Little Rascals "Darla" Hood: (Jerry Skinner Documentary)

now one of the Spanky mcFarland closest friends on the air gang little rascals set with this cute little dark-haired girl by the name of Darla gene hood now Darla hood was born November 1931 in Leedy Oklahoma their parents Jean Anna and Elizabeth hood encouraged Darla from an early age in her many talents it's been said that little Darla's big break came on a trip to New York City when she was invited by a bandleader to perform at a major hotel ballroom it happened that a talent scout from the Hal Roach studios caught her performance she was invited to take a screen test and sand for a seven-year contract she was to become a member of the our gang family now Darla fulfilled her contract and became a favorite of the fans however as the successful child star as with all the little rascals there comes a time when you simply outgrow your road when Darla was released from her contract at Hal Roach MGM she began to attend public school which was quite different from the studio school that she had always attended however Darla Garrett graduated from Fairfax High School in Los Angeles on the honor roll and in 1949 at the age of 17 darlin married Robert M Decker they had two children they remained married for eight years and divorced in 1957 now that same year she married Jose grandson they had three children and remain married until her death in that team in $79 had once said that sometimes she felt like she had let her fans down simply by growing up now although Darla was a beautiful woman in later life you can understand disappointment from a 7 or 8 year old boy expecting a sand photograph from their heartthrob and receiving a picture of a grown woman regardless of how beautiful she looked so she started sending out little dollar photographs to all of her fans and as an adult dollar could Darla continued performing in nightclubs and making TV guest appearances such as the Merv Griffin and Jack Benny and many other shows she was the voice in several national commercials and one of the probably most recognized is the voice of the Little Mermaid and the chicken of the sea tuna commercial she was also cast with Vincent Price in a movie called the bat and several other parts and different movies now many people don't know that in 1957 Darla had a hit recording a record I just want to be free now Darla remained in the interne entertainment field for the rest of her adult life unfortunately in the spring of 1979 she went into the hospital for just a simple appendectomy operation unfortunately it required that she be given blood now thinking that she had recuperated from the operation on the 13th of June that same year Darla passed away with heart failure caused by acute hepatitis believed to have been caused from the blood received from that operation Darla was laid to rest at what is now called the Hollywood for ever Memorial Cemetery in Hollywood Darla Jean hood was 47 years old

Channel: Jerry Skinner

Views: 1,772,574

Rating: 4.8887963 out of 5

Keywords: Our Gang (Film Series), Little Rascals, Our Gang, Darla Hood

Id: pCN_n3DNPvk

Length: 4min 58sec (298 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 26 2014