Former Hollywood child star Sidney Kibrick dies aged 97

Sidney Kibrick, a former Hollywood child star best known for starring in the Our Gang comedy film shorts, has died.

The American actor mainly worked throughout the 1930s, appearing in more than two dozen of the Our Gang short subjects film series between 1933 and 1939.

He was the last surviving featured Our Gang character.

Kibrick’s death was confirmed by his daughter, Jane Lipsic, who told The Hollywood Reporter that he died on Saturday at a hospital in Northridge, Los Angeles.

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1928, Kibrick’s older brother – Leonard Kibrick – was also an actor, with the siblings both appearing in Our Gang.

The family moved to Los Angeles when the younger brother was five years old, where he was discovered by a film producer who was scouting at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

Our Gang – also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach’s Rascals – were a series of comedy short films chronicling the adventures of a group of children in a working-class neighbourhood of Los Angeles.

Created by film producer Hal Roach, who also produced the Laurel and Hardy films, Our Gang was produced from 1922 to 1944, spanning the silent film and early sound film periods of American cinema.

The series also made history by portraying black and white children interacting as equals during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation in the United States.

Across 220 short films and a feature-film spin-off, the series featured more than 41 child actors as regular members of its cast.

Kibrick’s first appearance saw him play a non-speaking role in the feature film Dead End. He then made an uncredited debut in 1933’s Out all Night, followed by several more uncredited roles before being cast as a regular in 1935.

Although his character was then unnamed, Kibrick was given the character name of ‘Woim’ (a Brooklyn accent pronunciation of ‘worm’) and played the sidekick of the neighbourhood bully Butch, played by Tommy Bond.

Kibrick also featured in films including Shirley Temple’s Just Around the Corner, Tyrone Power’s Jesse James and Glenn Ford’s Flight Lieutenant.

While the child star earnt $750 a week working on the series – earnings he once said were ‘a lot in those days, especially during the Depression’ – he decided to quit acting aged 15.

‘I’d had enough,’ he once said. ‘My parents wanted me to continue, but finally my mother went along with my wishes’.

Kibrick’s last onscreen credit was the Bowery Boys movie Keep ‘Em Slugging in 1943.

He then went on to work as a real estate developer but kept in touch with his former cast mates and would regularly attend reunions.

Reflecting on his career as a child star in 2023, Kibrick recalled: ‘We’d have two hours of schooling in the morning and then work anywhere from six to 16 hours until we finished.

‘There was a lot of work, no question about it, but our director Gordon Douglas was a terrific guy and he was really able to get a lot out of each kid.’

Speaking about the success of Our Gang, he explained: ‘I think people, even today, could identify with being a child and being mischievous when life was simple. It was fun, and it made people laugh…I was living the studio life. Those are memories I will never forget. It was a wonderful experience.’

It was also the inspiration for the 1994 feature film The Little Rascals.

Kibrick is survived by his daughter, his son-in-law, Marty; his granddaughter, Dana, and his grandson; Adam, as well as three great-granddaughters and a great-grandson. His wife of 65 years, Greta, died in 2013 at age 83.

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