Appearances

Title	Role	Year	Approx. Age
Little Men 1934	Franz	1934	19
Hell's House	Jimmy Mason	1932	17
Tom Sawyer 1930	Huckleberry Finn	1930	15

What Might Have Been ? Trent ?Junior? Durkin (1915-1935)
David-Elijah Nahmod

It?s important to honor and remember those who came before us.

Trent ?Junior? Durkin spent most of his brief life acting on stage and in Hollywood films. In 1928, when he was twelve years old, he was said to be Broadway?s youngest leading man. Less than a decade later, Durkin was killed in a horrifically violent car crash which haunted child star Jackie Coogan, the accident?s lone survivor and Durkin?s best friend, for the rest of his life.

Today, few people remember Durkin. One person who remembers him well is the now 94-year-old Diana Serra Cary. Once world famous as the child star Baby Peggy, Cary referred to Durkin?s funeral as ?the saddest event I have ever been a part of in my life.?

In an interview with SFGN, Cary revealed a few surprising facts about Durkin. Shortly before he died, he was on the verge of major film stardom. In 1934, when she was 16 years old, Cary appeared with Durkin in the play ?Growing Pains? at the legendary Pasadena Playhouse. The play became the basis for the Andy Hardy film series, which ultimately starred Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.

?If things had worked out differently for Trent, he would very likely have ended up as one of MGM?s biggest stars,? Cary recalled. ?Having starred as the lead in the original play, Trent would have had first crack at the part of Andy in the films which later made a huge popular star of Mickey Rooney.?

Viewing Durkin?s films today reveals a young actor of enormous depth and presence. In 1930, he portrayed Huckleberry Finn in the first sound film adaptation of Mark Twain?s Tom Sawyer. The film, which has been posted in its entirety at YouTube, is a creaky old relic. Few actors took their craft seriously in those days. Most were more interested in being movie stars than in developing a character.

And so Durkin?s first appearance, around five minutes into the film, was something of a revelation. His screen presence was intense. He delivered his lines with an impressive dramatic panache. Durkin actually became Huckleberry Finn.

That same year Durkin appeared as Henry, the teenaged son of a wealthy couple in the romantic drama Recaptured Love (also known as "John Halliday"), which has also been posted at YouTube. The actor is barely recognizable from one film to the other. His voice and body language in Recaptured Love were so different from the work he did in Tom Sawyer, it was as though different actors had played the two roles.

Durkin was an actor who played characters. He researched his roles and immersed himself in them. He took his work very seriously. Unlike his contemporaries, he continued to pursue stage work. He felt it was important to keep one foot in the theater and the discipline in taught him.

In the daringly homoerotic Hell?s House (1932), one of the few Durkin films to get a DVD release, he played Jimmy Mason. Recently orphaned, Jimmy gets caught up with the wrong crowd and ends up in reform school. There, he becomes fast friends with a sickly boy named Shorty (Junior Coghlan), who calls Jimmy ?big boy.? When Shorty?s bad heart begins to give out, Jimmy takes his dying friend in his arms. They weep and nuzzle each other?s faces. After Shorty dies, a tearful Jimmy whispers his friend?s name. ?OK, big boy,? intones Shorty?s ghostly, off screen voice.

Hell?s House, ostensibly a social reform film meant to shine a light on abuses within the reform school system, becomes a love story between two teenaged boys.

Was Durkin?s emotionally charged performance in Hell?s House a reflection of his personal life? At the time of his death, he was sharing a home with 24-year-old Henry Willson. Years later, Willson gained fame as a semi-out Hollywood agent who discovered actors Tab Hunter and Rock Hudson, both of whom remained closeted for much of their careers. Hudson was tragically outed shortly before his death from AIDS in 1985 at age 59.

?It would not surprise me to know that Trent was gay,? said Diana Sera Cary. ?However, in the early thirties it would have been suicidal for such a promising young actor to come out of the closet. Especially without the protection of a strong producer, or already under contract to MGM, with studio head Louis B. Mayer seriously invested in his future success as a leading man.?

Cary shared her belief that MGM leading man Robert Taylor, who was gay, was forced into an arranged marriage with movie star Barbara Stanwyck. Taylor?s public image was protected by his studio.

?If Trent was already aware that he was gay, as was my dear friend Roddy McDowall early on, I think he would have persevered as prudently as possible until our more tolerant generation finally brought the subject openly to the table as a denial of civil rights and demanded the end of such cruel quaint dodges as civil unions and Don?t Ask Don?t Tell,? Cary said.

While it appears they were indeed a couple, only Durkin and Willson knew for sure. But there?s no doubt of Durkin?s great acting ability. Had he lived, Cary agreed, Durkin could easily have played roles that were ultimately played by acting giants such as Marlon Brando.

It wasn?t meant to be. On Saturday, May 4th, 1935, Durkin, Jackie Coogan and three other men were returning from a hunting trip near San Diego. The driver lost control of the vehicle, and Durkin was flung to his death into a deep canyon that was filled with large boulders. The day before, Chasing Yesterday, his final film, had opened in theaters. He had dropped the Junior moniker for the film, and was billed as Trent Durkin. It was to be the beginning of his segues into adult roles.

Junior's death was attributed to a fractured skull. The highly beloved youth had over two hundred guests attend his funeral, which was held at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California. Gone at 19, one can only image what talents he still had to share or what kind of Hollywood career he would have had as a full-fledged adult star.

Durkin?s death was front-page news. The public was shocked by this unspeakable tragedy. Yet today, Trent ?Junior? Durkin is a rarely mentioned footnote in Hollywood history.

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1935 Fresno Bee article
Pine Valley, CA John Coogan Sr. Other Killed, May 1935
Re-Posted October 11th, 2008 by Stu Beitler

JACKIE COOGAN HURT; AUTO PLUNGE KILLS FATHER; 3 OTHERS.

JUNNIOR DURKIN AMONG DEAD IN CANYON TRAGEDY EAST OF SAN DIEGO; ELDER COOGAN DRIVES OFF ROAD TO AVERT HEAD ON COLLISION.

(By The United Press)
San Diego, May 4. -- Four men were killed and JACKIE COOGAN, 20 year old former boy film star, was injured tonight when an automobile in which COOGAN and his party were returning from a hunting trip into Mexico plunged off the road at high speed into a creek bed on the El Centro Highway, fifty miles east of here. The dead were:
JOHN L. COOGAN, SR., father of the former boy actor.
JUNIOR DURKIN, 19 year old motion picture actor.
CHARLES JONES, foreman of the COOGAN Ranch, near here.
ROBERT HORNER, 25, Hollywood film writer.
JACKIE COOGAN was reported not seriously injured.
The San Diego County coroner at Pine Valley, where the dead and injured were brought, said the automobile left the road on a curve, plunged over a bank, and rolled over four times before it came to a stop in the bottom of the creek. JACKIE COOGAN, bruised and shocked at the death of his father, said the automobile left the road in attempting to dodge another machine. COOGAN, SR., was driving.

Jumped Out.
"I crouched down in the seat as the car turned end over end twice," Young COOGAN said. "Then I straightened up and jumped out. I saw the automobile turn over two or three more times." JACKIE said he seized the foot rest in the rumble seat and held on, riding with the car end over end. DURKIN, who had been in pictures since early childhood, was riding with him in the rumble seat. Their friendship started when DURKIN played the title role in Huckleberry Finn, and JACKIE took the part of Tom Sawyer in the same film. The partnership was seated in death when DURKIN lost his grip and was hurtled from the rumble seat to fall dead in the rocky creek bed.

Father Dies Later.
JACKIE'S father died shortly after the car smashed into the rocks. JACKIE, dazed and bruised, and his fater were the only survivors of the accident when passersby first arrived. The elder COOGAN died of his injuries with his famous son by his side. The younger COOGAN was brought to the Pine Valley store, where he received treatment, but was found not to be seriously injured. Postmaster JAMES RUSSELL of Pine Valley called in a nearby priest to comfort JACKIE. JACKIE'S mother, and PATRICIA ELLIS, pretty young actress who has ofter been seen with the young actor, chartered a special airplane to fly to San Diego. They planned to proceed by car to Pine Valley.

Has Chest Injury.
DR. H. G. WESTPHAL, Glendale physician who flew to the scene with JACKIE'S mother and MISS ELLIS, reported that JACKIE suffered a chest injury, including two injured ribs, possibly broken, cuts and bruises. An ambulance was dispatched to Pine Valley to bring him to San Diego. "They were traveling west on the highway," DR. WESTPHAL said JACKIE told him, "when an automobile which JACKIE said he thought he could identify approached from the opposite direction, on the center line of the highway, and swerved over." "The other machine forced the COOGAN car from the highway. It swerved into an eight-foot ditch." "JACKIE and JUNIOR DURKIN were in the rumble seat. JACKIE saw the other car swerve toward them. COOGAN, SR., lost control. When the car left the road it cut five heavy posts, turned over five times and crashed into the rocks." "All but JACKIE were thrown out as the car landed in the creek bed." "Young COOGAN picked himself up and went first to the unconscious form of his father. He dragged his father up to the roadside, then brought all the rest up.

Flags Motorist.
"JACKIE flagged down M. E. MAGEE of El Centro, a passing motorist. MAGEE had to drive thirty miles to the nearest physician. Before that doctor arrived, all the critically injured except JACKIE'S father were dead." "MR. COOGAN died in his son's arms a moment after the physician arrived." Deputy Coroner DAVE GERSHEN of San Diego County said the COOGAN automobile was traveling at a high rate of speed, "seventy miles an hour, at least." He said that it skidded 100 feet on the pavement, 125 feet after it struck the fence and then hurtled into the creek bed.

Planned Weekend Party.
JACKIE COOGAN had planned to have a number of Hollywood friends as weekend guests at his ranch. Among others who had planned to go were PATRICIA ELLIS, TOBY WING, with whom JACKIE'S name has been associated romantically, both film actresses, and WILLIAM JANNEY, juvenile film actor. JACKIE went down alone Thursday and was followed Friday by DURKIN, HORNER, DURKIN'S two sisters, GRACE and GERTRUDE, and PAULA STONE, daughter of FRED STONE.

The Fresno Bee Republican California 1935-05-05