Sidney Kibrick
Sidney Henry Kibrick was an American child actor primarily active in Hollywood of the 1930s, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang short subjects film series, featuring in more than two dozen, between 1933 and 1939. Kibrick was the last living actor who played a featured Our Gang character.
Early life
Kibrick was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA on July 2, 1928; his elder brother was an actor and fellow Our Gang cast member Leonard Kibrick, born in 1924. He attended Mount Vernon Junior High and the University of Southern California. He was Jewish.''Our Gang''
Kibrick's family relocated to Los Angeles when he was five and he was discovered at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre with his mother, where the film producer was scouting for children to appear in the "Our Gang" film short subjects, which were created by Hal Roach. Kibrick initially featured in a brief non-dialogue appearance as an extra in the feature film Dead End, and was observed as one of three or so children huddled together during one of the river dock scenes.He made his uncredited film debut in Out all Night, and after a few more uncredited roles was cast as a regular in 1935. Although his character was then unnamed, from 1937 to 1939, he was given the character name of "Woim", who was the sidekick of the neighborhood bully "Butch", played by Tommy Bond.
In 2023, Kibrick described his time working on Our Gang: "We'd have two hours of schooling in the morning and then work anywhere from six to 16 hours until we finished. There was a lot of work, no question about it, but our director Gordon Douglas was a terrific guy and he was really able to get a lot out of each kid". He also mentioned he had a life long friendship with Spanky McFarland and still visited each other despite living in different states; Kibrick said that Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer was difficult and created problems on set and was unkind to all the child actors on set, both the Our Gang cast and background extras.
Kibrick earned $750 a week working on Our Gang. At age 15, he was tired of acting, and although his parents persuaded him to continue, they eventually went along with his wishes.
Post-''Our Gang''
Kibrick, after leaving his Hollywood showbiz career behind, worked as a real estate developer. He kept in touch with Our Gang members at reunions, some of which he used to host. In 1991, he acknowledged that he had avoided the tragic lives that former child actors often ended up having as adults.Kibrick lived in Los Angeles. In 2022, he attended an exhibit at the Hollywood Museum, honoring the 100th anniversary and celebrating the remastered Blu-ray release of the series. Kibrick died at a hospital in Northridge, Los Angeles, on January 2, 2026, at the age of 97. He was the last living main Our Gang cast member.