death was attributed to a fractured skull. The highly beloved
youth had over two hundred guests attend his funeral, which was held at
Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California. Gone at 19, one can only
image what talents he still had to share or what kind of Hollywood
career he would have had as a full-fledged adult star.