an actor: “After the Army, I wasn't really interested in the hassle of performing," he explained shortly before his death in 1980. "Even the big stars had to chase around and audition; it seemed like a rat race to me, with no security." However, Thomas still enjoyed the film industry at large, and had a successful career as a film lab technician with the Technicolor corporation. He took his experience in film work as a spark to learn the trade of film editing and cutting. Our Gang Fan Club At "Hollywood 80", the second annual meeting of The Sons of the Desert, from July 30 to August 3, 1980, more than 500 fans gathered at the Los Angeles Hilton Hotel. Several days were spent touring famous Hollywood attractions, and then the highlight of the gathering took place in the hotel ballroom. Among those honored on July 31 were fellow Our Gangers George McFarland, Dorothy DeBorba, Tommy Bond, and Joe Cobb. When Thomas was brought out, he received a spontaneous standing ovation, and was moved to tears. Death On October 10, 1980, ten weeks after his July 31 appearance at the Hilton, Thomas died of a heart attack in his Los Angeles apartment at the age of 49. Thomas is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood. Legacy In 1950, Billie had a son whom he also named William Thomas, Jr. William Thomas Jr. the younger went on to graduate from California State Northridge University in 1975, then in 1992, created the Buckwheat Memorial Scholarship for students at Northridge in his honor. In 2010, he wrote the book "Otay!" The Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas Story. On November 30, 2012, he died at the age of 62. Controversies Eddie Murphy performed a series of Buckwheat sketches on Saturday Night Live during the 1980s when he was a cast member, but Thomas's co-star George McFarland, who played "Spanky" in Little Rascals, made it clear that he hated Murphy's imitations: "I didn't care for them a bit. Mr. Murphy did a very poor imitation. He made Buckwheat into a stereotype that he wasn't, at the expense of the people in his family who are still alive." In 1990, the ABC newsmagazine 20/20 aired a segment featuring a man named Bill English, then a grocery bagger in Arizona, who claimed to be the adult Buckwheat. English's appearance prompted public objections from McFarland, who contacted media outlets