Freddie Bartholomew
Encyclopedia
Frederick Cecil Bartholomew (March 28, 1924 – January 23, 1992), known for his acting work as Freddie Bartholomew, was an English
-American
child actor
. One of the most famous child actors of all time, he became very popular in 1930s Hollywood films
. His most famous starring roles are in Captains Courageous (1937) and Little Lord Fauntleroy
(1936).
Bartholomew was born in London
, and for the title role of MGM's David Copperfield
(1935), he immigrated to the United States
at the age of 10 in 1934, living there the rest of his life. He became an American citizen in 1943 following World War II
military service.
Despite his great success and acclaim following David Copperfield, Bartholomew's childhood film stardom was marred by nearly constant legal battles and payouts which eventually took a huge toll on both his finances and his career. In adulthood, after World War II service, Bartholomew's film career dwindled rapidly, and he switched from performing to directing and producing in the medium of television.
in the borough of Willesden
, Middlesex
, London
. His parents were Cecil Llewellyn Bartholomew, a wounded World War I
veteran who became a minor civil servant after the war, and Lilian May Clarke Bartholomew. By the age of three Freddie was living in Warminster
, a town west of London, in his paternal grandparents' home. He lived under the care of his aunt "Cissie", Millicent Mary Bartholomew, who raised him and became his stepmother.
Bartholomew also pursued acting studies at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London, and appeared in a total of four minor British films. Italia Conti recommended him to American filmmakers George Cukor
and David O. Selznick
, who cast him as the young title role in their MGM film David Copperfield
(1935). Bartholomew and his aunt immigrated to the U.S. in August 1934, and MGM gave him a seven-year contract.
David Copperfield, which also featured Basil Rathbone
, Maureen O'Sullivan
, W.C. Fields and Lionel Barrymore
, was a success, and made Bartholomew an overnight star. He was subsequently cast in a succession of prestigious film productions with some of the most popular stars of the day. Among his successes of the 1930s were Anna Karenina
(1935) with Greta Garbo
and Fredric March
; Professional Soldier
(1935) with Gloria Stuart
and Victor McLaglen
; Little Lord Fauntleroy
(1936) with Dolores Costello
; Lloyd's of London
(1937) with Madeleine Carroll
and Tyrone Power
; The Devil is a Sissy
(1936) with Mickey Rooney
and Jackie Cooper
; and Captains Courageous (1937) with Spencer Tracy
.
Captains Courageous, which contains Bartholomew's most iconic performance, was the movie he most enjoyed working on. The film took an entire year to make, and much of it was shot off the coasts of Florida
and Catalina Island in California. Bartholomew said of it, "For a kid, it was like one long outing. Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore, Mickey Rooney, Melvyn Douglas and I — we all grew very close toward one another in those 12 months. When the shooting was finished, we cried like a bunch of babies as we said our goodbyes."
Bartholomew's superb acting skills, open and personable presence, emotional range, refined English diction, and angelic looks made him a box-office favorite. He quickly became the second-highest paid child movie star after Shirley Temple
. Ring Lardner, Jr. had high praise for him, saying of his performance as the star of Little Lord Fauntleroy, "He is on the screen almost constantly, and his performance is a valid characterization, which is almost unique in a child actor, and, indeed, in three fourths of adult motion-picture stars." Of his role as the protagonist of Captains Courageous, Frank Nugent
of the New York Times wrote, "Young Master Bartholomew ... plays Harvey faultlessly."
By April 1936, following the very popular Little Lord Fauntleroy, Bartholomew's success and level of fame caused his long-estranged birth parents to attempt to gain custody of him and his fortune. A legal battle of nearly seven years length ensued, resulting in nearly all of the wealth that Bartholomew amassed being spent on attorneys' and court fees and payouts to his birth parents and two sisters.
, and the loss of his planned lead in Thoroughbreds Don't Cry
with Judy Garland
and Mickey Rooney.
Bartholomew eventually resumed acting through 1942, in mostly lesser-quality films and roles, only three out of eleven of which were with MGM, and after 1938 he was less popular than in his heyday. This fall in popularity was due, in addition to the quality of the roles and his conflicts with MGM, partially because by late 1938 he was a tall, nearly 6-foot teenager, and also partially because the world was focusing on the growing problems of World War II
and therefore the literary classics and costume dramas Bartholomew excelled at were less in fashion.
Twentieth Century Fox's 1938 film of Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped
successfully paired Bartholomew again with his Little Lord Fauntleroy co-star C. Aubrey Smith. MGM re-teamed him for the fourth and fifth times with Mickey Rooney in Lord Jeff
(1938) and A Yank at Eton
(1942). He co-starred with Judy Garland in the lightweight MGM musical Listen, Darling in 1938.
In 1939 Universal
re-teamed him for the third and fourth times with Jackie Cooper in The Spirit of Culver
and Two Bright Boys. For RKO distribution, he performed in Swiss Family Robinson
and Tom Brown's School Days in 1940. And as World War II deepened, Columbia
had him star in three military-related films: Naval Academy (1941), Cadets on Parade (1942), and Junior Army (1942).
. The film reunited him with Jimmy Lydon
, with whom he had starred in Tom Brown's School Days, Naval Academy, and Cadets on Parade. This ended up being Bartholomew's penultimate film performance, and his last for seven years.
After distressing experiences including a devastating auto accident and performing unsuccessfully in a play in Los Angeles, in 1946 Barthlomew married publicist Maely Daniele. Daniele, six years Bartholomew's senior, was a twice-divorced woman, and his marriage to her caused a serious and permanent rift with his aunt, who moved back to England. The marriage was not a happy one. He spent most of 1948 touring small American theatres, and in November 1948 left without his wife for an Australia
n tour as a night-club singing and piano act.
. He shifted from performer to television host and director to television producer and executive. Preferring to be known as Fred C. Bartholomew, he became the television director
of independent television station WPIX
in New York City
from 1949 through 1954.
Bartholomew divorced his first wife in 1953, and in December of that year he married television chef and author Aileen Paul, whom he had met at WPIX. With Aileen he had a daughter, Kathleen Millicent Bartholomew, born in March 1956, and a son, Frederick R. Bartholomew, born in 1958. The family, including stepdaughter Celia Ann Paul, lived in Leonia, New Jersey
.
In 1954, Bartholomew began working for Benton & Bowles
, a top New York advertising
agency, as a television producer and director. At Benton & Bowles, Bartholomew produced shows such as The Andy Griffith Show
, and produced or directed several high-quality television soap opera
s including As The World Turns
, The Edge of Night
and Search for Tomorrow
. In 1964 he was made a vice president of radio and television at the company.
Bartholomew and Aileen divorced by early 1977. He eventually re-married again, and remained married to his third wife, Elizabeth, for the rest of his life.
Suffering from emphysema, Bartholomew retired from television by the late 1980s. He eventually moved with his family to Bradenton, Florida
. In 1991 he was filmed in several interview segments for the documentary film
MGM: When the Lion Roars (1992). Bartholomew died from emphysema
in Sarasota, Florida in January 1992, at the age of 67.
cartoon
The Major Lied 'Til Dawn (1938) features a caricature of Bartholomew.
A non-alcoholic drink which combines ginger ale with lime juice known as a "Freddie Bartholomew cocktail" is named for the star.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
-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...
. One of the most famous child actors of all time, he became very popular in 1930s Hollywood films
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
. His most famous starring roles are in Captains Courageous (1937) and Little Lord Fauntleroy
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936 film)
Little Lord Fauntleroy is a 1936 drama film based on the 1886 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The film stars Freddie Bartholomew, Dolores Costello, , and C. Aubrey Smith...
(1936).
Bartholomew was born in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and for the title role of MGM's David Copperfield
Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger is a 1935 American film based upon the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield...
(1935), he immigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at the age of 10 in 1934, living there the rest of his life. He became an American citizen in 1943 following World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
military service.
Despite his great success and acclaim following David Copperfield, Bartholomew's childhood film stardom was marred by nearly constant legal battles and payouts which eventually took a huge toll on both his finances and his career. In adulthood, after World War II service, Bartholomew's film career dwindled rapidly, and he switched from performing to directing and producing in the medium of television.
Early life
Bartholomew was born Frederick Cecil Bartholomew in 1924, in HarlesdenHarlesden
Harlesden is an area in the London Borough of Brent, northwest London, UK. Its main focal point is the Jubilee Clock which commemorates Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee....
in the borough of Willesden
Willesden
Willesden is an area in North West London which forms part of the London Borough of Brent. It is situated 5 miles north west of Charing Cross...
, Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. His parents were Cecil Llewellyn Bartholomew, a wounded World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
veteran who became a minor civil servant after the war, and Lilian May Clarke Bartholomew. By the age of three Freddie was living in Warminster
Warminster
Warminster is a town in western Wiltshire, England, by-passed by the A36, and near Frome and Westbury. It has a population of about 17,000. The River Were runs through the town and can be seen running through the middle of the town park. The Minster Church of St Denys sits on the River Were...
, a town west of London, in his paternal grandparents' home. He lived under the care of his aunt "Cissie", Millicent Mary Bartholomew, who raised him and became his stepmother.
From England to Hollywood
In Warminster, Bartholomew was a precocious actor and was reciting and performing from age three. By age five he was a popular Warminster celebrity, the "boy wonder elocutionist", reciting poems, prose, and selections from various plays, including Shakespeare. Bartholomew did singing and dancing as well. His first film role came by the age of six, in 1930.Bartholomew also pursued acting studies at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London, and appeared in a total of four minor British films. Italia Conti recommended him to American filmmakers George Cukor
George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...
and David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
, who cast him as the young title role in their MGM film David Copperfield
Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger is a 1935 American film based upon the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield...
(1935). Bartholomew and his aunt immigrated to the U.S. in August 1934, and MGM gave him a seven-year contract.
David Copperfield, which also featured Basil Rathbone
Basil Rathbone
Sir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films...
, Maureen O'Sullivan
Maureen O'Sullivan
Maureen Paula O’Sullivan was an Irish actress.-Early life:O'Sullivan was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, the daughter of Roman Catholic parents Mary Lovatt and Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in The Connaught Rangers who served in The Great War...
, W.C. Fields and Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
, was a success, and made Bartholomew an overnight star. He was subsequently cast in a succession of prestigious film productions with some of the most popular stars of the day. Among his successes of the 1930s were Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina (1935 film)
Anna Karenina is a 1935 film directed by Clarence Brown. The film stars Greta Garbo, Fredric March, Basil Rathbone and Maureen O'Sullivan. It is the most famous and critically acclaimed film adaptation of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. There are several other film adaptations of the novel.In New...
(1935) with Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
and Fredric March
Fredric March
Fredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr...
; Professional Soldier
Professional Soldier (film)
Professional Soldier is a 1935 adventure film based on a 1931 story by Damon Runyon, "Gentlemen, the King!" It stars Victor McLaglen, Freddie Bartholomew, and Gloria Stewart...
(1935) with Gloria Stuart
Gloria Stuart
Gloria Frances Stuart was an American actress, activist, painter, bonsai artist and fine printer. Over a Hollywood career which spanned, with a long break in the middle, from 1932 until 2004, she appeared on stage, television, and film, for which she was best-known...
and Victor McLaglen
Victor McLaglen
Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was an English boxer and World War I veteran who became a successful film actor.Towards the end of his life he was naturalised as a U.S. citizen.-Early life:...
; Little Lord Fauntleroy
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936 film)
Little Lord Fauntleroy is a 1936 drama film based on the 1886 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The film stars Freddie Bartholomew, Dolores Costello, , and C. Aubrey Smith...
(1936) with Dolores Costello
Dolores Costello
Dolores Costello was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. She was nicknamed "The Goddess of the Silent Screen"...
; Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's of London (film)
Lloyd's of London is a 1936 American drama film directed by Henry King. It stars Tyrone Power, Madeleine Carroll, and Guy Standing. The supporting cast includes Freddie Bartholomew, George Sanders, Virginia Field, and C. Aubrey Smith. Loosely based on history, the film follows the dealings of a man...
(1937) with Madeleine Carroll
Madeleine Carroll
Edith Madeleine Carroll was an English actress, popular in the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life:Carroll was born at 32 Herbert Street in West Bromwich, England. She graduated from the University of Birmingham, England with a B.A. degree...
and Tyrone Power
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...
; The Devil is a Sissy
The Devil is a Sissy
The Devil is a Sissy is a 1936 American MGM comedy drama film directed by W.S. Van Dyke and Rowland Brown. The film stars Freddie Bartholomew, Jackie Cooper and Mickey Rooney.The film premiered on September 18, 1936.-Cast:...
(1936) with Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
and Jackie Cooper
Jackie Cooper
Jackie Cooper was an American actor, television director, producer and executive. He was a child actor who managed to make the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first child actor to receive an Academy Award nomination...
; and Captains Courageous (1937) with Spencer Tracy
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
.
Captains Courageous, which contains Bartholomew's most iconic performance, was the movie he most enjoyed working on. The film took an entire year to make, and much of it was shot off the coasts of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and Catalina Island in California. Bartholomew said of it, "For a kid, it was like one long outing. Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore, Mickey Rooney, Melvyn Douglas and I — we all grew very close toward one another in those 12 months. When the shooting was finished, we cried like a bunch of babies as we said our goodbyes."
Bartholomew's superb acting skills, open and personable presence, emotional range, refined English diction, and angelic looks made him a box-office favorite. He quickly became the second-highest paid child movie star after Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
. Ring Lardner, Jr. had high praise for him, saying of his performance as the star of Little Lord Fauntleroy, "He is on the screen almost constantly, and his performance is a valid characterization, which is almost unique in a child actor, and, indeed, in three fourths of adult motion-picture stars." Of his role as the protagonist of Captains Courageous, Frank Nugent
Frank Nugent
Frank Stanley Nugent was an American journalist, film reviewer, script doctor, and screenwriter who wrote 21 film scripts, 11 for John Ford...
of the New York Times wrote, "Young Master Bartholomew ... plays Harvey faultlessly."
By April 1936, following the very popular Little Lord Fauntleroy, Bartholomew's success and level of fame caused his long-estranged birth parents to attempt to gain custody of him and his fortune. A legal battle of nearly seven years length ensued, resulting in nearly all of the wealth that Bartholomew amassed being spent on attorneys' and court fees and payouts to his birth parents and two sisters.
MGM contract troubles
The extreme financial drain of his birth parents' ongoing custody battles prompted Bartholomew's aunt to demand a raise in his salary from MGM in July 1937, leveraged by the huge success of Captains Courageous. She threatened to break his MGM contract in order to find a better-paying studio. The contract battle kept Bartholomew out of work for a year, causing among other things the postponement and eventual loss of his planned lead in a film of Rudyard Kipling's KimKim (novel)
Kim is a picaresque novel by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published serially in McClure's Magazine from December 1900 to October 1901 as well as in Cassell's Magazine from January to November 1901, and first published in book form by Macmillan & Co. Ltd in October 1901...
, and the loss of his planned lead in Thoroughbreds Don't Cry
Thoroughbreds Don't Cry
Thoroughbreds Don't Cry is a 1937 film directed by Alfred E. Green. It stars Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in their first film together. Cricket West is a hopeful actress with a plan and a pair of vocal chords that bring down the house. Along with her eccentric aunt, she plays host to the local...
with Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
and Mickey Rooney.
Bartholomew eventually resumed acting through 1942, in mostly lesser-quality films and roles, only three out of eleven of which were with MGM, and after 1938 he was less popular than in his heyday. This fall in popularity was due, in addition to the quality of the roles and his conflicts with MGM, partially because by late 1938 he was a tall, nearly 6-foot teenager, and also partially because the world was focusing on the growing problems of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and therefore the literary classics and costume dramas Bartholomew excelled at were less in fashion.
Twentieth Century Fox's 1938 film of Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped
Kidnapped (1938 film)
Kidnapped is a 1938 adventure film directed by Alfred L. Werker and starring Warner Baxter and Freddie Bartholomew. It is based on the book Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.- Plot :...
successfully paired Bartholomew again with his Little Lord Fauntleroy co-star C. Aubrey Smith. MGM re-teamed him for the fourth and fifth times with Mickey Rooney in Lord Jeff
Lord Jeff
Lord Jeff is a 1938 film starring Freddie Bartholomew as a spoiled orphan who gets mixed up with some crooks, but gets set straight by a stint in a school.-Plot:...
(1938) and A Yank at Eton
A Yank at Eton
A Yank at Eton is an American comedy/drama film. It was the 1942 sequel to the 1938 A Yank at Oxford. All of it was filmed in the United States and none of it at Eton...
(1942). He co-starred with Judy Garland in the lightweight MGM musical Listen, Darling in 1938.
In 1939 Universal
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
re-teamed him for the third and fourth times with Jackie Cooper in The Spirit of Culver
The Spirit of Culver
The Spirit of Culver is a 1939 drama starring Jackie Cooper and Freddie Bartholomew. Directed by Joseph Santley and written by Whitney Bolton and Nathanael West, the film is a remake of 1932's Tom Brown of Culver.-Plot:...
and Two Bright Boys. For RKO distribution, he performed in Swiss Family Robinson
Swiss Family Robinson (1940 film)
Swiss Family Robinson is a 1940 film released by RKO Radio Pictures and directed by Edward Ludwig. It is based on the novel The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss and is the first feature-length film version of the story.-Plot:...
and Tom Brown's School Days in 1940. And as World War II deepened, Columbia
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
had him star in three military-related films: Naval Academy (1941), Cadets on Parade (1942), and Junior Army (1942).
Enlistment and aftermath
World War II military service interrupted Bartholomew's career even further. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force on January 13, 1943 at the age of 18, and worked in aircraft maintenance. During training he fell and injured his back, was hospitalized for seven months, and was discharged on January 12, 1944. Bartholomew had one film role in 1944, in the low-budget comedy The Town Went WildThe Town Went Wild
- Cast :*Freddie Bartholomew as David Conway*Jimmy Lydon as Bob Harrison*Edward Everett Horton as Everett Conway*Tom Tully as Henry Harrison*Jill Browning as Carol Harrison*Minna Gombell as Marian Harrison*Maude Eburne as Judge Bingle...
. The film reunited him with Jimmy Lydon
Jimmy Lydon
Jimmy Lydon is an American movie actor and television producer, whose career in the entertainment industry began as a teenage actor in the 1930s....
, with whom he had starred in Tom Brown's School Days, Naval Academy, and Cadets on Parade. This ended up being Bartholomew's penultimate film performance, and his last for seven years.
After distressing experiences including a devastating auto accident and performing unsuccessfully in a play in Los Angeles, in 1946 Barthlomew married publicist Maely Daniele. Daniele, six years Bartholomew's senior, was a twice-divorced woman, and his marriage to her caused a serious and permanent rift with his aunt, who moved back to England. The marriage was not a happy one. He spent most of 1948 touring small American theatres, and in November 1948 left without his wife for an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n tour as a night-club singing and piano act.
Switch to television and off-camera work
Upon his return to the U.S., Bartholomew switched to the new and burgeoning medium of televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. He shifted from performer to television host and director to television producer and executive. Preferring to be known as Fred C. Bartholomew, he became the television director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
of independent television station WPIX
WPIX
WPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WPIX also serves as the flagship station of The CW Television Network...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
from 1949 through 1954.
Bartholomew divorced his first wife in 1953, and in December of that year he married television chef and author Aileen Paul, whom he had met at WPIX. With Aileen he had a daughter, Kathleen Millicent Bartholomew, born in March 1956, and a son, Frederick R. Bartholomew, born in 1958. The family, including stepdaughter Celia Ann Paul, lived in Leonia, New Jersey
Leonia, New Jersey
Leonia is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 8,937. It is located near the western approach to the George Washington Bridge....
.
In 1954, Bartholomew began working for Benton & Bowles
Benton & Bowles
Benton & Bowles was a New York-based advertising agency founded by William Benton and Chester Bowles in 1929.-History:The agency's success was closely related to the rise in popularity of radio. Benton & Bowles invented the radio soap opera to promote their clients' products, and by 1936 were...
, a top New York advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
agency, as a television producer and director. At Benton & Bowles, Bartholomew produced shows such as The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
, and produced or directed several high-quality television soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
s including As The World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
, The Edge of Night
The Edge of Night
The Edge of Night is an American television mystery series/soap opera produced by Procter & Gamble. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network until November 28, 1975; the series then moved to ABC, where it aired from December 1, 1975, until December 28, 1984...
and Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera which premiered on September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS to NBC on March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode aired on December 26, 1986, a run of thirty-five years. At the time of its final broadcast it was the...
. In 1964 he was made a vice president of radio and television at the company.
Bartholomew and Aileen divorced by early 1977. He eventually re-married again, and remained married to his third wife, Elizabeth, for the rest of his life.
Suffering from emphysema, Bartholomew retired from television by the late 1980s. He eventually moved with his family to Bradenton, Florida
Bradenton, Florida
Bradenton is a city in Manatee County, Florida, United States. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's 2007 population to be 53,471. Bradenton is the largest Principal City of the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2007 estimated population of 682,833...
. In 1991 he was filmed in several interview segments for the documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
MGM: When the Lion Roars (1992). Bartholomew died from emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
in Sarasota, Florida in January 1992, at the age of 67.
Honors
- On April 4, 1936, Bartholomew placed his handprints, footprints, and signature in front of Grauman's Chinese TheatreGrauman's Chinese TheatreGrauman's Chinese Theatre is a movie theater at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. It is on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame.The Chinese Theatre was commissioned following the success of the nearby Grauman's Egyptian Theatre which opened in 1922...
.
- Bartholomew has a star on the Hollywood Walk of FameHollywood Walk of FameThe Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
, at 6667 Hollywood BoulevardHollywood Boulevard-Revitalization:In recent years successful efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001...
.
- Bartholomew is one of the 250 Greatest Male Screen Legends nominated by the American Film InstituteAmerican Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
in 1999 as part of their AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars selection.
Filmography
- Toyland (1930)
- Fascination (1931)
- Lily Christine (1932) (uncredited)
- Strip, Strip, Hooray (1931)
- David CopperfieldPersonal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield the YoungerThe Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger is a 1935 American film based upon the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield...
(1935) - Anna KareninaAnna Karenina (1935 film)Anna Karenina is a 1935 film directed by Clarence Brown. The film stars Greta Garbo, Fredric March, Basil Rathbone and Maureen O'Sullivan. It is the most famous and critically acclaimed film adaptation of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. There are several other film adaptations of the novel.In New...
(1935) - Professional SoldierProfessional Soldier (film)Professional Soldier is a 1935 adventure film based on a 1931 story by Damon Runyon, "Gentlemen, the King!" It stars Victor McLaglen, Freddie Bartholomew, and Gloria Stewart...
(1935) - Little Lord FauntleroyLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1936 film)Little Lord Fauntleroy is a 1936 drama film based on the 1886 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The film stars Freddie Bartholomew, Dolores Costello, , and C. Aubrey Smith...
(1936) - The Devil is a SissyThe Devil is a SissyThe Devil is a Sissy is a 1936 American MGM comedy drama film directed by W.S. Van Dyke and Rowland Brown. The film stars Freddie Bartholomew, Jackie Cooper and Mickey Rooney.The film premiered on September 18, 1936.-Cast:...
(1936) - Lloyd's of LondonLloyd's of London (film)Lloyd's of London is a 1936 American drama film directed by Henry King. It stars Tyrone Power, Madeleine Carroll, and Guy Standing. The supporting cast includes Freddie Bartholomew, George Sanders, Virginia Field, and C. Aubrey Smith. Loosely based on history, the film follows the dealings of a man...
(1936) - Captains Courageous (1937)
- KidnappedKidnapped (1938 film)Kidnapped is a 1938 adventure film directed by Alfred L. Werker and starring Warner Baxter and Freddie Bartholomew. It is based on the book Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.- Plot :...
(1938) - Lord JeffLord JeffLord Jeff is a 1938 film starring Freddie Bartholomew as a spoiled orphan who gets mixed up with some crooks, but gets set straight by a stint in a school.-Plot:...
(1938) - Listen, Darling (1938)
- The Spirit of CulverThe Spirit of CulverThe Spirit of Culver is a 1939 drama starring Jackie Cooper and Freddie Bartholomew. Directed by Joseph Santley and written by Whitney Bolton and Nathanael West, the film is a remake of 1932's Tom Brown of Culver.-Plot:...
(1939) - Two Bright Boys (1939)
- Swiss Family RobinsonSwiss Family Robinson (1940 film)Swiss Family Robinson is a 1940 film released by RKO Radio Pictures and directed by Edward Ludwig. It is based on the novel The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss and is the first feature-length film version of the story.-Plot:...
(1940) - Tom Brown's School Days (1940)
- Naval Academy (1941)
- Cadets on Parade (1942)
- A Yank at EtonA Yank at EtonA Yank at Eton is an American comedy/drama film. It was the 1942 sequel to the 1938 A Yank at Oxford. All of it was filmed in the United States and none of it at Eton...
(1942) - Junior Army (1942)
- The Town Went WildThe Town Went Wild- Cast :*Freddie Bartholomew as David Conway*Jimmy Lydon as Bob Harrison*Edward Everett Horton as Everett Conway*Tom Tully as Henry Harrison*Jill Browning as Carol Harrison*Minna Gombell as Marian Harrison*Maude Eburne as Judge Bingle...
(1944) - St. Benny the DipSt. Benny the DipSt. Benny the Dip is a 1951 American film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer.The film is also known as Escape If You Can in the United Kingdom....
(1951)
Mentions in popular culture
The Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
The Major Lied 'Til Dawn (1938) features a caricature of Bartholomew.
A non-alcoholic drink which combines ginger ale with lime juice known as a "Freddie Bartholomew cocktail" is named for the star.