Carlena Beard was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 child actor

Child actor

The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...

, most famous for portraying several different minor characters in the Our Gang

Our Gang

Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...

short films from 1930 to 1935. She was a native of Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

. Her older brother was Matthew "Stymie" Beard, one of the series' most popular and best-remembered characters.

Our Gang years

As older brother Stymie was the main breadwinner for the Beard family, his success with the Our Gang series opened the door for his siblings. Carlena Beard appeared as Stymie's younger sister in Shiver My Timbers

Shiver My Timbers

Shiver My Timbers is a 1931 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. It was the 109th Our Gang short that was released.-Plot:...

and For Pete's Sake!

For Pete's Sake!

For Pete's Sake! is a 1934 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Gus Meins. It was the 127th Our Gang short that was released.-Plot:...

.

Later years and death

After departing Our Gang, Beard became a dancer. She spent many years traveling as a personal assistant to musician Lionel Hampton

Lionel Hampton

Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...

.

Beard died on February 23, 1972.