Kevin Corcoran

Kevin Corcoran wasn't your typical child prodigy, because his face embodied plain, unpretentious middle-class America of the 1950s. Walt Disney saw his potential after catching him in a couple of episodes of The Mickey Mouse Club. That kid from Santa Monica had a mischievous glint in his eye that worked just as well in a tearjerker drama as in a comedy of errors involving a dog or two.

In 1957 he shot Old Yeller, and American audiences were completely won over by his natural charm. But the industry is ruthless, and Kevin learned that quickly. During this period he earned the nickname Moochie (a character he played in several productions) and became the studio's most profitable child star.

Disney wasn't about to let go of its golden goose.

He appeared in The Shaggy Dog in 1959 and in Swiss Family Robinson in 1960. On the latter film, he had to deal with a complicated shoot on the island of Tobago. He handled it with the ease of someone who had spent his whole life in the spotlight.

The Move to the Other Side of the Monitor

By the mid-sixties, the mirror had started reflecting an image that no longer fit the scripts for freckled teen roles. Kevin decided he didn't want to end up as a broken toy of the industry. So in 1964 he left acting to study theater arts and find a place on production crews.

It was a pragmatic decision.

By 1975, he was already working as an assistant director on major productions. He took part in Return to Oz in 1985, where he was in charge of coordinating a hellish logistical operation at the London studios. The film was a box office failure, but it gave him the chance to learn the ins and outs of special effects and the management of large budgets.

In the nineties, his name appeared in the credits of hit series such as Murder, She Wrote and Quantum Leap. He was no longer the kid Moochie but a respected professional who knew how to manage budgets and shooting schedules.

Audiences never forgot him.

Growing Up on Cable Television

In 2005, he joined the team of The Shield and later worked on Sons of Anarchy until 2011. His work as associate producer on Grey’s Anatomy between 2011 and 2014 marked his final major stage in the Los Angeles industry. On that series, he coordinated the production of more than sixty episodes in a machine that left no room for scheduling errors.

He never missed the fame of the 1950s. He preferred the security of the production chair and the anonymity of studio offices in Burbank.

Kevin Corcoran died on October 6, 2015, at age 66, in a California hospital. The official cause was colorectal cancer, which worsened in his final weeks.