Born September 30 1952 in Royton near Oldham England Jack Wild was discovered by talent agent June Collins mother of rock star Phil Collins His breakthrough came when he landed the role of Oliver in the London stage production of Oliver When it came to casting the film the role of the Artful Dodger went to Jack a role that resulted in his getting an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor Fresh from this success Jack was offered the lead role in the American television series HR Pufnstuf 1969 This Sid Krofft and Marty Krofft production featured Wild as a boy marooned in an enchanted land with puppets and actors in elaborate costumes The success of this program led to Wild reprising the role for the film version Pufnstuf 1970 Other roles followed including Melody 1971 and Flight of the Doves 1971 Around the same time Wild released three albums The Jack Wild Album Everythings Coming up Roses featuring along with cover numbers a couple of new songs written by upandcoming songwriter Lynsey De Paul and Beautiful World By 1972 however he was already being demoted to the role of supporting actor for The Pied Piper 1972 He also appeared in Our Mutual Friend 1976 He returned to films in two small roles the millers son in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves 1991 and a peddler in Basil 1998 Wild underwent surgery for oral cancer in July 2004 and had some vocal cords and part of his tongue removed Unfortunately the cancer proved untreatable and he died on 1 March 2006
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