Eugene Jackson, III (December 25, 1916 – October 26, 2001) was an African American former child actor who was a regular of the Our Gang short series during the silent Pathé era. When he joined the gang, Jackson, who replaced the series' very first member, Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison, was nicknamed Pineapple because of his haircut's similarity to the shape of the pineapple fruit.
Starred in Hearts in Dixie (1929), one of the first all-talkie, big-studio production to boast a predominately African-American cast. Jackson also played "Gabriel" in Shenandoah, and starred in classic television programs like Emergency!, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Columbo, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Mork and Mindy, as well as the more recent Hearts Afire, Hunter, Cheers, Hill Street Blues, and Seinfeld.
Jackson died of a heart attack in Compton, California on October 26, 2001. He was 84.
Eugene Jackson gained fame as Farina's older brother, Pineapple, in six of Hal Roach's "Our Gang" serials - "The Mysterious Mystery", "The Big Town", "Circus Fever", "Dog Days", "The Love Bug" and "Shootin Injuns". Besides films he sang and danced on the vaudeville circuit - billed as "Hollywood's most famous colored kid star". Most of his film roles were bit parts, most uncredited. He did appear as Diahann Carroll's Uncle Lou on TV's "Julia" and Redd Foxx's friend on "Sanford and Son". In later years he taught dance at studios he started in Compton and Pasadena. He trained several performers in the 1959 film Porgy and Bess. His work was featured in a dance retrospective for the 1993 Los Angeles Festival.
