Thomas "Buddy"/"Bud" McDonald (October 1, 1922 – September 22, 2008) was an American child actor. He is perhaps best known as one of the ''

Our Gang ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the ...

'' kids of the early sound period, and McDonald is prominently featured in the ''Our Gang'' shorts ''

Teacher's Pet Teacher's pet is a person that has an advantageous position compared to other students, where the teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or v ...

'' and '' School's Out''. He appeared in several of the ''Our Gang'' comedies, and also appeared in a scene (later deleted) with

Laurel & Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in ...

in ''

Pardon Us ''Pardon Us'' is a 1931 American pre-Code Laurel and Hardy film. It was the duo's first starring feature-length comedy film, produced by Hal Roach and Stan Laurel, directed by James Parrott, and originally distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1 ...

''.

Biography

Early career

McDonald was discovered when his mother wrote a letter, dictated from his father to

Hal Roach Studios Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and television production studio. Known as ''The Laugh Factory to the World'', it was founded by producer Hal Roach and business partners Dan Linthicum and I.H. Nance as the Rolin Film Company on Ju ...

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...

, in which they enclosed a newspaper article of Buddy's local spelling bee win. They received a phone call from the studio that same week. The studio gave him a screen test and called Buddy to work on his first picture, ''

Pups is Pups ''Pups Is Pups'' is a two-reel comedy short subject, part of the ''Our Gang'' (Little Rascals) series. It was produced and directed by Robert F. McGowan for Hal Roach, and originally released to theatres by M-G-M in 1930. It was the 100th (12th t ...

''. From there, he worked on various bit parts with

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

and

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

. In addition, he sang on ''Juvenile review'', a weekend radio program on

KFWB KFWB (980 AM) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California. It airs a classic Regional Mexican music format. KFWB is owned by Lotus Communications. The station has a colorful history, being the radio voice of Warner Bros. Studios i ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He attended grammar school on the studio lot with fellow Our Gang actors

Donald Haines Donald Haines (May 9, 1919 – February 20, 1943) was an American child actor who had recurring appearances in the ''Our Gang'' short subjects series from 1930 to 1933. He appeared in ''Our Gang'' during the early sound days along with Nor ...

and

Mary Ann Jackson Mary Ann Jackson (January 14, 1923 – December 17, 2003) was an American child actress who appeared in the ''Our Gang'' short subjects series from 1928 to 1931. She was born and died in Los Angeles, California. Career Mary Ann Jackson's f ...

. Additionally, he did scenes with

Thelma Todd Thelma Alice Todd (July 29, 1906 – December 16, 1935) was an American actress and businesswoman who carried the nicknames "The Ice Cream Blonde" and "Hot Toddy". Appearing in about 120 feature films and shorts between 1926 and 1935, she ...

Zasu Pitts Zasu Pitts (; January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas, including Erich von Stroheim's epic 1924 silent film ''Greed'', and comedies, transitioning successfully to mostly comedy films with the ...

and

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...

Childhood

Growing up in

Bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...

, California. His parents separated in 1933, he and his mother and two brothers went to live with his aunt in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. There they picked fruit. Within a year, his family had made enough money to move back to their old house in Bell. While he and his mother were living in Oregon, the studio had called asking for Buddy to do more work in the pictures. However, by the time they moved back to Bell, the calls had stopped, thus ending his childhood "career" in acting.

After ''Our Gang''

During

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

, his father owned a cafe on Florence Avenue in Bell and after Prohibition was repealed, he turned it into a bar. Buddy became famous in the community, as he was the only person living there at the time that was in pictures. As a teenager, he had problems with alcohol. McDonald was expelled from Bell High School and later attended Jacob August Riis High School in Los Angeles, a reform school for boys. In later years, McDonald joined the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

but broke his leg in boot camp and was honorably discharged. After a run-in with the law, he went to Alcoholics Anonymous as part of a reduced sentence deal. Upon his release from jail in March 1953, Buddy attended his first meeting of

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...

and stayed sober until the end of his life. After more than 10 years of being sober, he and a friend, Judge Leon Emerson, started what they named the "Dana" School (Drugs, Alcohol, Narcotics, Awareness) in

Downey Downey may refer to: People *Downey (surname) *Robert Downey Jr. Places *Downey, California, US *Downey, Idaho, US *Downey, Iowa, US Businesses *W. & D. Downey, photographic studio *Downey Studios, created out of a former Boeing plant Schools * ...

, California. In 1972, they formed the Southern California Alcohol and Drug Program (formerly the Southwest Council) and in 1975, opened their first recovery house, the Cider House in Norwalk, California. In 1985, they established an additional recovery house for women and their children, Foley House in Whittier, California. This was the first place where addicted women could keep their children with them in a supportive controlled environment while getting clean and sober. This model for women's recovery has been used many times and is now considered the best practice method. Women who were separated from their children and labeled "unfit mothers", due to their substance abuse problems, now had a chance to succeed and keep their families together. They added parenting classes and work training in their attempt to allow the women to succeed once they left Foley House.

Death

After Marcia's death in 1996, Buddy McDonald moved to the retirement community of Leisure World, California in

Seal Beach Seal Beach is a coastal city in Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,242, up from 24,168 at the 2010 census. Seal Beach is located in the westernmost corner of Orange County. To the northwest ...

. He served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Southern California Drug and Alcohol Abuse Center and remained active in helping recovering alcoholics. McDonald suffered from

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

and died in his home on September 22, 2008 at 85.

External links

*
OC Register obituaryLA Times obituary
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20081002083455/http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_10552538 Original 'Little Rascals' member McDonald dies* {{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Buddy 1922 births 2008 deaths People from Coalinga, California American male child actors Our Gang