Top ten 40s and 50s Hollywood films involving children

There simply aren’t children in so many films: Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock… (Teresa Wright was 25 when she made Shadow Of A Doubt!):

The Philadelphia Story (1940) Virginia Weidler (died of heart attack aged 41)

Meet Me In St Louis (1944) Margaret O’Brien (she was only 7!)

Leave Her To Heaven (1945) Darryl Hickman (good bio on IMDb!)

Mildred Pierce (1945) Ann Blyth (well, she may be teenage, but she’s only 16, and she’s so great she’s in) and Jo Ann Marlowe

Pursued (1947) Ernest Severn (came from South Africa, never worked again)

Red River (1948) Mickey Kuhn

Shane (1953) Brandon De Wilde (knew him, though only for his haircut! Died at 30)

Hondo (1953) Lee Aaker

The Night Of The Hunter (1955) Billy Chapin (Violent Saturday) and Sally Ann Bruce (never acted again) 

The Searchers (1956) Natalie and Lana Wood (sisters playing Debbie at different ages!)