Tommy Bond, "Butch" in the 'Little Rascals', dead at 79.
 

Debated whether to place this in the movie section (he was Jimmy Olsen in two Superman movies, and the Our Gang comedies were made before TV)...

Article doesn't mention, but he was also the voice of the young owl in the classic cartoon, "I Love to Singa"

Article


Thomas Bond, who played "Our Gang's" Butch the bully, dies at 79


Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Thomas Ross Bond, who played Butch the bully in the "Our Gang" and "The Little Rascals" serials of the 1930s, has died. He was 79.

Bond died Saturday afternoon from complications of heart disease at Northridge Hospital, said his manager, Frank Marks.

Born Sept. 16, 1926 in Dallas, Bond got his start in movies at the age of 5 when a talent scout for the Hal Roach studios approached him as he was leaving a movie theater with his mother.

The scout "asked him if he'd be interested in acting, (said) he had a great face and he could set up an appointment with Hal Roach in L.A.," Marks said.

His grandmother drove him in what, at the time, was a rugged journey.

"It was all dirt roads from Dallas to L.A," Marks said.

Bond signed on to play a member of the Gang called Tommy and appeared in several shorts. After his first year he was dropped from the cast but returned later in the role of Butch, the arch-enemy of Alfalfa.

He appeared in dozens of "Our Gang" and "Little Rascals" features before outgrowing the role.

In the 1940s, Bond played Jimmy Olsen in two Superman movies and appeared as Joey Pepper in several installments of the "Five Little Peppers" serial.

He served stateside as a Navy pilot in World War II. In 1951, he quit acting and went into directing and production work for television before retiring in 1991 from a production job for Channel 30 in Fresno.

Bond is survived by his wife, Pauline; son Thomas Ross Bond III, and a grandson.

Services were pending.

"AAAHH! It's Butch!"
"Ya darn right, it's Butch!"

Very very few of the Our Gang kids left. :(