Frankie Darro
Frankie Darro (born Frank Johnson, Jr.; December 22, 1917 – December 25, 1976) was an American actor and later in his career a stuntman. He began his career as a child actor in silent films, progressed to lead roles and co-starring roles in adventure, western, dramatic, and comedy films, and later became a character actor and voice-over artist. He is perhaps best known for his role as Lampwick, the unlucky boy who turns into a donkey in Walt Disney's second animated feature, "Pinocchio" (1940). In early credits, his last name was spelled Darrow. Early life. Frankie  Darro was born on Saturday, December 22, 1917, in Chicago, Illinois, as Frank Johnson, Jr. His parents, Frank Johnson, Sr. and his wife Ada, were known as "The Flying Johnsons", a acrobatics and tightrope walking act with the Sells Floto Circus; it was a profession that his father attempted to train him in, and he cured Frankie's fear of heights by having him walk on a length of tightrope wire, gradually raising the height of it until his son had mastered the trick. In 1922, while the circus was in California, his parents divorced, and their circus act ended  along with their marriage. The growing film industry, however, found a use for a small child who could do his own stunts, and the young Johnson, renamed "Frankie Darro," appeared in his first film at the age of six. Acting career. As a child actor, he appeared in many silent adventure, western, and serial pictures of the 1920s. His visual appeal and his obvious comfort before the cameras kept him steadily employed. Darro remained popular in serials as the star or co-star; he appeared in the serial "The Phantom Empire", opposite the new cowboy star Gene Autry. Darro was  featured in Mervyn LeRoy's "Three on a Match" in 1932 and was the principal character in the James Cagney feature "The Mayor of Hell" (1933). His most important role during the 1930s was as the lead in "Wild Boys of the Road", director William Wellman's indictment of teens vagabonding across America during the Depression. From then on, he was usually cast as a pint-sized tough guy, although he also played wholesome leads in mysteries and comedies. Darro's name grew in stature, but he himself didn't: he stood only 5'3", limiting his potential as a leading  man. His wiry, athletic frame and relatively short stature often typecast him as a jockey. Darro played a crooked rider in "Charlie Chan at the Race Track" and "A Day at the Races". In 1938 Darro joined Monogram Pictures to star in a series of action melodramas. Darro's flair for comedy gradually increased the laugh content in these films. By 1940 Mantan Moreland was hired to play his sidekick. The Frankie Darro series was so successful that Monogram used it as a haven for performers whose own series had been discontinued: Jackie Moran, Marcia Mae Jones, and Keye Luke  joined Darro and Moreland in 1940, and Gale Storm was added in 1941. Darro served in the US Navy Hospital Corps during World War II. He contracted malaria while enlisted. Upon his return to civilian life, Monogram welcomed him back and cast the perennially youthful Darro in its "The Teen Agers" campus comedies. When that series ended, the studio gave Darro four featured roles in its popular Bowery Boys comedies. Darro's last assignment for Monogram was doubling for Leo Gorcey in "Blues Busters" in 1950. Later life. Darro's recurring malaria symptoms caused him to increase his alcohol intake  for pain management, and this affected his career. As film and TV roles became fewer, Darro opened his own tavern, naming it "Try Later," after the response he most often received when he asked Central Casting for work. His new occupation proved unwise, however, given his heavy drinking. By the mid-1950s, he had become too risky for producers to hire steadily. No longer starring in films, Darro accepted smaller roles and did stunt work for other actors in various films. Darro is probably best known to modern audiences for two films in which he isn't even seen: Walt Disney 's "Pinocchio" (1940, as the voice of Lampwick), and "Forbidden Planet" (1956, as one of the actor/operators "inside" the now iconic 7-foot-tall "Robby the Robot"). Darro did continue to play small parts well into the 1960s, mostly on television: "The Red Skelton Show", "Bat Masterson", "Have Gun—Will Travel", "The Untouchables", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "The Addams Family", and "Batman" (episodes 9 and 10). He also did voice-over work for various projects. Death. While visiting an ex-wife and his step-daughter Christy in Huntington Beach, California, Darro died of a heart attack on Christmas Day 1976 , three days after his 59th birthday. His remains were cremated and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean.