Donn Gift, above right, played the character Fodderwing, the youngest of the Forrester Clan, sometimes friends and more often than not, scalawag neighbors of the Baxters. Fodderwing, declared Jody (Claude Jarman) to his disapproving mother, was “just . . . different.”
Fodderwing had an affinity for the local “critters” and claimed in the scene below he’d seen ‘coons and rabbits and the like playing together to a skeptical Jody. “They’s enemies,” said Jody but Fodderwing assured him that after dark, the local animals behaved in manners much different than observed by common mankind.
Gift appeared in several motion pictures of the mid-to late-Forties including Fighting Father Dunne, starring Pat O’Brien, and The Happy Years where he was cast with other rising young child stars Dean Stockwell, Darryl Hickman, and Scotty Becket.
Gift was nearly 20 years of age when he appeared in The Yearling.
In the top scene, Jody bids good-bye to his only friend in the neighborhood, Fodderwing whom his mother labeled, “M’ little crookedy boy.” Before his death, however, Fodderwing did bestow a name on Jody’s fawn, christening it “Flag”.
Thanks for your comment relating to this actor’s birth, in 1933, Danville, IL. There seems to be agreement on the date of his birth, December 14. However, the Findadeath Forum lists the year as 1924:
“Dec 14, 1924-July 8,1979 I think the last movie he made might have been in was THE HAPPY YEARS with Dean Stockwell. IMO, it was a real stinker. Anyway, Gift always portrayed a sickly looking, crippled boy. I cannot find much about him on the computer; not even a picture. Does anyone on the Forum know anything about this man?”
Additionally, he is sometimes credited as Ray Tanva. Anyway, it appears his birth, short-lived career, and the circumstances of his death at age 45 are clouded in mystery.
Can anyone out there shed some definitive light on Donn Gift, the Fodderwing portrayed by this fine young actor?
I appreciate your comment and question. I hope you are enjoying the blog. And, I think you’re right in assuming the year of his birth as 1933 but Hollywood can make most anything look and seem plausible.
I lived in a house across the street from Donn Gift between 1958 and 1966. I can believe that he was already 25 when I met him: “Gift always portrayed a sickly looking, crippled boy,” because that’s what he was. He had been stricken with polio as a child, and he always walked with a cane and with a brace on one of his legs, like FDR–or Forrest Gump. Even at that age, he looked to me almost the same as he did as a boy in the movies. Growing up in Hollywood, I had already figured out early on that the real secret of success for child stars is that they are always really chronologically older than they look–and this is almost always due to some horrible disease that has stunted their growth. This was the case in Donn’s instance. I felt so sorry for him. He lived in a crummy apartment, in a crummy apartment building on our crummy street, and he didn’t have any money. He couldn’t even afford a car, and I can still remember seeing him every morning limping along with his cane to the bus stop to catch a a ride to his job in the Chancery Office of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. I think he was always in pain–physical and emotional, and he always seemed to me very sad and lonely.
George,
What a wonderful memory about Donn Gift. I really liked him in The Yearling, and I have seen Fighting Father Dunne. He was a good actor in both! We will all miss him!
I agree that Donn Gift was born in 1924. That makes more sense if he was indeed older than he looked. There was a book in which Claude (Jody) was quoted saying that, “Donn was practically 20 years old when he filmed The Yearling.” I believe that.
Hope you are still keeping up with this page on Donn Gift. His other stage name of Ray Tanva is such a mystery. If he made any other films (besides his 5 films) under THIS name, I sure have not found any. One source even inquired if ‘Ray Tanva’ was actually his real name. Donn Gift a stage name. I don’t always agree with that. Donn was an original! Anyone with more information on this wonderful actor, please chime in and post!