Kevin Corcoran R.I.P.

Kevin Corcoran, a child actor who went on to work on the other side of the camera, died on October 6 2015 at the age of 66. He may be best known as the youngest son in the Disney classic Old Yeller. The cause was colorectal cancer.

Kevin Corcoran was born in Santa Monica, California on June 10 1949. His father worked on the MGM lot as a security guard, which is where he was discovered as a child. He made his film debut in an uncredited role in The Glenn Miller Story in 1954. Over the next few years he appeared in the films Untamed (1955), Violent Saturday (1955), and The Birds and the Bees (1956), as well as episodes of December Bride and The Ford Television Theatre. His first work for Disney was in serials made for The Mickey Mouse Club: ""Adventure in Dairyland", "Further Adventures of Spin and Marty", and "The New Adventures of Spin and Marty". For the remainder of the Fifties he appeared in such Disney films as Old Yeller (1957), The Shaggy Dog (1959), The Rabbit Trap (1959), Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with a Circus (1960), Pollyanna (1960), and Swiss Family Robinson (1960).

In the Sixties he appeared in the films Babes in Toyland (1961), Bon Voyage! (1962), Savage Sam (1963), A Tiger Walks (1964), and Blue (1968). He appeared in several episodes of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Colour. He also guest starred on Wagon Train, The Littlest Hobo, and My Three Sons.

Mr Corcoran attended California State University in Northridge where he received a bachelor's degree in theatre. While he  had given up acting, he would continue to work in film and television on the other side of the camera. He was an assistant to the producer on Treasure of Matecumbe (1976). He served as an associate producer on the films Return from Witch Mountain (1978), Hot Lead and Cold Feet (1978), and Herbie Goes Bananas (1980). He was a producer of the Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Colour episode "The Kids Who Knew Too Much".

In the Eighties he served as a producer on the TV shows Herbie, the Love Bug; Zorro and Son; Whiz Kids; and Murder, She Wrote. He also served as an assistant director on the TV shows Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Simon & Simon, and Baywatch.

In the Nineties he served as an assistant director on the shows Quantum Leap; Murder, She Wrote; Profiler; and Providence. In the Naughts he served as a producer on the TV shows The Shield and Sons of Anarchy. He served as a production manager on those two shows as well. He was an assistant director on the TV shows Karen Sisco, Crossing Jordan, and Sleeper Cell.