Jerry Tucker (November 1, 1925 – November 23, 2016) was an American child actor, most notable for having played the "rich kid" in the ''

Our Gang ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, who also pr ...

short subjects A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film or ...

series semi-regularly from 1931 to 1938.

Life and career

Tucker was born Jerome Harold Schatz in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Ruth (Keno) and Leonard Schatz. His German Jewish surname was changed to "Tucker" for his acting career. Tucker first appeared in the 1931 Our Gang short '' Shiver My Timbers''. He appeared in seventeen ''Our Gang'' comedies through 1938's '' Three Men in a Tub''. In addition to his ''

'' appearances, Tucker appeared in the

Marie Dressler Leila Marie Koerber (November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934), known professionally as Marie Dressler, was a Canadian-born stage- and screen-actress and comedian, popular in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood in early silent film, silent an ...

film ''

Prosperity Prosperity is the flourishing, thriving, good fortune and successful social status. Prosperity often produces profuse wealth including other factors which can be profusely wealthy in all degrees, such as happiness and health. Competing notions ...

'', again as a spoiled rich kid. He also appeared as one of Mother Peep's children in the Laurel & Hardy feature film '' Babes in Toyland'' (1934). He also appeared with

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was na ...

in '' Captain January'' in 1936, playing the "know-it-all" boy who forgets his answers on the test. On radio, Tucker played "the juvenile lead" on ''Jones and I'', which was broadcast on

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

in the early 1940s and Roy Barry on the soap opera '' Hilltop House''. Tucker went on to serve in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. He served aboard the . During

, he sustained an injury that caused him to limp, when his ship was hit by a Japanese ''

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

''. Afterwards he married Myra K. Heino and had a successful career as an

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

with

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

before retiring. His wife died in August 2012. Tucker died on November 23, 2016, of

natural causes In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinc ...

at Long Island State Veterans Home in

Stony Brook, New York Stony Brook is a political subdivisions of New York#Hamlet, hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, Town of Brookhaven, New York, Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the No ...

. He was 91.

Filmography

Radio

References

External links

* * *
Prosperity (1932)
Jerry played the part of Buster. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker, Jerry 1925 births 2016 deaths Male actors from Chicago American male child actors American male film actors American male radio actors 20th-century American male actors United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy personnel of the Korean War American electrical engineers Hal Roach Studios actors Engineers from Illinois Jewish American male actors 21st-century American Jews