Born in Paris, Illinois, Carl Dean Switzer grew up as the youngest of four children in a musically inclined family; his early singing and instrumental skills led to an impromptu audition at Hal Roach Studios in 1934, where producer Hal Roach signed him and his brother Harold for the Our Gang short-subject series. Switzer’s “Alfalfa” character, distinguished by a cowlick and comic off-key singing,…
