Personal Info
Birth date
1917-12-22 (107 Years)
Day of death
1976-12-25
Gender
Male
Known for
Acting
Place of birth
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Also known as
Frank Johnson
Frank Darro
Frankie Darrow
Frank Darrow
Frank Johnson, Jr.
Frankie Darro
Biography
Frankie Darro (December 22, 1917 – December 25, 1976) was an American actor. Born into a show-business family - his parents were circus aerialists - Darro appeared in his first film at age six. Due to his small size and youthful appearance, he played teenagers well into his 20s. Always a physical performer, Darro often did his own stunts, many times out of necessity - his small stature made it difficult to find stunt doubles his size. He was an accomplished horseman and, in addition to westerns, made several films where he played jockeys. In 1933 he played the lead as a troubled teen in a major film for Warner Brothers, "Wild Boys Of The Road." It is a pre-code film with a realistic look at "The Great Depression," from the point of view of the youth of the time. This film seems to have been rediscovered only recently and has received critical acclaim.That same year, he played a troubled youth in the James Cagney classic, "The Mayor Of Hell". Later in 1935, he had a key role in the cult serial classic "The Phantom Empire"(1935). As Darro got older, however, he found it increasingly difficult to secure employment, and by the late 1940s was doing uncredited stunt work and bit parts. He had a recurring role on The Red Skelton Hour (1951), unrecognized by his fans, he played "Robby The Robot" in the groundbreaking sci-fi film "The Forbidden Planet" (1956), though Marvin Miller, best remembered as Michael Anthony of TVs "Millionaire"(1955-60), was the robot's voice. After that Frankie appeared sporadically in films and on TV .
Filmography
Have Gun, Will Travel
7.427
Overview:
Have Gun – Will Travel is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from 1957 through 1963. It was rated number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings every year of its first four seasons. It was one of the few television shows to spawn a successful radio version. The radio series debuted November 23, 1958. The television show is presently shown on the Encore-Western channel. Have Gun – Will Travel was created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and produced by Frank Pierson, Don Ingalls, Robert Sparks, and Julian Claman. There were 225 episodes of the TV series, 24 written by Gene Roddenberry. Other contributors included Bruce Geller, Harry Julian Fink, Don Brinkley and Irving Wallace. Andrew McLaglen directed 101 episodes and 19 were directed by series star Richard Boone.Perry Mason
7.719
Overview:
The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.Public Defender
6
Overview:
The Public Defender is a half-hour 69-episode television dramatic series starring Reed Hadley as Bart Matthews, an attorney for the indigent. The series aired on CBS from March 11, 1954 to June 23, 1955, a season and a half.The Addams Family
7.996
Overview:
A satirical inversion of the ideal of the perfect American nuclear family, they are an eccentric wealthy family who delight in everything grotesque and macabre, and are never really aware that people find them bizarre or frightening. In fact, they themselves are often terrified by "normal" people.Batman
7.293
Overview:
Wealthy entrepreneur Bruce Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson lead a double life: they are actually crime fighting duo Batman and Robin. A secret Batpole in the Wayne mansion leads to the Batcave, where Police Commissioner Gordon often calls with the latest emergency threatening Gotham City. Racing to the scene of the crime in the Batmobile, Batman and Robin must (with the help of their trusty Bat-utility-belt) thwart the efforts of a variety of master criminals, including The Riddler, The Joker, Catwoman, and The Penguin.Peter Gunn
6.526
Overview:
Peter Gunn is an American private eye television series. Filmed in a film noir atmosphere and featuring Henry Mancini music that could tell you the action with your eyes closed, Peter Gunn worked in style. Known as Pete to his friends and simply as Gunn to his enemies, he did his job in a calm cool way.The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
4.5
Overview:
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok is an American Western television series which ran for eight seasons from 1951 through 1958. The Screen Gems series began in syndication, but ran on CBS from 1955 through 1958, and, at the same time, on ABC from 1957 through 1958.Bat Masterson
6.071
Overview:
Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black-and-white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961. The series was produced by Ziv Television Productions, the company responsible for such hit series as Sea Hunt and Highway Patrol.Mister Ed
6.8
Overview:
Wilbur Post and his wife Carol move into a beautiful new home. When Wilbur takes a look in his new barn, he finds that the former owner left his horse behind. This horse is no ordinary horse . . . he can talk, but only to Wilbur, which leads to all sorts of misadventures for Wilbur and his trouble-making sidekick Mister Ed.Hey, Jeannie!
5.5
Overview:
Hey, Jeannie! is an American situation comedy starring Jeannie Carson as a young Scottish woman living in New York City. Twenty-six episodes aired on CBS from September 8, 1956 to May 4, 1957 in the Saturday slot following The Gale Storm Show and preceding the western series Gunsmoke. Six additional episodes aired in 1958 in syndication. Reruns of Hey, Jeannie! aired during the summer of 1960 under the title The Jeannie Carson Show.Mr. Lucky
6.4
Overview:
Mr. Lucky is a CBS adventure/drama television series that aired from October 24, 1959, to June 18, 1960, with repeats until September 3. Blake Edwards developed the program as a retooling of his Willie Dante character from Four Star Playhouse, where the role was played by studio boss Dick Powell. In the 1960–1961 season, Howard Duff assumed the role of Willie Dante in the NBC adventure/drama series Dante. Mr. Edwards directed and co-wrote the first episode of Mr. Lucky, and the credits of the first eighteen episodes included "Entire production supervised by Blake Edwards." Jack Arnold produced the show and directed fifteen of the thirty-four episodes. Henry Mancini's smooth theme music for the show reached Number 21 in the US singles charts. He released two successful LP's based on the show, Mr. Lucky and Mr. Lucky Goes Latin.Alfred Hitchcock Presents
7.7
Overview:
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.Checkmate
4.1
Overview:
Checkmate is an American detective television series starring Anthony George, Sebastian Cabot, and Doug McClure. The show aired on CBS Television from 1960 to 1962 for a total of 70 episodes and was produced by Jack Benny's production company, "JaMco Productions" in co-operation with Revue Studios. Guest stars included Charles Laughton, Peter Lorre, and Lee Marvin, among many other commensurately prominent performers.Forbidden Planet
7.2
Overview:
Starship C57D travels to planet Altair 4 in search of the crew of spaceship "Bellerophon," a scientific expedition that has been missing for twenty years. They find themselves unwelcome by the expedition's lone survivor and warned of destruction by an invisible force if they don't turn back immediately.Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
5.7
Overview:
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.The Phantom Empire
5.5
Overview:
When the ancient continent of Mu sank beneath the ocean, some of its inhabitant survived in caverns beneath the sea. Cowboy singer Gene Autry stumbles upon the civilization, now buried beneath his own Radio Ranch. The Muranians have developed technology and weaponry such as television and ray guns. Their rich supply of radium draws unscrupulous speculators from the surface. The peaceful civilization of the Muranians is corrupted by the greed from above, and it becomes Autry's task to prevent all-out war, ideally without disrupting his regular radio show.The Public Enemy
7.247
Overview:
Two young Chicago hoodlums, Tom Powers and Matt Doyle, rise up from their poverty-stricken slum life to become petty thieves, bootleggers and cold-blooded killers. But with street notoriety and newfound wealth, the duo feels the heat from the cops and rival gangsters both. Despite his ruthless criminal reputation, Tom tries to remain connected to his family, however, gang warfare and the need for revenge eventually pull him away.Operation Petticoat
7.2
Overview:
A World War II submarine commander finds himself stuck with a damaged sub, a con-man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.Westward the Women
7.013
Overview:
There's a deficit of good, honest women in the West, and Roy Whitman wants to change that. His solution is to bring a caravan of over 100 mail-order brides from Chicago to California. It will be a long, difficult and dangerous journey for the women. So Whitman hires hardened, cynical Buck Wyatt to be their guide across the inhospitable frontier. But as disaster strikes on the trail, Buck just might discover that these women are stronger than he thinks.So Big
NYR
Overview:
After graduating from a fashionable finishing school and touring Europe with her father, Selina Peake returns to the United States, where her father is accidentally killed after losing his fortune in a gambling den. Selina is reduced to teaching in a high school in the Dutch community at High Prarie near Chicago. She boards in the farmhouse of Klass Poole, a dull-witted market gardener, and finally marries Pervus DeJong, a poor and backward farmer. She shares the drudgery of her husband's futile life and finds happiness only in their small son, Dirk, whom she calls "So-Big."Flesh and the Devil
7.2
Overview:
When lifelong best friends Leo and Ulrich return home after completing their military training, Leo meets the stunning Felicitas at a railway station and is mesmerized by her beauty. A scandal follows, for which Leo is sent away. Returning home three years later, he discovers that much has changed.Across the Wide Missouri
5.9
Overview:
In the 1830's beaver trapper Flint Mitchell and other white men hunt and trap in the then unnamed territories of Montana and Idaho. Flint marries a Blackfoot woman as a way to gain entrance into her people's rich lands, but finds she means more to him than a ticket to good beaver habitat.The Notorious Landlady
6.7
Overview:
An American junior diplomat in London rents a house from, and falls in love with, a woman suspected of murder.Saratoga
6.2
Overview:
A horse breeder's granddaughter falls in love with a gambler in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.Juvenile Court
5
Overview:
Public Defender Gary Franklin, frustrated by being unable to save criminal Dutch Adams from a death sentence by blaming the slums environment as the cause of Dutch's crimes, enlists the aid of Dutch's sister, Marcia Adams, to get the slum dwellers at appeal for public monies to provide recreational places for the slum kids.Broadway Bill
5.976
Overview:
Tycoon J.L. Higgins controls his whole family, but one of his sons-in-law, Dan Brooks, and his daughter Alice are fed up with that. Brooks quits his job as manager of J.L.'s paper box factory and devotes his life to his racing horse Broadway Bill, but his bankroll is thin and the luck is against him. He is arrested because of $150 he owes somebody for horse food, but suddenly a planned fraud by somebody else seems to offer him a chance...The Movie Orgy
6.5
Overview:
Clips from assorted television programs, B-movies, commercials, music performances, newsreels, bloopers, satirical short films and promotional and government films of the 1950s and 1960s are intercut together to tell a single story of various creatures and societal ills attacking American cities.Acting
1975Fugitive Lovers as Lester the Drunk
1975Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? as Self (archive footage)
1974The Girl on the Late, Late Show as Studio Guard
1969Hook, Line and Sinker as Delivery Man (uncredited)
1968The Movie Orgy as Self (archive footage)
1966Batman (2 Episodes) as Newsman
1964The Addams Family (1 Episode) as Delivery Boy
1962Going My Way (1 Episode) as Unknown
1961Mister Ed (1 Episode) as Unknown
1960Checkmate (1 Episode) as Sonny
1959Operation Petticoat as Pharmacist's Mate 3rd Class Dooley
1959Mr. Lucky (1 Episode) as Unknown
1958Bat Masterson (1 Episode) as Edward 'Snapper' Garrison
1958Peter Gunn (1 Episode) as Unknown
1957Perry Mason (1, 1 Episode) as Elevator Operator, Messenger
1957Have Gun, Will Travel (1 Episode) as Unknown
1956Hey, Jeannie! (1 Episode) as Caddy
1956Forbidden Planet as Robby the Robot (interior) (uncredited)
1955Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1, 1 Episode) as Little Dandy Dorf, Boots
1954Living It Up as Bellboy Captain (uncredited)
1954The Lawless Rider as Jim Bascom
1954Public Defender (2 Episodes) as Unknown
1953Two Gun Marshal as Clint Slocum
1952Pat and Mike as Caddy (uncredited)
1951Westward the Women as Jean's Awaiting Groom (uncredited)
1951Across the Wide Missouri as Cadet (uncredited)
1951The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1 Episode) as Unknown
1951Pride of Maryland as Steve Loomis
1950Wyoming Mail as Rufe
1950Riding High as Jockey Williams
1949Sons of New Mexico as Gig Jackson
1949Hold That Baby! as Bananas Stewart
1949Fighting Fools as Johnny Higgins
1948Trouble Makers as Ben Feathers
1948Heart of Virginia as Jimmy Easter
1948Angels' Alley as Cousin Jimmy
1948Smart Politics as Roy Donne
1947That's My Man as Jockey
1947Sarge Goes to College as Roy Donne
1947Vacation Days as Roy Donne
1946High School Hero as Roy Donne
1946Junior Prom as Roy Donne
1946Freddie Steps Out as Roy Donne
1944Take It or Leave It as Radio Listener
1942Dead End Kids Go To War as Jack
1942Junior G-Men of the Air as Jack
1941Tuxedo Junction as Jack 'Sock' Anderson
1941Let's Go Collegiate as Frankie Monahan
1941The Gang's All Here as Frankie O'Malley
1941You're Out of Luck as Frankie O'Reilly
1940Up in the Air as Frankie Ryan
1940Laughing at Danger as Frankie Kelly
1940On the Spot as Frankie 'Doc' Kelly
1940Men with Steel Faces as Frankie Baxter
1940Pinocchio as Lampwick (voice) (uncredited)
1940Chasing Trouble as Jimmy O'Brien
1939Irish Luck as Buzzy O'Brien
1939Boys' Reformatory as Tommy Ryan
1938Tough Kid as 'Skipper' Murphy
1938Wanted by the Police as Danny Murphy
1938Juvenile Court as Stubby
1938The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok as Jerry
1938Reformatory as Louie Miller
1937Young Dynamite as Freddie Shields
1937Thoroughbreds Don't Cry as "Dink" Reid
1937Headline Crasher as James 'Jimmy' Forbush Tallant, Jr.
1937Saratoga as Dixie Gordon
1937Anything for a Thrill as Dan Mallory
1937Tough to Handle as Mike Sanford
1937The Devil Diamond as Lee
1936Mind Your Own Business as Bob
1936Racing Blood as Frankie Reynolds
1936Born to Fight as 'Babyface' Madison
1936Charlie Chan at the Race Track as 'Tip' Collins, Jockey
1936Sunkist Stars at Palm Springs as Self
1936The Ex-Mrs. Bradford as Spike Salisbury (uncredited)
1936Black Gold as Clifford 'Fishtail' O'Reilly
19353 Kids and a Queen as Blackie
1935Valley of Wanted Men as Slivers Sanderson
1935Men of Action as Johnny Morgan
1935Stranded as James 'Jimmy' Rivers
1935Unwelcome Stranger as Charlie Anderson
1935The Phantom Empire as Frankie Baxter
1935Red Hot Tires as Johnny
1935The Payoff as Jimmy Moore
1934Broadway Bill as Ted Williams
1934Burn 'Em Up Barnes as Bobbie Riley
1934The Merry Frinks as Norman Frink
1934No Greater Glory as Feri Ats
1934Hollywood on Parade No. B-1 as Unknown
1934The Big Race as Knobby
1934Little Men as Dan
1933Wild Boys of the Road as Eddie Smith
1933The Wolf Dog as Frank Courtney
1933Tugboat Annie as Alec, as a Child
1933Laughing at Life as Chango
1933The Mayor of Hell as James 'Jimmie' Smith
1932The Devil Horse as Frankie Graham - The Wild Boy
1932Three on a Match as Bobby (uncredited)
1932Hollywood on Parade No. A-3 as Self (uncredited)
1932Hollywood on Parade as Self
1932Amateur Daddy as Pete Smith
1931Way Back Home as Robbie
1931The Lightning Warrior as Jimmy Carter
1931The Sin of Madelon Claudet as Larry Claudet - as a Boy (uncredited)
1931The Mad Genius as Fedor as a Boy
1931The Vanishing Legion as Jimmie Williams
1931The Public Enemy as Matt as a Boy (uncredited)
1929Blaze o' Glory as Jean Williams
1929Rainbow Man as Billy Ryan
1929Trail of the Horse Thieves as Buddy
1928The Circus Kid as Buddy
1928Texas Tornado as Buddy Martin
1928The Phantom of the Range as Spuds O'Brien
1927Little Mickey Grogan as Mickey Grogan
1927Judgement Of The Hills as Tad Dennison
1927Tom's Gang as Spuds
1927Moulders of Men as Sandy Barry
1927Lightning Lariats as Alexis, King of Roxenburg
1926Flesh and the Devil as Boy who dances with Hertha (uncredited)
1926The Cowboy Cop as Frankie
1926Hearts and Spangles as Bobby
1926The Masquerade Bandit as Tim Marble
1926Mike as Boy
1926Kiki as Pierre
1926Memory Lane as Urchin
1926Born to Battle as Birdie
1925The Cowboy Musketeer as Billy Gordon
1925The Midnight Flyer as Young Davey
1925Confessions of a Queen as Prince Zara
1925The Wyoming Wildcat as Barnie Finn
1924So Big as Dirk DeJong (child)
1924Roaring Rails as Little Bill
1924Racing for Life as Jimmy Danton
1924The Signal Tower as Sonny Tolliver
1924Judgment of the Storm as Heath Twin
Crew
1962The Notorious Landlady ... Stunts