The Enid Blyton Society

I agree, Poddys. Many fine Child actors have fallen by the wayside over the years. One of my favourites was Margaret O'brien from the 1940's. She was a superb actress, who could knock spots off many of the adult stars of her day. However, she fell out of favour when she reached her teens, like so many others before her, and never found regular acting work again. I'm sure some of our older society members can remember her.

I think Jennifer decided to walk away from the fickle acting business and get a proper job instead!!

Very few child actors turn into successful adult actors. Macaulay Culkin was one of the most successful child actors ever, but at the age of 14 he vanished for ten years and since his reappearance he he has only picked up bits and pieces. A Major exception is Elijah Wood who has been constantly in work since the age of 8. I watched Empire of the Sun last night which starred 12 year-old Christian Bale and he has gone on to Hollywood A lists as an adult, bur these exceptions are few and far between and not many child actors from TV shows are ever heard of again.

Another young actress who has done really well for herself is Tina Majorino.

"Who?" you might ask...

Did you ever see "Andre" that cute movie about a girl and a sealion? Or the girl out of Waterworld. Or Corinna Corinna (with Whoopie Goldberg). Or as Deb in Napoleon Dynamite.

She is currently in "Bones" as Special Agent Genevieve Shaw.
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Has the 1979 FF come out yet?

I was actually reading an article the other day about the girl who played Mathilda and was also in Mrs Doubtfire though I can't quite remember her name - Mara something? She is now acting in theatre and has no desire to return to the 'big screen'.

Mara Wilson, I think. She was great in Matilda.

AnnaSophia Robb, who was marvellous (I think so anyway) in Bridge to Terabithia and who also appeared in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Because of Winn-Dixie and quite a lot of other things, is now 18 and still getting plenty of parts:

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I wonder what happened to that child star Daniel Radcliffe?

Really Famous, shadow.

For someone who can't act very well, Daniel Radcliffe's done pretty well for himself!

He done rubbishy in Chamber of Secrets. He done excellently in Deathly Hallows Part 2

I think all the child actors in Harry Potter improved over the 8 films, and of course, with age. They were all a bit stilted and awkward in the early films. I don't know if it's that Daniel Radcliffe 'can't act' or that he was directed to act Harry in a particular way, but his constant I'm-so-desperately-tragic-and-I-must-sacrifice-myself-to-save-you-all attitude certainly began to grate on me by the end of the films. I know Harry had the same willingness to die to save everyone else in the book, but on screen it just seemed he was over playing the tortured soul.

He got quite good reviews for his Broadway debut.

Harry Potter sings and dances mostly!

I don't understand Pippa.

I really enjoyed the 1st Harry Potter film.

I agree that some of the acting in the early Harry Potter films was a little stilted compared to the later roles, but I can't help feeling that was probably more to do with the script and direction. In the second film there's the scene with flying car and the train which is different to the book. I've always felt it was just put in there to give the boys a chance to do a bit of screaming. I thought the acting in the final film was brilliant. I'm so pleased they used the same actors all the way through, so we could watch the characters mature.

poddys wrote:Heather Ripley and Adrian Hall who played Jemina and Jeremy Potts did precious little else after as well.

I find it quite surprising in some ways, considering their success in these movies.

I saw an interview with Heather Ripley about 10 years ago, and I think she said she didn't actually want to act any more. I know she was dreadfully homesick during the making of the film and kept crying for her father. In her teens she joined a anti-nucleaur protest about a submarine base.

Katharine wrote:...In the second film there's the scene with flying car and the train which is different to the book.

It is the same