Dana Hill

The maturity of a child's body

Dana Hill was barely five feet tall when she came of age. It wasn't purely a genetic matter. At age ten, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which permanently stunted her physical growth. Yet that medical condition ended up defining her career in 1980s film.

In 1982, Alan Parker cast her in Shoot the Moon. She was eighteen while playing a twelve-year-old girl during her parents' divorce. She worked at the same level as Diane Keaton and Albert Finney, with no visible gap in age or experience on screen. That performance earned her a nomination for the Young Artist Awards.

Her physique set the rules of the game.

Hollywood saw in her the perfect solution for filming complex scenes with minors. Hill had the emotional maturity of an adult and the look of a preteen. So directors sought her out for roles with dramatic demands that a real child would struggle to sustain over weeks of filming.

In 1983, she took part in Cross Creek, directed by Martin Ritt. The film competed at the Cannes Film Festival, and she once again proved that her small stature did not limit her stage presence. But the industry is fickle, and drama doesn't always pay the bills.

The Leap into Mainstream Comedy

Her most memorable role for general audiences came in 1985 with National Lampoon’s European Vacation. She played Audrey Griswold, replacing Dana Barron (who had appeared in the first installment). It was an odd casting decision because Hill was older than the original actress but looked much younger.

And the gamble paid off.

The chemistry with Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo on screen worked through pure contrast. Hill brought a sarcastic, dry tone that fit the humor of the era. Despite the poor reviews the movie received on release, it earned more than 49 million dollars in the United States alone.

In the late 1980s, her health began to complicate long days of location shooting. Her diabetes caused kidney problems and vision issues that made it hard to endure the set's lights. So she decided to look for an alternative where her body wouldn't be an obstacle.

A Haven Behind the Microphone

Hill's voice was raspy and deep. In 1992, Disney cast her to bring Max Goof to life in the series Goof Troop. It was a smart move because it let her keep working at the highest level without the physical wear of traditional shoots. For years she voiced characters in series such as Duckman and Sonic the Hedgehog.

In 1995, she appeared in the movie A Goofy Movie. It was one of her last major commercial projects before her health irreversibly declined. Her ability to shift tone kept her working in an industry that often forgets child actors once they grow up.

There were no slow goodbyes.

In May 1996, she suffered a massive stroke caused by complications from her diabetes. She fell into a coma and never regained consciousness. Dana Hill died on July 15, 1996, at Providence Saint Joseph Hospital in California. She was 32 years old and weighed just over 90 pounds at the time of her death.