David Jack Holt (August 14, 1927 – November 15, 2003) was an American actor initially groomed at the age of seven to be the male Shirley Temple.

He did, however, get a job as "body double" for Cheeta's chimpanzee predecessor in the 1933 film Tarzan the Fearless and had a small role in the 1933 Our Gang (Little Rascals) comedy Forgotten Babies.

Holt had a prominent role in the 1936 movie Straight from the Shoulder (also known as Johnny Gets His Gun) alongside noted actor Ralph Bellamy.

Holt eventually developed a reputation as a troublemaker, and found himself settling for supporting roles in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1939), Beau Geste (1939), and Courage of Lassie (1946) as Elizabeth Taylor's older brother.

Author Richard Sandomir writes in his book about the movie's making that Holt actually cried when he was interviewed for the part by MGM studio mogul Samuel Goldwyn, explaining that he had suffered from polio.

[5] In the 1944 film Henry Aldrich, Boy Scout, Holt played an unscrupulous Senior Patrol Leader, Irwin Barrett.

The following year, he had a prominent role in "Never Say Die", a 1950 episode of the Lone Ranger hit television series, playing the kidnapped son of a prison warden.

He composed the music for numerous jazz albums, including several that featured Pete Jolly,[4] and writing "The Christmas Blues" with Sammy Cahn, which was recorded by Dean Martin and eventually used on the 1997 soundtrack of L.A.