| Darla Hood | |
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| Birth name | Darla Jean Hood |
| Born | November 8 1931 Leedey, Oklahoma U.S. |
| Died | June 13 1979 (aged 47) North Hollywood, California U.S. |
| Years active | 1936-1979 |
Darla Jean Hood (November 8, 1931 – June 13, 1979) was an American child actress. She was born in Leedey, Oklahoma, the only child of James Claude Hood and Elizabeth Davner. Her father worked in a bank and her mother was a music teacher.
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Our Gang
Darla's mother started her in singing and dancing at an early age, taking her to lessons in Oklahoma City. Just after her third birthday, she was taken to New York City where she was seen by Joe Rivkin, a casting director for Hal Roach Studios, who arranged a screen test. She was then taken to Culver City, California, to appear in the Our Gang movies. Hood made her debut in The Bohemian Girl with Laurel and Hardy. From 1935 to 1941, she played Darla in Our Gang. Her coquettish character typically was the love interest of Alfalfa, Butch, or (usually) Waldo. One of her most memorable moments was singing a romantic song entitled "I'm in the Mood for Love" in The Pinch Singer.
After Our Gang
When she outgrew her role in Our Gang, she appeared in a couple of other movies and attended school in Los Angeles. While at Fairfax High School, she organized a vocal group called the Enchanters with four boys. Shortly after graduation, the quartet was booked by producer and star Ken Murray for his famous "Blackouts", a stage variety show. The group remained with Murray's Blackouts during its long run in New York and Hollywood. Hood then went out on her own with singing engagements in nightclubs and guest appearances on TV. She was a regular on The Ken Murray Show from 1950 to 1951. In 1955, she was a leading lady in the act of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. She had a hit record in 1957, "I Just Wanna Be Free", and appeared in the movie Calypso Heat Wave singing a duet with Johnny Desmond. In January 1959, she released a new record, Quiet Village. Joe Rivkin, who discovered her as a child, saw the cover and cast her in her final film role, which was also her first adult role in a movie. She played a secretary in the suspense drama The Bat (1959) with Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead.
Hood was a guest on such TV shows of the early 1960s as Tell It to Groucho starring Groucho Marx and The Jack Benny Show, where she appeared on October 30, 1962 as "Darla" in a spoof of the old Our Gang shows with Jack Benny (who appeared as Alfalfa). She did singing and voice-over on TV commercials, which included Campbell Soup and Chicken of the Sea tuna. She appeared in her own nightclub act at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles, the Copacabana in New York, and the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. During the 1960s and 1970s, she went to many Our Gang/Little Rascals festivals and conventions, meeting and greeting the various generations of fans.
Sudden Death
Darla was busy organizing a 1980 Little Rascals reunion for the Los Angeles Chapter of The Sons of the Desert when she underwent minor surgery at a North Hollywood hospital. Following the procedure, Darla contracted acute hepatitis under suspicious circumstances and died suddenly on June 13, 1979. She was only 47. [1] The Our Gang community was stunned at Darla's unexpected passing. Fellow Our Gang member Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas said, "I hate to hear it. It's a shock. She was an awfully nice person, a fine woman. We got along real good as kids." [2] Darla is interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood.
Personal life
Hood had two marriages, insurance salesman Robert W. Decker (1955 to 1957) and record company head Jose Granson (married 1957). She and Granson had three children. Tommy "Butch" Bond mentioned that her marriage to Granson was difficult as he was confined to a wheelchair due to a stroke. As a result, pursuing her career was not easy. [3]
Trivia
- Sometime in the 1950s, Darla Hood recorded two songs with the Ray Whitaker Orchestra, "Only Yours" and "Silent Island", for RayNote Records.
- Darla Hood is mentioned in the song "Purple Stain" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers with the lines:
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- Knock on wood we all stay good
- 'Cause we all live in Hollywood
- With Dracula and Darla Hood
- Unspoken words we're understood
References
- ^ Maltin, Leonard and Bann, Richard W. (1977, rev. 1992). The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang, p. 274. New York: Crown Publishing/Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-517-58325-9
- ^ Maltin, Leonard and Bann, Richard W. (1977, rev. 1992). The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang, p. 274. New York: Crown Publishing/Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-517-58325-9
- ^ Bond, Tommy and Genini, Ron (1994). Darn Right It's Butch: Memories of Our Gang/The Little Rascals, p 71. Delaware: Morgan Press. ISBN 0-9630976-5-2
