Leave Her to Heaven
In 1946, he played the younger version of Van Heflin's character Sam Masterson in the film noir "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers". To make it seem credible that Hickman looked like a young Van Heflin, the latter provided a picture of himself as a teenager to makeup artist Wally Westmore. In this period, he also acted alongside Gene Tierney and Cornel Wilde in the 1945 film "Leave Her to Heaven". Being the sole survivor among the cast, he provided extra commentary in the DVD release of the movie. His experience of working with Tierney was mixed, considering her to have been aloof and not given her best performance. It won Tierney an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. The year after the release of "Leave Her to Heaven", Hickman was lauded by a newspaper as "one of Hollywood's top juveniles". Hickman later became critical of child acting, lamenting how the profession for young actors deprives them of a real childhood. He opted to get therapeutical assistance for several years to come to terms with his past.