Trivia

Was abandoned by his parents when he was a baby and was raised by his aunt. After he became a successful child actor, his birth parents filed more than six years of lawsuits attempting to get a piece of his earnings.

After leaving acting in 1951, Bartholomew vowed never to give any interviews about the so-called "good old days". However, he did give one interview shortly before his death in MGM: When the Lion Roars (1992).

The most popular male child star of the 1930s.

Appeared in five movies with Mickey Rooney: Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), The Devil Is a Sissy (1936), Captains Courageous (1937), Lord Jeff (1938) and A Yank at Eton (1942).

Finding it difficult to make the transition from child to adult roles, he ended up moving to television: hosting, directing, producing, and executive producing.

Retired in the 1980s due to emphysema.

Son with Aileen Paul, Frederick R. Bartholomew, born in 1958.

He studied acting at the Italia Conti school in London.

Appeared in two movies nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: David Copperfield (1935) and Captains Courageous (1937).

He was considered for the dual roles of Prince Edward and Tom Canty in The Prince and the Pauper (1937).

British-American child actor of the 1930s.

Appeared under the direction of three Oscar winners (George Cukor, Victor Fleming and Norman Taurog) and five Oscar nominees (Clarence Brown, W.S. Van Dyke, Henry King, Sam Wood and Robert Stevenson).

Conflicting with historical records, a New York Times obituary article published 24 January 1992 erroneously listed his birthplace as Dublin, Ireland.

His parents sent him to live with his grandparents and aunt by the age of three, and thereafter had nothing to do with him.

Daughter with Aileen Paul, Kathleen Millicent Bartholomew, born in March 1956.

His birth date is confirmed as 28th March 1924 but a Petition for Naturalisation he made in 1943 in Amarillo Texas , whilst enlisted in the AAAF, gives the date as 8th February 1924. A mistake made by someone but the Petition was signed by Freddie and witnessed by two of his senior officers.

Some suggestion has been made that Freddie was of Irish descent but there is no evidence to support this. His fathers family came from Wiltshire (Warminster is in Wiltshire) and his mother's family came from London in the south east of England. An obituary erroneously stated Freddie was born in Dublin.

His English accent began to fade in his early teenage years. By the time of "Tom Brown's Schooldays" (1940) his accent already sounded quite American.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 3, 1991-1993, pages 47-50. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001.