Frankie Darro 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.
14 Facts About Frankie Darro
2.
Frankie Darro 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.
3.
Frankie Darro was born on Saturday, December 22,1917, in Chicago, Illinois, as Frank Johnson, Jr.
4.
The growing film industry 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.
5.
Frankie 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.
6.
Frankie 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.
7.
Frankie Darro played a crooked rider in Charlie Chan at the Race Track and A Day at the Races.
8.
In 1938 Frankie Darro joined Monogram Pictures to star in a series of action melodramas.
9.
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.
10.
Frankie Darro served in the US Navy Hospital Corps during World War II.
11.
When that series ended, the studio gave Frankie Darro four featured roles in its popular Bowery Boys comedies.
12.
Frankie Darro's recurring malaria symptoms caused him to increase his alcohol intake for pain management, and this affected his career.
13.
Frankie Darro is probably best known to modern audiences for two films in which he isn't even seen: Walt Disney's Pinocchio, and Forbidden Planet.
14.
Frankie Darro's remains were cremated and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean.