Jackie Moran

Military school pictures were a relatively frequent sight on the screen in the years immediately preceding and during World War II, with most teenage actors of the era appearing in one or more of such films (In 1940-42, for example, Tommy Kelly was in Military Academy and Freddie Bartholomew was in Naval Academy, Cadets on Parade and Junior Army).

For unspecified reasons, Jackie Moran did not serve in the military during the war, but continued to act in movies, including one final appearance in a top quality film, Since You Went Away. Nearly a year in production, the 172-minute homefront epic had its long-awaited Hollywood premiere in June 1944 and went into wide release on July 20. One of five Oscar nominees for Best Picture (it eventually lost to Going My Way), the black-and-white film was David O. Selznick's first production after Gone with the Wind and spared no expenses. Tommy Kelly, in the service during production, was not available, but Selznick once again cast Jackie in a small, but memorable role. Of the seventeen names listed in the credits, Jackie was seventeenth, but his last-place position did not prevent the character (a grocer's son) from exchanging bashful glances with the female third-lead (after Claudette Colbert and Jennifer Jones), fifteen-year-old Shirley Temple. Jackie, at twenty, was five years older, but appeared to be no more than sixteen or seventeen. Read Less