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Darla Hood was born on November 8, 1931, in the small town of Leedey, Oklahoma. She began her connection with "Our Gang" at just two and a half years old, as she mentioned on The Jack Benny Program in 1950. Her father, James Claude Hood Jr., a banker, and especially her mother, Elizabeth Davner Hood, encouraged her musical talents with singing and dancing lessons in Oklahoma City. She made an unexpected singing debut at the Edison Hotel in Times Square when a bandleader invited her onstage, and the audience responded enthusiastically. By chance, Joe Rivkin, an agent for Hal Roach, spotted the four-year-old scene-stealer, screen-tested her, and signed her to a seven-year contract at $75 per week.
Darla went on to star as the leading actress in 51 of the popular "Rascals" short films and a television movie. She recalled feeling lonely off-camera since the boys usually grouped together to play games like baseball and football. Early in her career with the "Little Rascals," she appeared alongside Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in their feature film The Bohemian Girl (1936). Her time as the most popular "Little Rascals" actress began with Our Gang Follies of 1936 (1935) and ended with Wedding Worries (1941). Nearly 40 years later, during the last four months of her life, she provided the voice for her "Little Rascals" character in the animated special The Little Rascals' Christmas Special (1979), though she did not live to see it aired.
During World War II, few "Our Gang" shorts were produced due to film shortages, with most resources allocated to wartime propaganda features. By the time the series was revived in 1945, Hood had outgrown her role. She struggled with the transition to teen acting, and her career declined. She graduated with honors from Fairfax High School in Hollywood and found some work with Ken Murray's "Blackbirds" variety show on the Los Angeles stage, as well as behind-the-scenes roles in the post-war period.
At 17, she married Robert W. Decker, and together they formed the vocal group "Darla Hood and the Enchanters," which provided background music for films like A Letter to Three Wives (1949). She also appeared in nightclubs and on television variety shows such as The Ken Murray Show (1950) and The Paul Whiteman Goodyear Revue (1949), and performed on several Merv Griffin radio programs. Additionally, she found success in voice-over work for cartoons and commercials, most notably as the mermaid in "Chicken of the Sea" ads, and to a lesser extent in "Campbell's Soup" commercials. Over time, she became a skilled impressionist and voice artist.
In June 1957, at age 25, she divorced Decker after eight years of marriage, with whom she had two children: a son, Brett, and a daughter, Darla Jo. She soon married her former manager, Jose Granson, a music publisher, and they had three children together. Hood maintained a low profile in show business until her untimely death on Wednesday, June 13, 1979, from congestive heart failure. She had recently undergone an appendectomy at Canoga Park Hospital, during which she received a blood transfusion that led to acute hepatitis and subsequently heart failure. She died at a Hollywood hospital and was buried at Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, later renamed Hollywood Forever.
