Dennis Rush Dies at 74 After Leukemia Diagnosis

Dennis Rush died at 74 on Saturday on the way to the hospital after being diagnosed with leukemia last month. The former child actor was best known for playing a youngster opposite James Cagney in Man of a Thousand Faces and for appearing as Howie on The Andy Griffith Show.

Man of a Thousand Faces

Rush made his onscreen acting debut in 1957 as Creighton Chaney, age 4, and spent six months working on the film. He later recalled that James Cagney spotted him at a Universal lunch counter and said, “I’m looking for a little boy to play my son, I’m making a movie called Man of a Thousand Faces.”

He also remembered Cagney telling him, “Trust me,” when he was told he was not an actor and had to go to school. Rush said the star walked him through an emotional scene so carefully that, “He kept that up for a walk around the soundstage and had me in tears. We went right in and did the scene in five minutes.”

Andy Griffith years

Rush appeared on seven episodes of Wagon Train from 1960 to 1962 and three installments of Laramie from 1962 to 1963 before settling into The Andy Griffith Show over three seasons from 1963 to 1965. In 2022, he said, “I got to be in eight episodes over about a 2 1/2-year period,” and added, “It was just the best of the best.”

One of those moments came in 1964, when he ad-libbed a line during rehearsal on “Barney’s Physical,” a small example of how closely those child roles were woven into the show’s working rhythm. Ron Howard was among the cast members around him, while Don Knotts was the name Rush referenced in that scene.

San Diego area

Keith Thibodeaux said Rush died Saturday on the way to the hospital in the San Diego area. For readers who remember him from classic film and television, that leaves a lean but clear record: a Philadelphia-born child actor who moved to Los Angeles at 1, worked with Cagney, and stayed in the TV bloodstream long enough to become a familiar face across three seasons of The Andy Griffith Show.