Actor. Born in London, the son of Lilian May Clarke and Cecil Bartholomew. As an infant he was handed into the care of his aunt, Millicent Bartholomew, by his disinterested parents. By the age of three, he had made his film debut, appearing in the British productions "Fascination" in 1930 and "Lily Christine" in 1932. In 1934, he and his aunt traveled to Hollywood, California where he made his American motion picture debut in "David Copperfield" in 1935. He was then immediately cast in a series of vehicles including "Anna Karenina" (1935), "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (1936), "Lloyd's of London" and "Captains Courageous" (1937), and "Kidnapped" (1938), becoming the second most popular child star of the era. At the peak of his career, his estranged parents reappeared and attempted to gain custody of their money-making son. Bartholomew, however, preferred to remain with his aunt and fought a protracted legal battle against them. He saw much of his wealth spent on legal fees. He appeared in "Tom Brown's Schooldays" in 1940, but with the advent of World War II, his appeal began to dwindle. In 1944 he was drafted and served in the United States Army Air Force as an aircraft mechanic. While working on a bomber engine, he fell from a scaffold and broke his back. After a year in hospital he was discharged in 1945. He attempted a return to movies, and released the low budget "The Town Went Wild" (1946) and his final feature film appearance in "St. Benny the Dip" (1949). He then gave up films and began a career in advertising in New York City, producing product sponsored soap operas. He retired in 1991. Shortly thereafter, he did a segment for the documentary "MGM: When the Lion Roared." He succumbed to emphysema the following year. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6667 Hollywood Boulevard. His ashes were interred at the Congregational United Church of Christ in Bradenton, Manatee County, Florida. When his widow moved back to Pennsylvania, she had his urn removed and moved to Pennsylvania. His name still appears on the plaque in Florida.