Freddie Bartholomew

Frederick Cecil Bartholomew (March 28, 1924 – January 23,

1992), known for his acting work as Freddie Bartholomew, was Freddie Bartholomew
an English-American child actor. One of the most famous child
actors of all time, he became very popular in 1930s Hollywood
films. His most famous starring roles are in Captains Courageous
(1937) and Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936).

He was born in London,[1] and for the title role of MGM's David
Copperfield (1935), he immigrated to the United States at the age
of 10 in 1934, living there the rest of his life.[3] He became an
American citizen in 1943 following World War II military
service.[4][5]

Despite his great success and acclaim following David

Copperfield, his childhood film stardom was marred by nearly
constant legal battles and payouts, which eventually took a huge
toll on both his finances and his career. In adulthood, after World
War II service, his film career dwindled rapidly, and he switched
from performing to directing and producing in the medium of Bartholomew in Little Lord
television. Fauntleroy (1936)
Born Frederick Cecil
Bartholomew[1][2]
Contents March 28, 1924
Harlesden, London,
Biography
England, U.K.[1]
Early life
Child star Died January 23, 1992
From England to Hollywood (aged 67)
MGM contract troubles Sarasota, Florida,
U.S.
World War II and beyond
Enlistment and aftermath Occupation Actor
Switch to television and off-camera work Years active 1930–1951

Honors Spouse(s) Maely Daniele (m.

Filmography 1946–1953)
Aileen Paul (m.
Mentions in popular culture
1953–c. 1976)
References
Elizabeth (m. ?–
Notes 1992; his death)
External links
Children 2

Biography
Early life

Bartholomew was born Frederick Cecil Bartholomew[1][2][6] in March 1924 in Harlesden in the borough
of Willesden, Middlesex, London.[1][6][7] His parents were Cecil Llewellyn Bartholomew, a wounded
World War I veteran who became a minor civil servant after the war, and Lilian May Clarke
Bartholomew.[2][8][9] By the age of three, Freddie was living in Warminster, a town in Wiltshire in
southwest England, in his paternal grandparents' home. He lived under the care of his aunt "Cissie",
Millicent Mary Bartholomew, who raised him and became his surrogate mother.[6][10] Bartholomew was
educated at Lord Weymouth's Grammar School in Warminster, and by his Aunt Cissie.[11]

Child star

From England to Hollywood

In Warminster, Bartholomew was a precocious actor and was reciting and performing from age three.[12]
By age five he was a popular Warminster celebrity, the "boy wonder elocutionist", reciting poems, prose,
and selections from various plays, including Shakespeare.[13] He did singing and dancing as well.[14] His
first film role came by the age of six, in 1930.

He also pursued acting studies at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London,[15] and appeared in
a total of four minor British films. American filmmakers George Cukor and David O. Selznick saw him on
a 1934 scouting trip to London and chose him for the young title role in their MGM film David Copperfield
(1935).[16] Bartholomew and his aunt immigrated to the United States in August 1934, and MGM gave
him a seven-year contract.[3][17][18]

David Copperfield, which also featured Basil Rathbone, Maureen O'Sullivan, W. C. Fields, and Lionel
Barrymore, was a success, and made Bartholomew an overnight star.[19] He was subsequently cast in a
succession of film productions with some of the most popular stars of the day. Among his successes of the
1930s were Anna Karenina (1935) with Greta Garbo and Fredric March; Professional Soldier (1935) with
Victor McLaglen and Gloria Stuart; Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) with Dolores Costello and C. Aubrey
Smith; Lloyd's of London (1937) with Madeleine Carroll and Tyrone Power; The Devil is a Sissy (1936)
with Mickey Rooney and Jackie Cooper; and Captains Courageous (1937) with Spencer Tracy.

Captains Courageous was the movie he most enjoyed working on. The film took an entire year to make,
and much of it was shot off the coasts of Florida and Catalina Island, California. He later recalled, "For a
kid, it was like one long outing. Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore, Mickey Rooney, Melvyn Douglas and I
– we all grew very close toward one another in those 12 months. When the shooting was finished, we cried
like a bunch of babies as we said our goodbyes."[20]

His acting skills, open and personable presence, emotional range, refined English diction, and angelic looks
made him a box-office favorite. He quickly became the second-highest-paid child movie star after Shirley
Temple. Ring Lardner Jr. had high praise for him, saying of his performance as the star of Little Lord
Fauntleroy, "He is on the screen almost constantly, and his performance is a valid characterization, which is
almost unique in a child actor, and, indeed, in three fourths of adult motion-picture stars."[21] Of his role as
the protagonist of Captains Courageous, Frank Nugent of the New York Times wrote, "Young Master
Bartholomew ... plays Harvey faultlessly."[22]

By April 1936, following the very popular Little Lord Fauntleroy, Bartholomew's success and level of
fame caused his long-estranged birth parents to attempt to gain custody of him and his fortune.[23][24] A
legal battle of nearly seven years ensued, resulting in nearly all the wealth that Bartholomew amassed being
spent on attorneys' and court fees, and payouts to his birth parents and two sisters.[2][25][26]
MGM contract troubles

The extreme financial drain of his birth parents' ongoing custody

battles prompted Bartholomew's aunt to demand a raise in his
salary from MGM in July 1937, leveraged by the huge success of
Captains Courageous. She threatened to break his MGM contract
in order to find a better-paying studio. The contract battle kept him
out of work for a year, causing among other things the
postponement and eventual loss of his planned lead in a film of
Rudyard Kipling's Kim, and the loss of his planned lead in
Thoroughbreds Don't Cry with Judy Garland and Mickey Herbert Mundin, Bartholomew and
Rooney.[27] Jessie Ralph in David Copperfield
(1935)
He eventually resumed acting through 1942, in mostly lesser-
quality films and roles, only three out of 11 of which were with
MGM, and after 1938 he was less popular than in his heyday. This
fall in popularity stemmed not only from the quality of the roles
and his conflicts with MGM, but also from the fact that by late
1938 he was a tall, nearly 6-foot teenager, and the fact that the
world was focusing on the growing problems of World War II and
therefore the literary classics and costume dramas Bartholomew
excelled at were less in fashion.

In 1938, Twentieth Century Fox hired him for the lead in their film Basil Rathbone, Greta Garbo and
of Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped. MGM then re-teamed Bartholomew in Anna Karenina
him for the fourth and fifth times with Mickey Rooney in Lord Jeff (1935)
(1938) and A Yank at Eton (1942), and he co-starred with Judy
Garland in the lightweight MGM musical Listen, Darling in 1938.

In 1939 Universal re-teamed him for the third and fourth times
with Jackie Cooper in The Spirit of Culver and Two Bright Boys.
For RKO distribution, he performed in Swiss Family Robinson
and Tom Brown's School Days in 1940. And as World War II
deepened, Columbia had him star in three military-related films:
Naval Academy (1941), Cadets on Parade (1942), and Junior
Army (1942).

World War II and beyond

Enlistment and aftermath

Dolores Costello and Bartholomew in
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
World War II military service interrupted Bartholomew's career
even further. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces on January
13, 1943, at the age of 18, and worked in aircraft maintenance.
During training he fell and injured his back, was hospitalized for seven months, and was discharged on
January 12, 1944.[28]

He had one film role in 1944, in the low-budget comedy The Town Went Wild. The film reunited him with
Jimmy Lydon, with whom he had starred in Tom Brown's School Days, Naval Academy, and Cadets on
Parade. This ended up being Bartholomew's penultimate film performance, and his last for seven years.
His efforts to revive his film career were unsuccessful; and efforts performing in regional theaters and
vaudeville did not spark a comeback either.

After distressing experiences including a devastating auto accident and performing unsuccessfully in a play
in Los Angeles, in 1946 Bartholomew married publicist Maely Daniele. Daniele, six years his senior, was a
twice-divorced woman, and his marriage to her caused a serious and permanent rift with his aunt, who
moved back to England. The marriage was not a happy one.[29]

In 1946 he was in a radio play in an episode of Inner Sanctum Mystery.[30] In 1947, he appeared as himself
in a five-minute cameo in the otherwise all-black musical film Sepia Cinderella, relating his post-war efforts
to have a successful vaudeville routine and telling a few gags onscreen. He spent most of 1948 touring
small American theaters, and in November 1948 left without his wife for an Australian tour as a night-club
singing, patter, and piano act.[31]

Switch to television and off-camera work

Upon his return to the United States in 1949, and in rather desperate circumstances,[29] he switched to the
new and burgeoning medium of television. He shifted from performer to television host and director to
television producer and executive. Preferring to be known as Fred C. Bartholomew, he became the
television director of independent television station WPIX in New York City from 1949 through 1954.[32]
His final acting role was as a priest in the 1951 film St. Benny the Dip.

He divorced his first wife in 1953, and in December of that year he married television chef and author
Aileen Paul, whom he had met at WPIX.[33] With her he had a daughter, Kathleen Millicent Bartholomew,
born in March 1956,[34] and a son, Frederick R. Bartholomew, born in 1958. The family, including
stepdaughter Celia Ann Paul, lived in Leonia, New Jersey.[32]

This was an era in which advertising firms created and produced radio and television shows. In 1954,
Bartholomew began working for Benton & Bowles, a New York advertising agency, as a television
producer and director.[32] At Benton & Bowles, he produced shows such as The Andy Griffith Show,[32]
and produced or directed several television soap operas including As the World Turns, The Edge of Night
and Search for Tomorrow.[35][36][37] In 1964 he was made a vice president of radio and television at the
company.[32]

Bartholomew and his second wife divorced by early 1977. He eventually remarried, and remained married
to his third wife, Elizabeth, for the rest of his life.

Suffering from emphysema, he retired from television by the late 1980s.[38] He eventually moved with his
family to Bradenton, Florida. In 1991 he was filmed in several interview segments for the documentary film
MGM: When the Lion Roars (1992). He died from heart failure in Sarasota, Florida in January 1992, at the
age of 67.

Honors
On April 4, 1936, Bartholomew placed his handprints, footprints, and signature in front of
Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
In 1960, he received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6663
Hollywood Boulevard for his contributions to the film industry.[39]
He is one of the 250 Greatest Male Screen Legends nominated by the American Film
Institute in 1999 as part of their AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars selection.[40]
Filmography
Toyland (1930, Short)
Fascination (1931) – Child
Lily Christine (1932) – Child (uncredited)
Strip! Strip! Hooray!!! (1932, Short) – Boy (uncredited)
David Copperfield (1935) – David Copperfield as a boy
Anna Karenina (1935) – Sergei
Professional Soldier (1935) – King Peter II
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) – Cedric "Ceddie" Errol, Lord Fauntleroy
The Devil is a Sissy (1936) – Claude
Lloyd's of London (1936) – Jonathan Blake as a boy
Captains Courageous (1937) – Harvey Cheyne
Kidnapped (1938) – David Balfour
Lord Jeff (1938) – Geoffrey Braemer
Listen, Darling (1938) – 'Buzz' Mitchell
The Spirit of Culver (1939) – Bob Randolph
Two Bright Boys (1939) – David Harrington
Swiss Family Robinson (1940) – Jack Robinson
Tom Brown's School Days (1940) – Ned East
Naval Academy (1941) – Steve Kendall
Cadets on Parade (1942) – Austin Shannon
A Yank at Eton (1942) – Peter Carlton
Junior Army (1942) – Freddie Hewlett
The Town Went Wild (1944) – David Conway
Sepia Cinderella (1947) – Himself
St. Benny the Dip (1951) – Reverend Wilbur

Mentions in popular culture

The seven-minute Warner Bros. cartoon The Major Lied 'Til Dawn (1938) includes a caricature of
Bartholomew as his Little Lord Fauntleroy role.[41][42]

He was also caricatured, along with many other Hollywood celebrities, in the eight-minute 1938 Disney
cartoon Mother Goose Goes Hollywood – in this case as his character from the film Captains
Courageous.[43] As in the film, Freddie falls into the sea and is saved by Spencer Tracy's character.

A non-alcoholic cocktail – a parallel of the Shirley Temple – which combines ginger ale with lime juice,
known as a "Freddie Bartholomew cocktail", is named for him.

Although his name isn't mentioned, he is referred to in J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, as a figure
whom Holden Caulfield looks like – specifically, Bartholomew's most iconic role as Harvey Cheyne in
Captains Courageous (1937), referred to by the character Sunny as the kid in the movie "who falls off [a]
boat".[44]

References
 Hoerle, Helen. The Story of Freddie Bartholomew. Akron, Ohio: Saalfield Publishing
Company, 1935.

Notes
1. Birth Registry, Willesden Registration District, County of Middlesex, January–March 1924,
Volume 3A, p. 439. (http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/account.page/login?nextpage=%2frecor
ds.page%2fimage%2febmdbirthindexedimage%2f95973044%3f)
2. Bartholomew v. Bartholomew, 56 Cal.App.2d 216 (http://www.lawlink.com/research/CaseLe
vel3/19379) LawLink.com
3. Behlmer, Rudy (ed). Memo from David O. Selznick. (https://books.google.com/books?id=tr-Z
v9m3mBMC&q=%22DEAR+SOL:+FREDDIE+BARTHOLOMEW%22&dq=%22DEAR+SOL:
+FREDDIE+BARTHOLOMEW%22&hl=en&ei=kIzhTZ75KbTQiAKqnezEBg&sa=X&oi=book
_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAQ) Viking Press, 1972. p. 176.
4. "Fred Bartholomew Becomes American." Los Angeles Times. June 11, 1943.
5. "People: Fortunes of War" (https://web.archive.org/web/20081214183040/http://www.time.co
m/time/magazine/article/0,9171,766773,00.html). Time. June 21, 1943.
6. Hoerle, Chapter 1.
7. A 1992 New York Times obituary, which in addition lacked precise data regarding
Bartholomew's birth date or age, erroneously gave his birthplace as Dublin, perhaps
somehow confusing Freddie with his uncle, Frederick Head Bartholomew, who was born in
Dublin in 1885 when Freddie's grandfather was garrisoned there.
8. Cecil Llewellyn Bartholomew and Lilian May Clarke. (http://www.genesreunited.co.za/board
s.page/board/ancestors/thread/1257807) Genes Renunited.
9. Soldiers of the First World War - CEF: Cecil Llewellyn Bartholomew (https://web.archive.org/
web/20120822065655/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/001042-119.01-e.
php?id_nbr=27485)
10. Aunt Cissie's full birth name is listed as Millicent Emily Mary Bartholomew here: [1] (http://sur
namepages.com/Bartholomew.html); she was born in Bangalore, India on October 27, 1888
(her father was a British Army man on service there).
11. Howell, Danny. Yesterday's Warminster. Barracuda Books, 1987. p. 97.
12. Hoerle, Chapter 2.
13. Freddie's Warminster appearances included the Palace Cinema and Theatre, and St. John's
Church Parish Hall. (Howell, Danny. Yesterday's Warminster. Barracuda Books, 1987.)
14. Hoerle, Chapter 3.
15. Orme, Michael. "The World of the Kinema". Illustrated London News. March 23, 1935. Issue
5005. p. 486.
16. Haver, Ronald. David O. Selznick's Hollywood. Bonanza Books, 1985. pp. 156-158.
17. Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to
1995. (https://books.google.com/books?id=cGJZAAAAMAAJ&q=%22There,+he+was+amon
g+the+boys%22&dq=%22There,+he+was+among+the+boys%22&hl=en&ei=D4LhTdSnAen
diALpqKWfBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAQ) Michael
Russell, 1996. p. 127.
18. Parish, James Robert and Ronald L. Bowers. The MGM Stock Company: The Golden Era.
(https://books.google.com/books?id=GLRZAAAAMAAJ&q=%E2%80%9C+Aunt+Cissie+sig
ned+an+agreement+without+telling+her+relatives%22&dq=%E2%80%9C+Aunt+Cissie+sig
ned+an+agreement+without+telling+her+relatives%22&hl=en&ei=JibiTdnRHq_OiAL9kPjG
Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA) Allan, 1974. p. 75.
19. Fricke, John. "From 'Ben-Hur' To 'Gone With the Wind,' 'Wizard of Oz' To 'Thelma and
Louise,' MGM Has A Long Line Of Legendary Films." (https://books.google.com/books?id=a
QgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA57&dq=%22freddie+bartholomew%22+1934&hl=en&ei=an3hTZ-i
B6jRiALJ09mnBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=34&ved=0CNEBEOgBMCE#v
=onepage&q=%22freddie%20bartholomew%22%201934&f=true) Billboard. July 30, 1994.
p. 57.
20. "'30s Child Actor Freddie Bartholomew." (http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-01-26/new
s/9201080409_1_master-bartholomew-lord-fauntleroy-freddie-bartholomew/2) Chicago
Tribune. January 26, 1992.
21. Lardner, Jr., Ring W. "Will Hollywood Spoil Freddie Bartholomew?" (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=9gYAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA82&dq=%22freddie+bartholomew%22&hl=en&ei=YL
wJTYSiIcH88Ablzr3IBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ6AEwA
A#v=onepage&q=%22freddie%20bartholomew%22&f=false) Liberty. April 11, 1936. pp. 82–
83.
22. Nugent, Frank S. "Movie Review: Captains Courageous." (https://movies.nytimes.com/movi
e/review?res=EE05E7DF173FB52CA1494CC5B6799B886896) New York Times. May 12,
1937.
23. "Boy Star of Films Object of Lawsuit." (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lX4tAAAAI
BAJ&sjid=B5kFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5986,605817&dq=freddie-bartholomew&hl=en) Montreal
Gazette. April 6, 1936.
24. "Police Unexcited Over Disappearance of Boy Film Actor's Mother." (https://news.google.co
m/newspapers?id=aQUiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oaMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1364,3845604&dq=freddie-
bartholomew&hl=en) Berkeley Daily Gazette. April 7, 1936.
25. "Bartholomew Parents Win Suit." (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aGRSAAAAIBA
J&sjid=yHwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4162,4809715&dq=freddie-bartholomew&hl=en) Associated
Press, The Deseret News. February 16, 1943.
26. Graham, Sheilah. "All Around Hollywood Town." (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=
RbUWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KyMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4328,7004179&dq=freddie-bartholomew+par
ents&hl=en) Milwaukee Journal. September 30, 1945.
27. "Freddie's Strike Loses Him Place in New Picture." (https://news.google.com/newspapers?i
d=SgxQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=K1UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3563,1540528&dq=freddie+bartholomew&
hl=en) Associated Press. July 31, 1937.
28. "Freddie Bartholomew Returned to Civilian Life: Injured in Service". (https://news.google.co
m/newspapers?id=BExfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uVQNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2926,643298&dq=freddie+b
artholomew&hl=en) United Press. January 13, 1944.
29. LeBow, Guy. "Station Break: Freddie B." In Watch Your Cleavage, Check Your Zipper!
Everything You Were Never Supposed to Know About TV (https://books.google.com/books?
id=0P0UxKBRSXQC&pg=PA248). SP Books, 1994. p 248.
30. "Freddie Bartholomew In Nephew Shocker on 'Inner Sanctum'-WHP" (https://www.newspap
ers.com/clip/3335342/harrisburg_telegraph/). Harrisburg Telegraph. October 5, 1946. p. 17.
Retrieved October 1, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
31. "Freddie once had a million" (http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/55899915). The Mail.
November 20, 1948.
32. Nuccio, Sal. "Advertising: Role for Freddie Bartholomew" (https://www.nytimes.com/1964/1
1/06/archives/advertising-role-for-freddie-bartholomew.html), The New York Times,
November 6, 1964. Accessed March 30, 2011.
33. "Video Romance Culminates Today." (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0MRRAAA
AIBAJ&sjid=mGoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4747,3772031&dq=maely+bartholomew&hl=en)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 12, 1953.
34. "Aileen Paul Has Daughter." New York Times. March 8, 1956.
35. Poll, Julie (1996). "As The World Turns - 40th Anniversary Special", p 290. General
Publishing Group, Los Angeles. ISBN 1-881649-91-1.
36. The Edge of Night: Full cast and crew (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048860/fullcredits) at
the Internet Movie Database
37. Search for Tomorrow credits (http://tv.nytimes.com/show/159664/Search-For-Tomorrow/credi
ts). New York Times.
38. Lamparski, Richard. Whatever Became of ... ? (https://books.google.com/books?id=_sFkAA
AAMAAJ&q=%22bartholomew,+freddie%22&dq=%22bartholomew,+freddie%22&hl=en&ei=
8Z_gTdbxF-LiiAKt2Iy3Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=44&ved=0CPkBEOgB
MCs). Crown Publishers, 1989. p. 207.
39. Hollywood Walk of Fame (http://www.walkoffame.com/freddie-bartholomew). Retrieved
November 14, 2017
40. America's Greatest Legends (http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/stars500.pdf). American
Film Institute. 1999.
41. The Major Lied 'Til Dawn (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv1HySQhXA8) on YouTube
(video)
42. The Major Lied 'Til Dawn (1938) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030402) at the Internet Movie
Database
43. Walt Disney Studios celluloid depicting an animated Freddie Bartholomew and Spencer
Tracy (http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21643/lot/4123/) from Mother Goose Goes
Hollywood (1938). Bonhams. (Accessed July 2014.)
44. Beidler, Peter G. A Reader's Companion to J. D. Salinger's the Catcher in the Rye (https://bo
oks.google.com/books?id=1JnfmAEACAAJ). Second Edition. Coffeetown Press, 2011. pp.
29–31.

External links
Freddie Bartholomew (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000861/) at IMDb
Online biography, with citations (https://immortalephemera.com/22051/freddie-bartholomew-
biography/)
Genealogy and birth data (http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards.page/board/records_offic
e/thread/1257807)
Freddie Bartholomew (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6656086) at Find a Grave
Freddie Bartholomew (http://www.virtual-history.com/movie/person/586/freddie-bartholome
w) at Virtual History

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