Child Actors: Tommy Bupp (United States, 1927?-83)


Figure 1.--A typical Tommy Bupp film was "Annabel Takes a Tour" (1937). In this one Tommy only appears at the very end of the film. He is the older boy here. Notice the two different waus the boys are wearing their peaked caps.

Tommy Bupp was borm in Norfolk, Virginia (1927). (Some sources say 1924.) His full name was Edmond Thomas Bupp Tommy had three siblings which also acted: Sonny, June, and Ann. Tommy was, however, much more sctive than his brothers and sisters. He was in fact one of the most active child actors of the 1930s. This is surpridsing because he was not a very well known child actor. Many novie goers might recognize him, but few could name him. This was because he commonly played very small parts in the films. He was in a lot of B Westerns. He appearing in Westerns with Dick Foran, Tim McCoy, Reb Russell, He commonly played the male lead in a few briefly chilhood scenes at the beginning of a film. He began making films as an infant. He worked steadily, especially in Westerns, throughout the 1930s. His worked was not always credited, but he was in more than 100 films. He very briefly worked with Hal Roach's "Our Gang" series. Several appearances stand out. His three best known films are probably: "Conflict", "Reformatory", and "Hittin' the Trail" (1937). A typical film was "Annabel Takes a Tour" (1937). In this one Tommy only appears at the very end of the film. One movie buff recalls Tommy playing a spoiled brat in "Nancy Drew, Reporter" (1939). . While Tommy did many B movies, he alson appeared in more importsnt Hollywood films, including "SanFrancisco" and It's a Gift". Tommy was the first American child actor to travel to England to make a movie, ""Hey! Hey! USA" (1938) with Edgar Kennedy and England's Will Hay and at the time an unknown Roddy McDowall. After his Hollywood carreer, Tommy narried and had had four sons. He worked in the wholesale electrical business. He died in 1983 at Santa Ana, California.









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Created: 9:24 AM 5/2/2010
Last updated: 9:24 AM 5/2/2010