Kendall McComas

Kendall McComas (October 29, 1916 - October 15, 1981) was an American child actor.

Kendall McComas
Born(1916-10-29)October 29, 1916
Holton, Kansas, U.S.
DiedOctober 15, 1981(1981-10-15) (aged 64)
Lake Isabella, California, U.S.
Cause of deathSuicide
OccupationChild actor
Engineer
Years active1927-1946

Career

Born in Holton, Kansas, McComas first appeared in the Mickey McGuire short subjects series as a member of Mickey McGuire's gang and stayed throughout the series run in the silent era. He also played the role of Stinky Davis in some of the series' earliest sound shorts. In 1931, he joined the Our Gang series, first appearing in the 1932 Our Gang short Readin' and Writin'. McComas stayed with Our Gang for a full year and left the series after appearing in the 1932 Our Gang short Birthday Blues.

Even though he was well into his teens during his Our Gang tenure, McComas was very short for his age and thus capably portrayed his grade-school-age character Breezy aka Brisbane. Breezy's mother refers to him as "Brisbane" in the films Readin' and Writin' and Spanky, the only shorts in which that name appears; the kids refer to him as "Breezy," presumably as a nickname for Brisbane. However, the Leonard Maltin/Richard Bann book The Little Rascals: The Life & Times of Our Gang lists his character as "Breezy Brisbane," a name which does not appear in dialogue in any of the shorts in which McComas appears.

After growing up, he left show business and became an electrical engineer at the U.S. Naval Weapons Center in China Lake, California and then an institutional mortgage backed bond salesman under the name John Mandy.

Death

McComas committed suicide in a fit of depression two weeks before turning 65 when he was facing mandatory retirement from his job.[1]

Our Gang Filmography
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References
  1. Maltin, Leonard & Bann, Richard W. (1977, rev. 1992). The Little Rascals: The Life & Times of Our Gang. New York: Crown Publishing/Three Rivers Press; ISBN 0-517-58325-9


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