"It's a Good Life" for actor Bill Mumy

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June 14, 2026 / 9:44 AM EDT

/ CBS News

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There aren't a whole lot of people who can relate to Bill Mumy's childhood. In the 1960s, he was among the busiest child actors in Hollywood. "I was the first American actor to get a kiss from Brigitte Bardot!" he said, thanks to his starring role in 1965's "Dear Brigitte."It was a career born of roughhousing at the age of six: "So, one day I'm in my Zorro outfit and I'm jumping off of the bed, and I cracked my left leg, like in half," he said. "But, it was my lucky break! So, I was sitting there in a cast watching 'Zorro' and 'Superman,' and I very passionately said to my parents, 'That is what I want to do. I want to be inside the television.'"He was the son of a California cattle rancher, and a secretary at 20th Century Fox, who kept meticulous track of her son's work. "She kept a record of my gigs," Mumy said, showing us her notes from May of 1961: "Did a 'Twilight Zone' called 'It's a Good Life.' Billy did a wonderful job. $600."