Oscar Winning Child Actor Dead at 90

Claude Jarman Jr., who won a Juvenile Academy Award for his role in the 1946 classic film “The Yearling,” died from natural causes at his Kentfield, California home on Sunday, January 12, 2025. He was 90 years old.

Born on September 27, 1934, in Nashville, Tennessee, Jarman was the 11-year-old son of a railroad accountant when director Clarence Brown discovered him in his fifth-grade classroom on Valentine’s Day 1945 during a Southern school scouting trip for “The Yearling.” 

“Next thing, they called three days later and said, ‘Get ready to leave for Hollywood in a week,'” Jarman recalled in a 2016 interview. 

The production, which took about two years to complete in Florida, was demanding – one scene with a deer required 115 takes. During the film’s promotion, Jarman even walked a deer on a leash down Fifth Avenue in New York.

“The Yearling,” based on Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, cast Jarman as Jody Baxter, a young boy growing up on a Florida farm after the Civil War. The film’s production proved challenging, with Jarman facing various difficulties, including illness, heat, and uncooperative animal actors. Despite these obstacles, his performance earned him the prestigious Juvenile Academy Award, which was presented to him by Shirley Temple at the 1947 Academy Awards ceremony. At the time, he was only the seventh person to receive a Juvenile Academy Award, joining previous winners including Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.

The film achieved both critical and commercial success, though its high production costs resulted in only modest profits. Gregory Peck received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his role as Penny Baxter, Jody’s father, while Jane Wyman portrayed his mother, Ora.

Following “The Yearling,” Jarman appeared in ten other films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, including “High Barbaree,” “The Sun Comes Up,” “Roughshod,” and “Intruder in the Dust,” which reunited him with director Clarence Brown. In 1950, he starred in the western “Rio Grande” alongside John Wayne. His television work included appearances in series such as “Wagon Train” and the 1978 miniseries “Centennial,” which featured Raymond Burr.

After completing his education at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University, where he took pre-law courses, Jarman served three years as an officer in the U.S. Navy. Following his military service, he returned to Hollywood in 1959 but found no film work. This led to his transition behind the scenes, where he worked as an Armed Forces publicist in Los Angeles, helping to make films about the U.S. Navy.

Jarman’s post-acting career proved diverse and successful. He served as the executive director of the San Francisco International Film Festival from 1965 to 1980, significantly impacting the city’s cultural landscape as its director of cultural affairs. He produced a documentary about famed rock promoter Bill Graham and the Fillmore Auditorium during this time. In 1986, he founded Jarman Travel Inc., which he headed for 25 years.

Throughout his later years, Jarman maintained connections to Hollywood, appearing as a special guest at the 70th and 75th Academy Awards telecasts. In 2018, he published his memoir, “My Life and the Final Days of Hollywood,” offering insights into his experiences during Hollywood’s golden age and his perspective on the industry’s evolution.

Jarman was married three times and is survived by his wife of 38 years, Katie, along with seven children and eight grandchildren. A memorial service will be held in San Francisco, and he will be buried in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee.

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