Donald Haines

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Donald Haines
Born	1918
Died	1941 (aged 22–23)
Occupation	Film actor
Years active	1930-1941

Donald Haines (1918 - 1941) was an American child actor who was a recurring in the Our Gang short subjects series from 1929 to 1933. His tenure began during the early talkees up through the "Miss Crabtree episodes", where he would leave for feature films at Paramount only to return a few months later. His tenure continued through the "early Spanky episodes".

[edit] Our Gang

Haines' first short was Shivering Shakespere, which featured the youngster giggling his way through his lines. On the next short The First Seven Years, he was a main character, playing opposite Jackie Cooper. After that, he was a recurring character with a few small speaking roles until 1931. At that time he was offered a contract with Paramount, which would begin with a role in a feature called Skippy. Jackie Cooper also was offered a role on that feature and a contract. Both Jackie and Donald are missing from the final scenes of the second to last short made in the 1930-31 season, Bargain Day to begin work at Paramount.

Cooper would remain at Paramount. Haines, on the other hand, would quickly leave Paramount to return to Hal Roach Studios just in time for the 1931-1932 season. At that point, several major characters left the series because children age and grow up. This left a depleted Our Gang of only three regulars and a few recurring characters. Haines would resume his role as a recurring character with an occasional speaking role for the next two seasons.

[edit] World War II

Haines left the Our Gang series in 1933, but continued working as an actor at Hal Roach studios on many shorts and features until 1941. Haines enlisted as an aviation cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps on December 10, 1941, to serve in World War II.

Haines was killed in action shortly after entering the service. At the time of his death, his rank was First Lieutenant. The exact date of his death remains unknown.