Ted Donaldson, who starred as Bud Anderson on the original radio version of Father Knows Best and as Neely Nolan in the beloved family drama A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the first feature directed by Elia Kazan, has died. He was 89.

Donaldson died Wednesday of complications from a fall in his Echo Park apartment in January, his friend Thomas Bruno told The Hollywood Reporter.

In his big-screen debut, Donaldson portrayed a boy who gets his pet caterpillar Curly to dance when he plays “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” on the harmonica in the comedy fantasy Once Upon a Time (1944), starring Cary Grant and Janet Blair.

He also starred as Danny Mitchell in eight B-movies from Columbia Pictures that revolved around a German shepherd named Rusty. The first one, Adventures of Rusty (1945), featured Ace the Wonder Dog.

An only child, Donaldson was born in Brooklyn on Aug. 20, 1933. His father was singer-composer Will Donaldson (he co-wrote “Do Wacka Do,” years later a hit for Roger Miller). After his mother, Jo, died when he was just months old, his dad married organist/composer Muriel Pollock.

Donaldson attended the Professional Children’s School in New York and had a magic act, and he joined the original Broadway production of Life With Father as the son Harlan in 1941. Also that year, he played Tiny Tim opposite Edmund Gwenn as Scrooge in a weeklong serialized radio version of A Christmas Carol.

Thanks for reading from Ghsplash a news publishing website from Ghana. Share this article, For spelling mistakes and other related issues contact us