About Billy Halop
William Halop (February 11, 1920 – November 9, 1976) was an American actor. == Early life == Halop was born to Benjamin Cohen Halop and Lucille Elizabeth Halop on February 11, 1920. Halop came from a theatrical family; his mother was a dancer, and his sister, Florence Halop, was an actress who worked on radio and in television. Additionally, he had a much younger brother, Joel Tucker Halop (1934-2006). == Acting career == In 1933, he was given the lead as Bobby Benson in the popular new radio show The H-Bar-O Rangers. From 1934 to 1937, he starred in one of his first radio series, playing Dick Kent, the son of Fred and Lucy Kent, in "Home Sweet Home". While studying at the Professional Children's School in New York, he was cast as Tommy Gordon in the 1935 Broadway production of Sidney Kingsley's Dead End and traveled to Hollywood with the rest of the Dead End Kids when Samuel Goldwyn produced a film version of the play in 1937. Usually called Tommy in the films, he had the recurring role of a gang leader in a series of films that featured the Dead End Kids, later billed the Little Tough Guys. In his later years, he claimed that he was paid more than the other Dead End actors, which had contributed to bad feelings in the group, and that he was tired of the name "Dead End Kids". He played with James Cagney in Angels with Dirty Faces (1938).
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.