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| George Warde |
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born:
02 July 1911 Los Angeles, California, United States of America |
died:
07 September 2003 Clark County, Washington, United States of America (age 92) |
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American child actor, dancer, songwriter, and agent who played roles in silent films with Our Gang, Mary Pickford (in 1925's "Little Annie Rooney"), Harold Lloyd, Richard Talmadge, and Charles Ray. Though often billed with the spelling of "Warde," the natural spelling of George's family name was actually "Ward," minus the "e." His parents were New York-born Ai Almanson Ward (1877-1940), who reportedly acted in films under the name "Dad Martin" (and yes, his first name was "Ai" -- after his grandfather), and Pennsylvania-born Erma Belle (Smith) Ward (1877-1929), who married on 20 September 1900 in Franklin, Pennsylvania. George had three older siblings: Pennsylvania-born Richard S. Ward (1901-1977) and Oregon-born twins Roger Paul Ward (1904-1982) and Ruth Grace (Ward) Boyer/Schwab/Heston (1904-1962); Roger and Ruth also acted in films, per the 1920 Census. In about 1924, George went into vaudeville as a "buck-and-wing"/eccentric dancer. By the time of the 1930 Census, he is a songwriter for a motion picture studio -- yes, at only age 18. A 1931 article in a Hartford, Connecticut newspaper claims he is a "former Middletown [CT] boy" (he was, in fact, a California native), but it does note, "He is known as the youngest song writer in Hollywood, where he was employed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp., for the last year and a half." On his 1937 marriage certificate, his occupation is given as "salesman." In the 1940 and 1950 Censuses, he is a theatrical agent and artists' representative; his World War II draft registration card (16 Oct 1940) notes his employer as Jules C. Stein, M.C.A. Artists Ltd. (Stein was the co-founder of MCA -- Music Corporation of America). Curiously, on his WWII draft reg. card, George gives his birth date as 30 June 1911, but his birth and death records confirm it to be two days later; on said draft card, he gives his birthplace as Glendale, California, which is in Los Angeles County, but on his 1937 marriage certificate, he gives just Los Angeles as his birthplace. He is not to be confused with another silent-era "Our Gang" cast member, Sonny Boy Warde (a.k.a. Luis Cordova). I suspect that the two silent-era "Our Gang" child actors with the last name "Warde" have simply been mixed up with each other over the years. |
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Real name: George Hadley Ward Height: 5'10½" (age 29, Oct. 1940) |
Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography. |
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