Michael Shea (actor)
Michael Shea (born November 4, 1952) is an American former actor. Beginning a prolific career as a child actor at the age of ten, Shea is perhaps best known for portraying the title role in the NBC children's television series, The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as well as for his feature film roles; as Nick in the Ivan Tors family film, Namu, the Killer Whale, as Jimmy in the MGM western, Welcome to Hard Times, and as "Cav" in the Walt Disney drama, Ride a Northbound Horse. Although born and raised in New York City, Shea was primarily cast as the wholesome small-town "country boy" throughout most of his career as a child star.
Early life
Michael Shea was born on November 4, 1952 (some sources mistakenly reporting his year of birth as 1951) in Glendale, New York to parents Mr. and Mrs. Frank Shea. He spent his early years raised in New York and grew up with four siblings, two brothers and two sisters. At the age of nine, a neighbor reportedly approached Shea with the idea of entering show business, however, the thought of stardom frightened him. In a 1968 interview, Shea recalled the early experience saying, "I ran into the woods and started crying. I kept saying, 'I don't want to be a star.'"
Michael Shea
Michael Shea or Mike Shea may refer to:
See also
Michael Shea (author)
Michael Shea (July 3, 1946 – February 16, 2014) was an American fantasy, horror, and science fiction author living in California. He has won "year's best" World Fantasy Awards for the novel Nifft the Lean and the novella Growlimb.
Life and work
Shea was born to Irish parents in Los Angeles in 1946. There he frequented Venice Beach and the Baldwin Hills for their wildlife. He attended UCLA and Berkeley and hitch-hiked twice across the US and Canada.
At a hotel in Juneau, Alaska, Shea chanced on a battered book from the lobby shelves, The Eyes of the Overworld by Jack Vance (1966). Four years later, after a brief first marriage and one year hitch-hiking through France and Spain, he wrote a novel in homage to Vance, who graciously declined to share the advance offered by DAW Books. It was Shea's first publication, A Quest for Simbilis (1974), and an authorized sequel to Vance's two Dying Earth books then extant. ISFDB notes that it "became non-canonic" in 1983 when Vance "continued ... The Eyes ... in a different direction."
Michael Shea (diplomat)
Michael Sinclair MacAuslan Shea, CVO (10 May 1938, Carluke, Lanarkshire, Scotland – 17 October 2009) was press secretary to Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom from 1978 to 1987. Earlier he had been a career diplomat and was also an author of political thrillers and non-fiction.
Early life
Until the age of 14 Shea attended Lenzie Academy, where his mother was a teacher. He then attended Gordonstoun as a result of gaining a scholarship. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh, having read Economics; he also completed his doctorate at Edinburgh on economic development in West Africa. He entered the Foreign Service in 1963 and served in Ghana, West Germany, Romania and New York.
Royal press secretary
After helping to arrange the Queen's official visit in 1976, Shea became her press secretary two years later. He was at the centre of a "mole hunt" in 1986 for the person who gave a briefing to a journalist on Sunday Times in which it was said the social policies being followed by the Thatcher government were causing the Queen "dismay", and Mrs. Thatcher's negative attitude to the Commonwealth of Nations caused displeasure. Members of Parliament called for Shea's resignation if he was responsible. The Queen's Private Secretary Sir William Heseltine responded to the controversy in a letter to The Times confirming Shea as the contact, but asserting that Shea's comments had been misreported. Shea left royal service the following year, although he denied that there was any connection with the earlier controversy.
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