Would like additional details as to the situation surrounding the death of Bobby Buntrock. We know that his life was taken while driving on or around a bridge that claimed his mother's life a year earlier and that he was in approx. 21 or 22 when it happened in 1974. Does anybody have any additonal details on where exactly this tragedy took place. (City and/or State).

I've also asked the same questions....but can find nothing more than the bridge story(April 1974)no exact date or location! Hazel ended it;s run in the spring of 1966.Buntrick was 13 at the time...he was 21 when he died in '74.....what did he do for those eight years? Did he meet the same fate as other child stars...drugs,booze suicide???Did has parents blow the money he made while on Hazel?This would make a great E True Hollywood story!

Maybe it was partially the director's fault...

I heard Jay North say on Entertainment Tonight once that his aunt, who was his tyrannical guardian while he was starring on Dennis the Menace, once took a stand for him to allow him to get a drink of water while director Bill Russell was shouting at him to rush over to get his schooling in for the day, suggesting that Russell was worse than his aunt at times. Then I noticed the line "Directed by William D. Russell" on a lot of Hazel eps, so maybe he was the same way w/ Bobby Buntrock.

An interesting side note here... I was watching the tv movie about Natalie Wood's life last year, and it mentioned her fear (ironic in her eventual cause of death) of water. This fear was heightened by a scene that she made for a movie called "The Green Promise", where she was in a scene that called for her to be swept off a bridge by water, and the director had promised her that she wouldn't be hurt, but he continued filming after she'd been swept off the bridge into the water. I looked up the movie in IMDB, and the director was none other than the same Bill Russell. I'm sure this is all just a big coincidence, that he was tough w/ at least two child actors and may have been to a third, but it's interesting to think about.

Bobby Buntrock died and is buried in Keystone, South Dakota home of Mount Rushmore. He worked at a gas station and was killed when his car went off the bridge in town, rolled over and was drowned. Apparently he was drinking at that time. My husband saw his tombstone and said there was another nearby with the name Buntrock. He is going to check and the date and see if it might have been his mother's.

Hope this helps.

Refer to Wikipedia

Refer to Wikipedia on Bobby. manny006 you should retract your accusation. You were not there.

Found this online at a website. Since I'm new it won't let me post the url until I have 5 posts! Anyway, here's the gist:

The young actor who played Harold, Bobby Buntrock, died in a 1974 auto accident. After the 1972 Keystone, South Dakota flood (one reference is National Geographic) during bridge construction an awful road hazard was left unbarricaded or cautioned in any way. An accident at that point was imminent. There was a well traveled "y" intersection. In the middle of the "y" construction had left a fourteen foot hole just wide enough for a Buick to fit in. There was four to five feet of water in the hole. Bobby was turning to go visit a friend in Rocky Gulch, South Dakota. His automobile slipped off the side of the bank, where there should have been jersey barriers, and landed upside down in the water. It took the diver quite some time to get Bobby out, and he informed us that Bobby tried to escape. However, because of a concrete structure on one side and a dirt wall on the other, he could only get the doors open about four inches.

How sad! I wonder if his family ever pursued a lawsuit. Seems like this tragedy could have been avoided if simple barricades were in place.

The author of the OP having no activity in the last five years I think I can post this without too much risk of flame war:

A wink emoticon for the OP strikes me as being ghoulishly inappropriate. WTF level inappropriate.

Ol' Bobby sounds like he had Ted Kennedy for a driving teacher.

I always felt he would've been perfect as Dennis the Menace and that not casting him was one of the biggest casting mistakes ever made.

Would like additional details as to the situation surrounding the death of Bobby Buntrock. We know that his life was taken while driving on or around a bridge that claimed his mother's life a year earlier and that he was in approx. 21 or 22 when it happened in 1974. Does anybody have any additonal details on where exactly this tragedy took place. (City and/or State).

Exactly what I've been wondering, the fate of the actor who played Harold, I'll be reading this thread with interest today.

I just read this article today:
https://news.amomama.com/159329-tragic-accident-that-took-away-life-haze.html
It was Keystone, South Dakota where he lived with his family. It was an accident. He tried to escape. He was a member of the National Guard. I don’t know what he did for a living. It’s very odd that his mother died there too.

I just read this article today:
https://news.amomama.com/159329-tragic-accident-that-took-away-life-haze.html
It was Keystone, South Dakota where he lived with his family. It was an accident. He tried to escape. He was a member of the National Guard. I don’t know what he did for a living. It’s very odd that his mother died there too.

I've since learned that Bobby Buntrock's mother did not die on the same bridge or any other bridge. According to a clipping which appears with her Find A Grave entry, she died at home. Here is a link which mentions that she died of cardiac arrest.

http://www.tvbanter.net/2015/02/bobby-buntrock-tragic-death-of-hazels.html

The often-repeated story that she died on the same bridge as her son seems to be an urban legend.

It was a tragic accident and people should have some respect. This legend makes it sound like a suicide and it wasn’t. Thanks for the info. Where did you learn that?

I've since learned that Bobby Buntrock's mother did not die on the same bridge or any other bridge. According to a clipping which appears with her Find A Grave entry, she died at home. Here is a link which mentions that she died of cardiac arrest.

http://www.tvbanter.net/2015/02/bobby-buntrock-tragic-death-of-hazels.html

The often-repeated story that she died on the same bridge as her son seems to be an urban legend.

Thanks for setting the record straight.