| Stymie |
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Information AboutStymie |
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''Our Gang'' Years The name "Stymie" was provided by ''Our Gang'' director Robert McGowan , who was always frustrated ("stymied") by little Matthew's curious wanderings around the studio; the character was originally to be named " Hercules ". McGowan would later recall that Stymie was his favorite of all the ''Our Gang'' kids. Stymie came to the series right after the transition from the silent/early talkie era '' Our Gang ''. He was with the gang from the "Miss Crabtree/Jackie Cooper/Farina/Chubby time period" to the more familiar group of Spanky , Alfalfa , and Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas , who would replace him in 1935 . Stymie's paycheck was used to help support his East Los Angeles family, including his 13 brothers and sisters. After Stymie renamed his younger brother Bobbie "Cotton" (which was also used as Bobbie's ''Our Gang'' character name), his parents allowed him to name all of the rest of his siblings as they were born. He named one "Dickie" after his best friend, child actor and ''Our Gang''er Dickie Moore . Four other members of the Beard family would appear in the ''Our Gang'' comedies:
Stymie's younger brother Renee Beard would appear in '' and '' Who Killed Doc Robbin ''. After the gang After Stymie left the series in 1935 at the age of ten, he went on to score some minor roles in feature films. By the time he was in high school, he had retired from acting. Falling into drug use and street life, Stymie became addicted to Heroin , and spent most of his early adult life in and out of jail because of it. In the 1960s , he checked himself into Synanon , a drug rehabilitation facility in Los Angeles , and successfully ended his heroin use. After leaving Synanon, he made a small comeback, appearing in small roles in feature films and episodes of television shows such as '' Sanford & Son '' and '' Good Times ''; he had a recurring role as "Monty" on the latter series. He also traveled around the country, giving lectures on drug-abuse awareness. He died of Pneumonia on January 8 , 1981 in Los Angeles, California . EXTERNAL LINKS
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