Bill Mumy Movies
One of the best child actors of the 1950s and 1960s, freckled-faced Billy Mumy performed with a directness and sincerity that put many an adult performer to shame. Before he was even ten years old, Mumy had played two of the most unforgettable juveniles in TV history: malevolently telekinetic Anthony Fremont on the 1961 Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life," and the pistol-toting protagonist of "Bang! You're Dead," an incredibly suspenseful 1962 installment of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, directed by Hitchcock himself. In films from 1963, Mumy's finest cinematic hour-and-a-half was as Erasmus Leaf, an 8-year-old math genius with an all-consuming crush on Brigitte Bardot, in 1965's Dear Brigette. From 1965 to 1968, Mumy appeared as Will Robinson on the popular TV sci-fi fantasy series Lost in Space. As Mumy matured, he found roles harder to come by, though he was given generous screen time in the 1971 Stanley Kramer production Bless the Beasts and Children and was a regular on the 1975 TV weekly Sunshine. He kept busy in the 1980s on the sci-fi convention lecture circuit and as a scriptwriter; he also played cameo roles in remakes of "It's a Good Life" (the middle section of the 1983 Twilight Zone feature film) and "Bang! You're Dead" (one of the components of the 1985 TV revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents). The many fans of Bill Mumy's previous work in the realm of "fantastic television" were delighted in 1995 to find him playing the recurring role of Lennier on the syndicated TVer Babylon 5. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1961
Adapted by Rod Serling from a story by Jerome Bixby, "It's a Good Life" stands the test of time as one of the best-ever Twilight Zone episodes -- not to mention one of the series' most frightening efforts. The terrified citizens of Peaksville, Ohio, are held in thrall by a "monster" in the form of angelic-looking youngster Anthony Fremont (Billy Mumy). Possessed with the ability to read minds, coupled with mysterious destructive powers, Anthony bristles whenever he senses that someone is thinking bad thoughts -- and whenever he bristles, something really bad happens (yes, this is the one with the cornfield and the jack-in-the-box). Understandably, this episode has always been a favorite of youngsters, who would give anything to wield Anthony Fremont's awesome powers over their own parents. First telecast November 3, 1961, "It's a Good Life" was later reworked in the 1983 theatrical film Twilight Zone: The Movie -- and a few years after that, it was delightfully lampooned on one of The Simpsons' "Treehouse of Horror" episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cloris Leachman, John Larch, (more)
- 1961
The last of the six videotaped Twilight Zone installments of the 1960-61 season, this episode also featured the first of three series appearances by child actor Billy Mumy. In this one, Mumy plays Billy Bayles, a 5-year-old boy with a strong attachment to his grandmother (Lili Darvas). Using a toy telephone he'd received for his birthday, Billy communicates with his beloved Grandma -- several days and weeks after her death. Philip Abbott and Patricia Smith costar as Billy's distraught parents, who are convinced (rightly, as it turns out), that Grandma wants to inveigle the boy into joining her in the Next World. Cowritten by William Idelson and Charles Beaumont, "Long Distance Call" was originally telecast March 3, 1961. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lili Darvas, Philip Abbott, (more)
