Claude Jarman Jr., honored with a Juvenile Academy Award for his performance in the 1946 film “The Yearling,” passed away due to natural causes at his residence in Kentfield, California, on Sunday, January 12, 2025. He was 90 years old.
Jarman, born on September 27, 1934, in Nashville, Tennessee, was discovered by director Clarence Brown in his fifth-grade classroom during a school scouting trip for “The Yearling” in 1945. At the time, Jarman was an 11-year-old son of a railroad accountant.
In a 2016 interview, Jarman remembered getting a call three days after the scouting trip, instructing him to prepare for a trip to Hollywood in a week.
The film’s shooting, which took nearly two years in Florida, was laborious, with a single scene involving a deer requiring 115 takes. As part of the film’s promotion, Jarman even walked a deer on a leash down New York’s Fifth Avenue.
“The Yearling,” adapted from Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, featured Jarman as Jody Baxter, a boy growing up on a Florida farm post-Civil War. Despite the production’s challenges – including illness, extreme heat, and difficult to manage animal actors – Jarman’s portrayal won him the Juvenile Academy Award, presented by Shirley Temple at the 1947 Academy Awards. He was the seventh recipient of this honor, following the likes of legendary actors Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.
Although the film was a critical and commercial success, high production costs yielded only modest profits. Co-star Gregory Peck earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his role as Jody’s father Penny Baxter, while Jane Wyman portrayed Jody’s mother, Ora.
After “The Yearling,” Jarman appeared in 10 more films in the 1940s and 1950s, including “High Barbaree,” “The Sun Comes Up,” “Roughshod,” and “Intruder in the Dust.” In 1950, he featured in the western “Rio Grande” alongside John Wayne. His television work included roles in “Wagon Train” and the 1978 mini-series “Centennial,” with Raymond Burr.
Jarman, after completing his education at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, served as an officer in the U.S. Navy for three years. He returned to Hollywood in 1959 but found no film roles. Subsequently, he worked behind the scenes as an Armed Forces publicist in Los Angeles, producing films about the U.S. Navy.
His post-acting career was varied and successful; he served as the executive director of the San Francisco International Film Festival from 1965 to 1980, and as the director of cultural affairs, he significantly influenced the city’s cultural scene. He also produced a documentary about rock promoter Bill Graham and the Fillmore Auditorium. In 1986, he founded Jarman Travel Inc., which he led for 25 years.
Jarman remained connected to Hollywood in his later years, appearing as a special guest at the 70th and 75th Academy Awards telecasts. In 2018, he released his memoir, “My Life and the Final Days of Hollywood,” which provided insights into his time during Hollywood’s golden age and his views on the industry’s transformation.
Jarman, who was married three times, is survived by his wife Katie of 38 years, seven children, and eight grandchildren.