Jack Wild was still a teenager when he was nominated for an Academy Award for playing the Artful Dodger in the 1968 film of the Charles Dickens tale Oliver. Wild went on to star in the oddly fantastical Saturday-morning series H.R. Pufnstuf and the spinoff movie Pufnstuf (1970, with Mama Cass Elliot). He was briefly a teen heartthrob, even releasing a music album (Everything's Coming Up Roses, 1971). Wild lost years of his later career to alcoholism, but he sobered up and returned to acting in the 1990s. In 2002 he had his larynx (voice box) and tongue surgically removed after being diagnosed with cancer of the mouth; the operation left him unable to speak. He died of the disease in 2006.
Wild had a small role as one of Robin Hood's merry men in the 1991 Kevin Costner movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves... H.R. Pufnstuf was created by Sid and Marty Krofft, who also produced the Saturday-morning shows Land of the Lost and Lidsville... In a 2005 interview with the BBC, Wild said his cancer was caused by his previous habits: "What I learned very quickly was that my lifestyle had made me a walking time bomb. I was a heavy smoker and an even heavier drinker and apparently together they are a deadly mixture."
Born: September 30, 1952, Royton, Oldham, Lancashire, Engla
Died: March 02, 2006, Tebworth, Bedfordshire, England
Active: '70s
Genres: Soundtrack
Instrument: Actor
Biography
A veteran of theater, film, and television, singer/dancer/actor Jack Wild got his start in the entertainment business at a very young age. Born just outside Manchester, England, Wild and his family moved to London in 1960 when he was eight years old. About three years later, he was discovered playing soccer in a local park by an agent for a stage school. In the next few years, he began to make his mark in local theater. After a minor part in a film with Carol White and Terence Stamp called Poor Cow and numerous theater roles, in 1967 Wild auditioned for and got the role of the Artful Dodger in the film version of the stage hit Oliver! He had appeared in a London stage version. In the film, Wild performed the delightful "Consider Yourself" and received a 1969 Academy Award Best Supporting Actor nomination for the role.
Based on the success of Oliver!, Wild was offered the role of Jimmy in Sid & Marty Krofft's H.R. Pufnstuf. The Wizard of Oz-like Saturday morning live action/puppets children's show premiered on NBC-TV on September 6, 1969. Kellogg's Cereals in association with Capitol Special Products offered the soundtrack to the show on a 45 EP, available from the back of the cereal boxes for a small fee and the right number of box tops. The series was so popular that a film version, Pufnstuf, was released by Universal Pictures in the summer of 1970. Besides the TV cast, also in the film were Martha Raye and Mama Cass Elliot, who gave a marvelous performance on a song called "Different." Wild is featured on "If I Could." The songs for the film were written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, and the Fox-produced soundtrack was released by Capitol Records.
Around the same time he was hired by the Kroffts, Wild signed a contract with Capitol Records. His first solo record, The Jack Wild Album, was released in late 1969. The album and the first single, "Some Beautiful" b/w "Picture of You," were primarily sold by mail order through the teen magazines Tiger Beat and Sixteen, which spotlighted Wild as a teen idol. During promotional tours, Wild would appear on local TV kids shows and lip-synch the songs. He also appeared on The Red Skelton Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Kraft Music Hall Show, The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, The Bing Crosby Christmas Show, The Banana Splits, The Liberace Show, The Engelbert Humperdink Show, and the Kroffts' shows, Live at the Hollywood Bowl and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. Wild's other albums are Everything's Coming Up Roses (Buddah, 1971) and Beautiful World (Buddah, 1972).
Wild was reunited with his Oliver! co-stars Mark Lester in Melody (1971) (includes a score by the Bee Gees) and Ron Moody in Flight of the Doves (Columbia, 1971). He also appeared in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves (1991) with Kevin Costner, Basil (1991) with Christian Slater, and English and European movies.
After a bout with alcoholism and becoming a born-again Christian, Wild continued to perform English theater while collaborating on his autobiography. He died on March 2, 2006, from oral cancer, which had first been diagnosed in 2000. ~ Ed Hogan, All Music Guide
Career Highlights: Oliver!, The Pied Piper, Flight of the Doves
First Major Screen Credit: Oliver! (1968)
Biography
British actor Jack Wild enjoyed a unique career in film and television, but -- like many child stars who peak at an early age -- found it resolutely difficult to extend his success beyond his initial decade and traveled a hard road thereafter. A native of Roynton, England (near Oldham), Wild debuted on television at age 13 and landed a series of roles on British television, including Danny the Dragon (a recurring part as Gavin), One of the Unknown, and Z Cars. His breakthrough arrived at the hands of famed director Carol Reed (The Third Man), who tapped the diminutive performer (with a highly unique, elfin look) to portray The Artful Dodger opposite Mark Lester and Ron Moody in the blockbuster musical Oliver!, which won the Best Picture Oscar in 1968. Unsurprisingly, the popularity of that role turned into a triumph for Wild, and in fact prompted another, equally successful turn in the trippy children's series H.R. Pufnstuf as Jimmy, a flutist who lives on a psychedelic island.
Sadly, Wild spent the following decades struggling to find steady work, and his roles grew less frequent and substantial. His problems were exacerbated by constant cigarette smoking and heavy drinking. Though the actor managed to completely sober up by the early '90s and landed a supporting turn as Morin in the Kevin Reynolds-directed Kevin Costner vehicle Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), the smoking continued unabated, and contributed to Wild's contraction of oral cancer in 2000. As a result of complications from this, he had his voice box and tongue completely removed, and thus spent the end of his life mute. Following extensive chemotherapy, surgery, and radiotherapy, Wild died from the cancer at age 53 in 2006. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Wild was born into a working-class family in Royton, Lancashire, and moved to Hounslow, West London, with his parents when he was still an infant.[citation needed] He was discovered whilst playing football, by June, mother of Genesis member Phil Collins.[2] He was asked if he wanted a job, and told her he already had one, that he worked for the milkman.[citation needed] He was educated at the independent Barbara Speake Stage School in Acton, London, and had to supplement his parents' modest incomes by working on a stage production of Oliver!, in order to pay his school fees.[citation needed]
It was at the premiere of the 1968 film version of Oliver! that he met brothers Sid and Marty Krofft, who thought Wild would make a good lead for a show they were developing called H.R. Pufnstuf. Wild starred in this American family TV series that launched in 1969, and he was paid $1,000,000 to play 'Jimmy', a boy washed up on 'Living Island' (a magic island) with his best friend Freddy, a talking flute.[3] He was also in the movie Pufnstuf.[1] As well as embarking on a recording career, cutting one album for Capitol Records and two for Buddah Records in the early 1970s, the three albums were called 'The Jack Wild Album', 'Everythings Coming Up Roses' and 'Beautiful World'.[4] On top of this he became a favourite for teen magazines of the times and was often featured in interviews, articles and pull-out-posters.[citation needed]
Wild had an older brother named Arthur, who was also an actor and appeared in the London stage version of Oliver!. Arthur Wild died in September 2000.[5]
Problems
Like many child stars, Wild struggled to make the transition to adult stardom, and by 1976 his film career was over. He had begun drinking and smoking regularly at the age of twelve. His alcoholism ruined both his career and his marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Gaynor Jones who left him in 1985 due to his excessive drinking.[6]
Career restarts
Wild returned to the big screen in a few minor roles, such as in the 1991 Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He was also reported to be developing a TV situation comedy with Suzi Quatro around the same time, but those plans never materialized into an actual series.[citation needed] For the most part, Wild spent the remainder of his career working in theatre. He also had a brief relationship with Lisa Ward in 1989.[citation needed]
Death
Wild died on 1 March, 2006, aged 53, after a long battle with oral cancer, which he believed was caused by his alcoholism and smoking.[1][7] Diagnosed with the disease in 2000, he initially underwent chemotherapy, but later had part of his tongue and both vocal cords removed in July 2004. [1] Because of this surgery, he had lost his speech and had to communicate through his wife, Claire Harding, whom he met when they were appearing in Jack and the Beanstalk in Worthing.[1] He is buried in Toddington Parish Cemetery.[8]
