Robert Willard "Bobby" Buntrock (August 4, 1952 – April 7, 1974) was an American

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated t ...

. Buntrock is best known for playing the character of Harold "Sport" Baxter on the 1960s

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

'' Hazel''.

Career

Buntrock was born in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, to Robert E. and Maxine Buntrock. He had two sisters, Stella and Deanne. When he was three, the family moved to

Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Southern California in Los Angeles County, part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 census figure. Whittier was incorporated in ...

, where neighbors urged Buntrock's parents to get their son into acting. After submitting Buntrock's picture to various agents, he was signed by Marcella Belle Rinehart. When he was seven years old, Buntrock landed his first role, on an episode of ''

Wagon Train ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western series that aired 8 seasons: first on the NBC television network (1957–1962), and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and became number one in the Nielsen ratings ...

''. He also appeared in guest spots on ''

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse ''Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse'' is an American television anthology series produced by Desilu Productions. The show ran on the Columbia Broadcasting System between 1958 and 1960. Three of its 48 episodes served as pilots for the 1950s televisio ...

'', ''

Mister Ed ''Mister Ed'' is an American television sitcom produced by Filmways that aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966. The show's title character is a talking horse which orig ...

'', and ''

The Donna Reed Show ''The Donna Reed Show'' is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the middle-class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz co-stars as her pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children, Mary ...

''. In 1961, Buntrock won the role of Harold "Sport" Baxter on the sitcom ''Hazel'', starring Shirley Booth. The series aired for five seasons, first on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

with

Don DeFore Donald John DeFore (August 25, 1913 – December 22, 1993) was an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the sitcom ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' from 1952 to 1957 and the sitcom ''Hazel'' from 1961 to 1965, the former of w ...

and

Whitney Blake Whitney Blake (born Nancy Ann Whitney; February 20, 1926 – September 28, 2002) was an American film and television actress, director, and producer. She is known for her four seasons portraying Dorothy Baxter, the mother, on the 1960s sitco ...

in the role of Harold's parents, George and Dorothy Baxter. In the fifth and final season (1965-1966) shown on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

, the series was retooled after DeFore and Blake were dismissed and Harold lived with his Uncle Steve Baxter ( Ray Fulmer), Aunt Barbara ( Lynn Borden), and cousin Susie ( Julia Benjamin). During the run of ''Hazel'', Buntrock was tutored on the set and attended Lake Marie Public School in Whittier when the show was on hiatus. After ''Hazel'' ended its run in 1966, Buntrock appeared in two guest spots on '' The Virginian'' in 1967 after which he retired from acting.

Personal life and death

Buntrock moved with his family to Keystone, South Dakota, where he graduated from Sturgis High School in 1970, and lived for the last five years of his life. On April 7, 1974, Buntrock died at age 21 in an automobile accident when his car veered off a bridge under construction into

Battle Creek Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which en ...

, drowning him in the submerged car. He is buried in Keystone Cemetery in Keystone.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buntrock, Bobby 1952 births 1974 deaths 20th-century American male actors Accidental deaths in South Dakota Actors from Whittier, California American male child actors American male television actors Burials in South Dakota Male actors from Denver Male actors from South Dakota Road incident deaths in South Dakota