{{short description|American actor}} {{Infobox person | name = George Bookasta | image = Cropped_Photo_of_George_Bookasta.jpg | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1917|7|14}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|3|26|1917|7|14}} | death_place = Saratoga Springs, New York, United States | occupation = Film actor, director | years_active = 1923–1949 }}
'''George Bookasta''' (July 14, 1917 – March 26, 2014) was an American child actor and director who was discovered by Charlie Chaplin. He signed a contract with the film studio United Artists and debuted in the silent film ''Rosita'' in 1923. Some of his other films included ''The Night Bird'', ''Hell Harbor'' and ''It Had to Happen''. Bookasta was a stand-in in ''Sergeant York'' in 1941.<ref name="George">{{cite magazine | url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/george-bookasta-child-actor-dies-693539 | title=George Bookasta, Former Child Actor, Dies at 96 | magazine=The Hollywood Reporter | date=April 3, 2014 | accessdate=April 5, 2014}}</ref>
During World War II Bookasta was a radio operator in the Army.<ref name="ps" /> As an adult, he created the magazine ''TV Times'', directed episodes for television shows such as ''The Colgate Comedy Hour'' and Bachelor Father, and led a big band orchestra in New York.<ref name="DailyTimes60">{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-times-george-bookasta/150387588/|title=Bookasta, Play Director, Is a Man Who Keeps Calm|newspaper=The Daily Times| date=July 27, 1960|accessdate=October 4, 2017}}</ref>
Bookasta directed summer stock theater with the Lighthouse Players in Ocean City, Maryland.<ref name="DailyTimes60" /> He wrote, produced, and directed the one-woman show ''Dear Femininity'', in which Annie Wiley enacted her "real-life journey as an emerging performer".<ref name=ps>{{cite news |last1=Bensen |first1=Amanda |title=Bringing a different Hollywood to the Spa City |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-post-star-george-bookasta/150388681/ |work=The Post-Star |location=New York, Glens Falls |date= |pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-post-star-george-bookasta/150388681/ D 1], [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-post-star-george-bookasta/150388877/ D 8] |accessdate=June 30, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Bookasta died at his home in Saratoga Springs, New York on March 26, 2014, at the age of 96.<ref name="Bookasta">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.contactmusic.com/story/former-child-star-george-bookasta-dies_4139793|title=George Bookasta – Former Child Star George Bookasta Dies|magazine=Contactmusic|date=April 4, 2014|accessdate=April 5, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407074101/http://www.contactmusic.com/story/former-child-star-george-bookasta-dies_4139793 |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 7, 2014}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0095362|George Bookasta}} * [http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=&retailCheck=&Type=PN&CatID=DATABIN_STAND_INS&ID=58267&AN_ID=&searchedFor=George_Bookasta_ George Bookasta] at the American Film Institute * {{Tcmdb name}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bookasta, George}} Category:1917 births Category:2014 deaths Category:American male film actors Category:American male child actors Category:American male silent film actors Category:20th-century American male actors
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