Teddy Infuhr (November 9, 1936 – May 12, 2007), born Theodore Edward Infuhr, was an American child actor.

Biography

Missouri-born child actor Teddy Infuhr, youngest of four, moved with his family to Los Angeles when he was three and was initially prodded into acting by his mother. A young student at the Rainbow Studios, he was spotted by a talent agent and booked the very first film he went out on with The Tuttles of Tahiti (1942) at the age of five. Throughout the rest of the 1940s he would find steady roles as mean-spirited tykes, trouble-makers or bullying types, never settling down to one specific studio.

A good portion of his work was noticeable yet he also appeared unbilled much of the time. Unable to move into the major child star leagues, he was cast in some of the biggest pictures Hollywood had to offer including A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Spellbound and The Best Years of Our Lives. In the latter, Infuhr played a drugstore brat chided by Dana Andrews' character, Fred Derry. One of his more oddball roles included the role of Gale Sondergaard's fly-catching nephew in The Spider Woman.

Ted found a recurring role in the "Rusty" canine adventure series, beginning with The Return of Rusty and finishing with Rusty's Birthday. He was also one of the bucolic brood in the Ma and Pa Kettle series that was introduced with the classic The Egg and I. He appeared more times in that series than any other of the regular child stars. After the war, he had larger parts in The Boy with Green Hair, Fighting Fools, West of El Dorado and Blondie's Hero and appeared with Gene Autry a few times.

Personal life

Teddy was one of the few child actors that Natalie Wood's mother allowed her to socialize with on the set.

For his role in The North Star, Teddy had to shave his head bald. The embarrassed 7-year-old returned to school wearing a hat and refused to remove it to the dismay of his teachers until they found out the reason.

Unfortunately, he did not survive the transition from awkward adolescent to adult, ending his career unbilled as a troubled teen in Blackboard Jungle. Luckily, Teddy played it smart, and found a vocation, graduating from chiropractic school in 1958. Long married to wife Rita, with whom he had two sons, he has had no qualms or regrets about leaving show business. Until his death in Thousand Oaks on May 12, 2007, he attended nostalgia conventions.

Selected filmography

Bibliography

  • Goldrup, Tom and Jim (2002). Growing Up on the Set: Interviews with 39 Former Child Actors of Film and Television. McFarland & Co. pp. 138–142. ISBN 1476613702.
  • Holmstrom, John (1996). The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995. Norwich: Michael Russell, p. 198-199.
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