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Matthew "Stymie" Beard
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Actor Born: January 1, 1927 in Los Angeles, CA Death: January 8, 1981 in Los Angeles, CA Biography:The son of a Los Angeles minister, three-year-old "Matthew Beard" won out of 350 kids to replace Allen "Farina" Hoskins as the resident black child in "Hal Roach"'s "Our Gang" comedies. Nicknamed Hercules in his first two-reeler, "Teacher's Pet" (1930), Beard was thereafter known as Stymie because of his innocent offscreen habit of confounding his elders. Wearing an oversized derby hat (borrowed from Roach comedian "Stan Laurel"), the clever, resourceful, eternally grinning Stymie quickly became one of the most popular "Our Gang" kids. After appearing in 36 "Our Gang" shorts, Beard began freelancing in 1935, playing small roles in big films like "Captain Blood" (1935), "Jezebel" (1938), "The Great Man Votes" (1939), and "Stormy Weather" (1943). Alas, after dropping out of high school in 1945, he fell into a bad crowd, spending the next two decades in and out of jails for committing crimes to feed his... Full Biography
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