Kevin Corcoran was a popular child actor known for his roles in several of Walt Disney’s live-action productions. As an adult, he became a prolific television producer and assistant director .
As a performer, Corcoran is best remembered for his role as Arliss Coates in the 1957 Disney drama Old Yeller. He played the younger brother to Tommy Kirk’s Travis Coates in the tearjerking take on the boy-and-his-dog classic. He played the younger brother to Kirk four more times: in the films The Shaggy Dog, Swiss Family Robinson, Babes in Toyland and Savage Sam. He also appeared in the films The Rabbit Trap, Pollyanna and A Tiger Walks.
Corcoran first worked for Disney in 1956, at the age of six, when he appeared on the Mickey Mouse Club serial Adventure in Dairyland playing Moochie, a character he reprised in two more Disney series, Further Adventures of Spin and Marty and The New Adventures of Spin and Marty. He later performed in 13 episodes of Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
In addition to his Disney resume, he had roles on the television series December Bride, Wagon Train, The Littlest Hobo and My Three Sons.
He began his career at the age of four, in an uncredited role in the film The Glenn Miller Story, starring James Stewart. His father worked at MGM as a studio policeman and heard that children were needed to play extra roles, which gave Corcoran and all seven of his siblings work in film. He retired from performing at the age of 15 and later went to California State University, where he studied theater arts.
After completing his education, he returned to Disney as an assistant producer, and went on to work an assistant director, contributing to such television series as Herbie, the Love Bug; Scarecrow and Mrs. King; Whiz Kids; Simon & Simon; Baywatch; Quantum Leap; Over My Dead Body; Murder, She Wrote; Columbo; Profiler; Providence; Karen Sisco and Crossing Jordan. His credits as a producer included many of the same shows, as well as the FX network dramas The Shield and Sons of Anarchy.
Corcoran died October 6, 2015, in Burbank, California. He was 66.