Billy Naylor (September 22, 1916 - October 5, 2011), was an American

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in film, movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associ ...

who appeared in several ''

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 ...

'' films during the

silent era A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

. Beginning his screen career in 1925, some of his movies included '' Uncle Tom's Uncle'', ''

The Fourth Alarm ''The Fourth Alarm'' is a 1926 short silent comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. It was the 53rd '' Our Gang'' short subject released. It was later reworked in '' Hook and Ladder'' in 1932. Notes This is Mary Kornman's final '' Our Gan ...

'', and ''

Telling Whoppers ''Telling Whoppers'' is a 1926 short silent comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan and nephew Anthony Mack. It was the 55th '' Our Gang'' short subject released. Plot The neighborhood bully, Tuffy, played by Johnny Downs, is determined to ...

''. At the age of 18, he joined the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

, making him the youngest member to enter the

labor union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

. He left

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

in 1935. Naylor was the oldest living member of the ''Our Gang'' series at the time of his death on October 5, 2011. He was a devout

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

who supported the Freethought Hall fund.

References

External links

*
Billy Naylor
at the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...

1916 births 2011 deaths American male film actors American male child actors Male actors from San Francisco American male silent film actors 20th-century American male actors American atheists {{US-film-actor-1910s-stub