George Bookasta
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George Bookasta (July 14, 1917 – March 26, 2014) was an American
child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in film, movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associa ...
and director who was discovered by
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...
. He signed a contract with the film studio
United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...
and debuted in the silent film '' Rosita'' in 1923. Some of his other films included ''The Night Bird'', ''
Hell Harbor ''Hell Harbor'' is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film directed by Henry King and written by Fred de Gresac, Clarke Silvernail and Brewster Morse. The film stars Lupe Vélez, Jean Hersholt, John Holland, Gibson Gowland, Harry Allen and Al ...
'' and ''
It Had to Happen ''It Had to Happen'' is a 1936 American drama film starring George Raft and Rosalind Russell. The movie was written by Kathryn Scola, and Howard Ellis Smith, and directed by Roy Del Ruth. It is based on the 1909 short story "Canavan, the Man Who ...
''. Bookasta was a stand-in in ''
Sergeant York Alvin Cullum York (December 13, 1887 – September 2, 1964), also known by his rank as Sergeant York, was an American soldier who was one of the most decorated United States Army soldiers of World War I. He received the Medal of Honor fo ...
'' in 1941. During World War II Bookasta was a radio operator in the Army. As an adult, he created the magazine ''TV Times'', directed episodes for television shows such as ''
The Colgate Comedy Hour ''The Colgate Comedy Hour'' is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show featured many notable comedians and entertainers of the era as guest stars. Many of the scripts of the serie ...
'' and Bachelor Father, and led a big band orchestra in New York. Bookasta directed summer stock theater with the Lighthouse Players in
Ocean City, Maryland Ocean City, officially the Town of Ocean City, is an Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic resort city in Worcester County, Maryland, Worcester County, Maryland, along the East Coast of the United States. The population was 6,844 at the 2020 United States c ...
. He wrote, produced, and directed the one-woman show ''Dear Femininity'', in which Annie Wiley enacted her "real-life journey as an emerging performer". Bookasta died at his home in Saratoga Springs, New York on March 26, 2014, at the age of 96.


References


External links

*
George Bookasta
at the
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...
* 1917 births 2014 deaths American male film actors American male child actors American male silent film actors 20th-century American male actors {{US-film-actor-1910s-stub