Donald Roan Dunagan was born in 1934. When Donnie was 19, he was drafted into the Marines where his superiors tested and retested him. Donnie wondered what was wrong, but everything was right. Donnie had an abnormally high IQ. After boot camp, he was sent to drill instructor school and became the youngest drill instructor in Marine history. Then, the Marines trained Donnie to be a spy. For over two decades, Donnie served as an in-the-field counterintelligence agent all over the world. During the Vietnam War, he became a platoon leader. He served three tours in Vietnam, where he was wounded several times. He earned a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. In 1977, he retired with the rank of major. For most of his military career, he kept his life before the Marines a secret.
The secret he kept for all those years was that he had been a child actor. In 1937, four-year-old Donnie entered a talent show in which he sang and danced before a packed theater in Memphis, Tennessee. He won first place. Unbeknownst to Donnie and his family, a movie talent scout from Los Angeles was in the crowd. Within a few weeks, the talent scout tracked Donnie down and offered him a screen test for R.K.O. Studios. At the time, his poor parents, Warren Frederick and Louise Margaret Dunagan, were only bringing in about 25 cents per hour, and lived in a cheap, run down, one room apartment. With little to lose, Donnie and his parents boarded a train for Hollywood. If nothing else, they would have a grand adventure. The screen test went better than anyone expected, and R.K.O. signed Donnie to a contract. With that signed contract, Donnie became the breadwinner of the family and earned $1,000 per week, had a fine automobile, and an impressive home by any standards. After five years of studying scripts, dance practice, music practice, interviews, and promotional tours, the seven-year-old begged his mother, Louise, to allow him to stop working in the film business because he wanted to be a normal child. Donnie’s mother was saddened by her son’s request but agreed. Donnie retired from acting at the young age of seven while on a promotional tour in London.
When Donnie arrived in London, the world was engulfed in the Second World War. London was a major target of Nazi Germany. One day, as Donnie was in the care of his nanny, his parents were killed by a German bomb. Well, that was the story Donnie told the press in 2001 and may have been the story that he believed. In fact, in 1941, Donnie’s parents returned to Los Angeles and divorced. Donnie’s mother, Louise, remarried. She died in 1974. Louise’s second husband, Ralph M. LeMaster, died in 1977. Donnie’s father, Warren, died in 1980. Donnie’s parents and stepfather are all buried a few feet apart in the same cemetery, Grand View Memorial Park and Crematory in Glendale, California.
After his parents’ so-called death, Donnie went to live with his grandfather, Tom Johnson. They lived in poverty in Ireland and England. When his grandfather died in 1945, Donnie was returned to the United States and lived in multiple orphanages. In about 1948, the fourteen-year-old boy ran away. For five years, he worked whatever job he could to survive until he was drafted into the Marines.
The biggest secret that Donnie kept was his most notable film role. He acted in such films as “The Forgotten Woman,” “The Tower of London,” and the title character in “Son of Frankenstein.” His final, and most famous, role was for Walt Disney in 1941 when he provided the voice of Bambi.
Sources:
1. Carlsbad Current-Argus, July 29, 2001, p. 38.
2. “Warren F. Dunagan,” Find A Grave, accessed August 25, 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28800417/warren-f-dunagan.
3. “Louise D. LeMaster,” Find A Grave, accessed August 24, 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28800408/louise-d-lemaster.
4. “Ralph M. LeMaster,” Find A Grave, accessed August 24, 2025, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28800390/ralph-m-lemaster.