Stuart Michael Sharrett (born July 18, 1965) is an American actor. Best known for his role in the 1978 family movie ''
The Magic of Lassie'' with
James Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...
, Sharrett additionally co-starred in the 1985 action film ''Savage Dawn'' and in the 1986
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Amongst his Wes Craven filmography, prolific filmography, Craven worked primarily in the Horror film, horror genre, particularly sla ...
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
''
Deadly Friend'', for which he received a
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...
nomination as the "Best Young Actor in a Horror Motion Picture".
Biography and career
Sharrett was born in
Ventura, California
Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city in and the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States. It is a coastal city located northwest of Los Angeles. The population was 110,763 at the ...
. Sharrett began his career at the age of 12 in the
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
-winning ''
Our Town
''Our Town'' is a three-act play written by American playwright Thornton Wilder in 1938. Described by Edward Albee as "the greatest American play ever written", it presents the fictional American town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 ...
'', a 1977 television adaptation of the classic play ''
Our Town
''Our Town'' is a three-act play written by American playwright Thornton Wilder in 1938. Described by Edward Albee as "the greatest American play ever written", it presents the fictional American town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 ...
''. On February 20, 1978, Sharrett guest starred on ''
Little House on the Prairie
The ''Little House on the Prairie'' books comprise a series of American children's novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder (b. Laura Elizabeth Ingalls). The stories are based on her childhood and adulthood in the Midwestern United States, Americ ...
'' on the episode entitled "The Stranger" about young Peter Lundstrom, who is expelled from his private school for petty theft, so his wealthy father sends the boy to stay with Uncle Nels Oleson in Walnut Grove for a long-overdue lesson in values. At first he rebels but later on learns the pride of hard work and in time his father later realizes that his time with his son is much more important than making any more money as he is quite wealthy already. After some additional television roles and a part in the 1978
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...
comedy western film ''
Hot Lead and Cold Feet'', Sharrett landed the role of Chris, the grandson of Clovis, played by
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
winner
Jimmy Stewart in the 1978 musical film ''
The Magic of Lassie''. In '' The Magic of Lassie'',
Lassie is a dog owned by Sharrett's freckled-faced character Chris.
Canada Newswire
CNW Group Ltd., also called Canada Newswire and CNW, is a commercial press release service owned by Cision. Cision Distribution services in Canada are powered by Canada Newswire. The service is offered stand-alone or as part of its flagshiCision ...
(August 9, 2007)
TV Land Canada Reveals Fall 2007 Premiere Dates.
'' Lassie is taken away from Chris, who then is put under pressure when his grandpa has to decide whether to sell the valuable family vineyard in return for the dog.
In 1986, Sharrett played Tom in the witty sci-fi/horror movie ''
Deadly Friend.''
[James, Caryn. (October 11, 1986) ]The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
Screen: Wes Craven's 'Deadly Friend'.
' Section: 1; Page 114. In the teenage friendship story, Tom and his friend Paul bring friend Samantha back to life using a computer chip designed by Paul.
Reviews of Sharrett's performance were positive, with a ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reviewer writing, "As Tom, Michael Sharrett is a wonderful foil, fainting away at the first kick of Sam's supposedly dead leg."
For his performance as Tom, Sharrett received a
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...
nomination in 1986 as the Best Young Actor in a Horror Motion Picture.
Internet Movie Database
IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
(2008)
Awards for Michael Sharrett.
' Accessed July 3, 2008.
In 1988, Sharrett appeared in the short-lived TV series ''
Supercarrier''. Two years later, in October 1990, Sharrett served as a main character in an episode of the American television drama
The Trials of Rosie O'Neill.
['']Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' (October 19, 1990)
The week at a glance. A guide to notable shows, Oct. 19 to 25.
Section: Television Listings; Page 10. In that episode, Sharrett played a seemingly all-American boy accused of
desecrating a
Jewish cemetery
A Jewish cemetery ( ''beit almin'' or ''beit kvarot'') is a cemetery where Jews are buried in keeping with Halakha, Jewish tradition. Cemeteries are referred to in several different ways in Hebrew, including ''beit kevarot'' (house of s ...
.
Rosie, a Los Angeles
public defender
A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Belgium, Hungary and Si ...
character played by
Sharon Gless in the series, defends Sharrett's character.
The episode first aired on Monday, October 22 on
CBS.
Selected filmography
Films
Television
References
Bibliography
* Holmstrom, John. ''The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995''. Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 356.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharrett, Michael
1965 births
Living people
American male child actors
American male film actors
American male television actors
People from Ventura, California