Dick Moore, who appeared in films before he even celebrated his first birthday, has died. He was 89.
Moore’s death was reported by Deadline and also confirmed by the New York Times.
Moore made his film debut in the 1927 John Barrymore silent film The Beloved Rogue. He wasn’t even a year old and wasn’t credited, but he can be spotted as Barrymore’s character as an infant.
He had his first credited role a year later and started racking up dozens of roles before he turned 12. Moore was in Blonde Venus (1932), a Marlene Dietrich movie that was one of Cary Grant’s first; The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936); the first sound adaptation of Oliver Twist (1933); So Big (1932) with Barbara Stanwyck; Three on a Match with Bette Davis; and the Best Picture Oscar winner The Life of Emile Zola.
But Moore’s acting career is best known for two things. First, he was a star of the Our Gang shorts. and in 1942, he got to give Shirley Temple her first on-screen kiss in Miss Annie Rooney.
During World War II, Moore served in the Army for two years and wrote for Stars and Stripes. He studied journalism, but went back to Hollywood. He starred in Out Of The Past with Robert Mitchum and continued to work into the 1950s. However, he never reclaimed the success of his years as a child star.
Instead, Moore went on to be the public relations director for Actors’ Equity Union and started his own firm in 1966. He also went on to write Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (But Don’t Have Sex Or Take That Car), which tracked the lives of Hollywood child stars. While writing the book, he met actress Jane Powell, who became his third wife in 1988.
Moore is survived by Powell, a son, a stepson, two stepdaughters and his sister.