Talented Tykes

The article by Sean Mitchell reminded me of other performances by child actors seen over a number of years of going to movies (“Through a Child’s Eyes,” Dec. 26). Examples of children who did more than look cute, but gave outstanding dramatic performances, are not limited to the present day.

For example, Margaret O’Brien in the late 1940s; Dean Stockwell in the title role in “Kim,” in which he stole the film from Errol Flynn, despite the studio’s attempt to make Flynn the big star. Then there was Brandon De Wilde in “Shane” (for which he received an Oscar nomination); De Wilde again in the almost forgotten “Good-bye, My Lady”; Patty McCormack in “The Bad Seed”; and on and on.

Just as there are children who show musical or artistic talent at an early age, there are children in every generation who have a talent for acting.

JIM MENTZER

Los Angeles

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In his otherwise fine article, Mitchell states that Haley Joel Osment played young Forrest--”the one with his legs in braces”--in “Forrest Gump.” Actually, he played Forrest’s son, Forrest Jr.; Michael Conner Humphreys played the much larger part of young Forrest.

On the other hand, Osment may have set some kind of record, playing the sons of three title characters before age 10: Forrest Jr., Avery in “Murphy Brown,” and Matt on “The Jeff Foxworthy Show.”

DAVID DANIEL

Encino