Sharyn Moffett

Patricia Sharyn Moffett, better known by her stage name Sharyn Moffett, was an American child actress whose brief but memorable career illuminated Hollywood’s Golden Age during the 1940s. Born on September 12, 1936, in Alameda, California, she entered the world of cinema almost before she could walk, appearing in the Fox feature In Old Chicago at just eleven months old. Raised in a show‑business family—her father R. E. Moffett sang and her mother Gladyce Lloyd Roberts danced—she absorbed performance culture from an early age, and her younger brother Gregory would later follow a similar path as a child actor. By the time she was four, the Moffett family relocated to Beverly Hills to nurture her burgeoning talent, and at five she secured a role in the 1942 Three Stooges short Even as I Owe, portraying a dispossessed child whose innocence contrasted sharply with the slapstick chaos. Her first leading role arrived at age seven in the 1944 drama My Pal Wolf, a performance that earned her a seven‑year contract with RKO Pictures later that year. Over the next several years she appeared in a dozen films, including the chilling horror The Body Snatcher (1945), the noir thriller The Locket (1946), the socially conscious Child of Divorce (1946), the musical comedy Banjo (1947), and the beloved suburban satire Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948). Though her screen career concluded in 1951, Moffett remained connected to the industry through occasional convention appearances and film‑festival retrospectives, delighting audiences who remembered her radiant presence. In 1955 she married minister James Forrest, with whom she shared more than five decades of ministry and family life, raising three children before his death in 2011. Sharyn Moffett passed away on December 23, 2021, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, leaving behind a legacy of youthful artistry that continues to charm classic‑film enthusiasts.