Douglas Croft (born Douglas Malcolm Wheatcroft, August 12, 1926 – October 24, 1963) was an American child actor and a soldier who is best remembered for being the first person to portray the DC Comics character Robin, the Boy Wonder, as well as his secret identity Dick Grayson, in the 1943 serial Batman when he was 16 years old. Early life Croft was born Douglas Malcolm Wheatcroft on August 12, 1926, in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. His mother, Beatrice Hayden, married the silent film actor Stanhope Nelson Wheatcroft. They divorced in 1922, and his mother relocated to San Francisco. His parents' divorce was a bitter one, and about the time he was born in August 1926, Stanhope Wheatcroft attempted to have Beatrice declared dead so that he could stop paying alimony. Acting career Croft was living with his mother in Los Angeles, California, in 1941. Fascinated by movie stars, a talent agent spotted him loitering near a studio and signed him up. About September 1941, he began using the stage name "Douglas Croft". He also shaved several years off his age, claiming in July 1941 and again in March 1942 that he was 11 years old. A December 1941 newspaper report listed his age as 12, when he was by then actually 15. His first role was as the pet pupil of teacher Claudette Colbert in Remember The Day. His second role was a small part in the 1942 film Kings Row, with his first major part and notable performance coming the same year in Not A Ladies Man. His breakout role was that of the young George M. Cohan in 1942's Oscar-winning Yankee Doodle Dandy. The year 1942 also saw Croft in a substantial role as the young Lou Gehrig in The Pride of the Yankees and as Raymond in George Washington Slept Here. then as Skip in Harrigan's Kid and as Davey in Presenting Lily Mars. Croft was the first actor to play the comic book character Dick Grayson/Robin in a motion picture, doing so in the 1943 15-chapter movie serial Batman. As of 2013, Croft remains the youngest person (aged 16) to portray Robin, who at that time was depicted in comic books as being a young teenager. The producers made one change to the character, and that was to give Croft a wig of untamed curly hair. Later life Croft served in the United