Jimmy Hunt

LA native Jimmy Hunt was seven years old when he was selected by an MGM talent scout to play Van Johnson as a child in High Barbaree (1947). From that point onward, the freckle-faced Hunt remained in great demand as a general-purpose juvenile. He went on to play Evelyn Keyes' foster child (and plot motivator) in The Mating of Millie (1947), "mean widdle kid" Junior in Red Skelton's Fuller Brush Man (1948), and Ronald Reagan's son in Louisa (1950). At 20th Century-Fox, he appeared as William Gilbreth, one of the twelve offspring of efficiency expert Frank Gilbreth(Clifton Webb) in Cheaper by the Dozen (1950); two years later, he played another member of the Gilberth clan in the Dozen sequel Belles on the Toes (1952). It wasn't until his 38th film that he essayed his most famous role: wide-eyed David Maclean in the "child's eye view" sci-fier Invaders from Mars (1953). At fourteen, Hunt decided that he didn't want to pursue an acting career any more. After college, he worked in military intelligence in Germany; more recently, he was an industrial tool and dye salesman in the San Fernando Valley. At the request of director Tobe Hooper, Jimmy Hunt made one last, nostalgic fling at acting, essaying the role of the police chief in the 1986 remake of Invaders from Mars.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide