Stymie Beard

 Stymie Beard (Matthew Beard Jr.) January 1, 1925, Los Angeles, CA to the founding pastor of the Beloved Church of God in Christ and Johnnie Mae Beard (nee Clay, an actress). He had 13 brothers and sisters and he named some as they were born including one named after Dickie Moore and four of his siblings, as well as his mother, appeared in some of the "Our Gang" shorts. Stymie first played infants and toddlers in silents films and grew into his role in 36 "Our Gang" comedies. Stymie's hat was a gift from Stan Laurel. Director Robert McGowan felt "stymied' by the boy's curious wanderings around the studio, and he began calling him "Stymie" and it became the character's name instead of the one planned which was "Hercules". McGowan recalled that Stymie was his favorite of all of the "Our Gang" kids.

In essence, Stymie replaced Allen Hoskins (Farina), although they appeared together in a number of films, and Stymie was, in turn, replaced by Billie Thomas (Buckwheat). Stymie left the series in 1935 at the age of 10 and he continued acting in films until he entered high school.

As a teenager, Beard fell into drug use, and he became addicted to heroin, and he spent time in and out of jail on drug and theft charges. In the late 1960s, he checked into Synanon, a drug rehabilitation institute, and quit drugs. He returned to film work and appeared on television programs, such as "Sanford and Son", "The Jeffersons", and "Maude" and he had a recurring role on "Good Times" as Monty. He lectured on drug abuse awareness.

He suffered a stroke and sustained head injuries after falling on January 3, 1981. He died of pneumonia on January 8, 1981, in Los Angeles. He was 56.