Donald Haines on AllMovie

Donald Haines was eight years old when he joined Hal Roach's "Our Gang" troupe in 1929. Haines appeared in Roach shorts until 1931; one of these was The First Seven Years (1930), in which he fought with Jackie Cooper over the affections of Mary Ann Jackson. The adversarial Haines-Cooper screen relationship would extend over a decade, with Donald and Jackie coming to blows (or threatening to do so) in such features as Skippy (1931), A Feller Needs a Friend (1932) and Seventeen (1940). Haines' other roles of note included Jerry Cruncher Jr. in Tale of Two Cities (1935), Alabama in Boys Town (1938) and Men of Boys Town (1940), and Skinny in six of Monogram's East Side Kids films. Donald Haines died while serving in WW II.