Dark Blue World
Diver
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Date of birth: |
1931-07-28 |
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Appearances
Although younger brother Dwayne Hickman is probably the better-remembered sibling today with his still-huge cult following as TV's Dobie Gillis, Darryl Hickman was certainly the more popular actor and deemed more talented when they were children.
Darryl's childhood years included Boys' Ranch (1946) and Fighting Father Dunne (1948), and, during his years at MGM in the wartime 40s, Darryl was featured prominently in many grade "A" film productions, including the classic The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Men of Boys Town (1941), The Human Comedy (1943) and The Happy Years (1950), among many others. In 1945 he was a major character along side Gene Tierney and Cornel Wilde in the oscar winning thriller Leave Her to Heaven.
Discovered at age 3, Darryl literally grew up on the sound stage but abandoned acting suddenly in 1951 to enter a monastery. It was not to be his calling, however, and he left over a year later and tried to pick up where he left off in Hollywood. It wasn't easy. After a decent role in Tea and Sympathy (1956), film and TV offers suddenly dried up. While brother Dwayne was hitting it big on TV, Darryl wisely moved behind the scenes and eventually became a program executive.
Footnote: Darryl played Dobie Gillis' brother Davey on a few episodes of brother Dwayne Hickman's comedy series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959).
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