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Billy "Froggy" Laughlin - Another Untimely Passing
posted by QuitePleasantSTAFFMOD on January 30, 2020 at 8:17 PM
Billy "Froggy" Laughlin
- Born July 05, 1932
- Best known for playing the character Froggy in the Our Gang short film series, in its final stretch, from 1940 to 1944.
- After Billy receives a Popeye puppet from his mother, she would hear him talking to the puppet in his room, but he would do the Popeye voice when responding. This voice later comes to be the gravely voice which later becomes Froggy's trademark in the Our Gang shorts.
- His character famous for his deep, guttural, sandpaper voice, reminiscent of a frog's croak.
- Contrary to popular belief, Laughlin voices Froggy by himself, without dubbing.
- Years active - (1940 - 1944) - with 30 film acting credits.
- When Our Gang ceases production, in 1944, Laughlin appears in Monogram's Johnny Doesn't Live Here Any More, and soon retires from acting...in favor of...delivering newspapers.
- On August 31, 1948, the driver of a speeding truck strikes the Cushman motor scooter upon which Billy is delivering newspapers.
- Passes August 31, 1948 (aged 16)
- At age 16, Billy "Froggy" Laughlin remains the youngest former "Little Rascal" to pass.
Nineteen (19) Other Tragic Child Stars Gone Before Their Time
Reply by genplant29
on January 31, 2020 at 1:02 PM
Excellent post, Quite.
You read my mind: Believe it or not, evening before last it occurred to me that Billy would be the perfect next person to create a thread about!
Poor Billy: Dead at 16, due to - by no fault of his own - winding up on fatal collision course with a vehicle.
While Billy is known to have done his own "Froggy" voice for Our Gang movies, I've always wondered what his normal everyday speaking voice sounded like. Froggy always was a funny, memorable Our Gang series character, due to being a little bespectacled blonde-haired kid with gravelly sound (and personality) of a no-nonsense grouchy man.
RIP, Billy.
Reply by QuitePleasant
on January 31, 2020 at 10:26 PM
Right, Billy may have been bestowed a somewhat precocious, deeper-than-average voice before casting, but then maybe someone hinted to producers that he does a pretty mean "Popeye" impression, so maybe the top brass decided to develop that Frogginess.
Still, his character seems relatively innocent, and certainly his fate all-too tragic.