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Dateline: 4th March, 2006
Jack Wild (1952 - 2006) Jack Wild, who at the age of 16 was Oscar nominated for playing the Artful Dodger in the film version of Oliver!, has died of cancer. He was diagnosed with cancer of the mouth in 2001 and, after chemo- and radiotherapy, underwent surgery in 2004 when his tongue and voicebox were removed. However he died on Wednesday at the age of 53. Although from Manchester, he family was living in Hownslow when he was discovered playing football by agent June Collins (mother of Phil Collins) and went to stage school and landed the part of Oliver in the London stage production. He was then, at the age of 16, cast as Dodger in the film version and, after being nomintaed for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar went on to star in the US children's TV series HR Pufnstuf. Other work followed, including Alan Parker's first film Melody in 1971, and he also released three albums. However by the age of 21 he was an alcoholic and he said that, for him, the seventies and eighties were "a drunken haze". He was also diagnosed as being diabetic and, although he appeared in the BBC's Our Mutual Friend in 1978, his career came to standstill until he gave up drinking in 1989, when he appeared in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (1991) and, in 2000, the Chanel 4 series Lock, Stock. He appeared in panto (as Baron Hardup in Cinderella at Worcester) after his operation, miming with his words being lip-read and spoken by his wife, actress Claire Harding. His last film was Moussaka and Chips (2005), with Ron Moody who had played Fagin on Oliver!. As a result of his illness, he spent the last two years working with Cancer Research UK to help raise awareness of mouth cancer and, when Daniel Radcliffe was cast as Harry Potter, he worte an open letter to him warning of the dancers of being a child star. Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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