WHAT A LIFE

Child Star From ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ Dies at 92

Darryl Hickman started in movies from the age of eight before briefly quitting acting to join a monastery and later becoming the head of CBS daytime programming.

Darryl Hickman, who started his career in Hollywood as a child star before going on to appear in more than 40 movies, has died at the age of 92. His family confirmed to Deadline that Hickman died on Wednesday. In one of his biggest roles he played Winfield, the youngest member of the Joad family in John Ford's film adaption of The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) when he was just eight-years-old. In 1951, he briefly retired from acting to enter a monastery, but returned to Hollywood a little over a month later. His younger brother, Dwayne Hickman, was the star of the comedy The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Hickman took over from Robert Morse as J. Pierrepont Finch in the original production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on Broadway. He later became head of CBS daytime programming for nearly five years. After a long break from movies he appeared as a television executive in 1976’s Network. He was married to actress Pamela Lincoln with the pair having two sons together before getting divorced in 1982.