Scott Hastings "Scotty" Beckett

 Scott Hastings "Scotty" Beckett (October 4, 1929 – May 10, 1968)

Beckett appeared as a regular in the Our Gang short subjects series from 1934 to 1935. In the gang, Beckett played George "Spanky" McFarland's best friend and partner in mischief. His trademark look was a crooked baseball cap and an oversized sweater exposing one shoulder. His role was taken over by Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer in 1935, and Beckett left the series for features after that year. In 1939, he returned to Our Gang briefly as Alfalfa's cousin Wilbur in Cousin Wilbur and Dog Daze. After his Our Gang days were over, Beckett won increasingly prominent roles in major Hollywood films, usually playing the star's son or the hero as a boy. Among his major credits are Dante's Inferno with Spencer Tracy, Anthony Adverse with Fredric March, The Charge of the Light Brigade with Errol Flynn, Conquest with Greta Garbo, Marie Antoinette with Norma Shearer; Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, in which he played Jon Hall's character as a child, and Kings Row, in which he played Robert Cummings's character as a child. In 1940, he played Tim in My Favorite Wife, starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. He appeared as one of the unborn children in Shirley Temple's The Blue Bird (1940). He also had a central role in the wartime propaganda film The Boy from Stalingrad (1943). He later attended the University of Southern California, but dropped out when the combined workload of school and movies became too great. Although he was working steadily at MGM, his life grew increasingly tumultuous in the late 1940s and early 1950s. In 1948, he was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. In 1954, Beckett's career took an upward turn when he was cast as Winky, the comic sidekick in the popular TV show Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. Beckett was fired from the series after he was arrested on a concealed weapons charge and for passing a bad check.

After more or less giving up show business, Beckett tried selling real estate, then cars, and twice enrolled at universities with the intention of becoming a medical doctor. He was also arrested several times for drunkenness, drunk driving, drug possession, and passing bad checks. In 1962, he attempted suicide after a heavy drinking binge. On May 8, 1968, Beckett checked into a Los Angeles nursing home to seek medical attention after suffering a serious beating (the circumstances surrounding the beating were never made clear). He was found dead in his room on May 10. He was 38 years old. A note and pills were found, but the Los Angeles County coroner stated that an exact cause of death was unknown despite the fact that an autopsy had been performed. Beckett is buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, CA.