Carl Switzer, Who Played Alfalfa in ‘Our Gang,’ Was Murdered Over $50

Lauren Novak December 27, 2024

THE LITTLE RASCALS/OUR GANG COMEDIES, Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer, late 1930's. — Everett Collection

Carl Switzer was a child star best known for playing Alfalfa in the Little Rascals’ Our Gang series in the 1930s. Unfortunately, he suffered a tragic fate and was killed when he was only 31 years old on January 21, 1959, in a dispute over just $50 (which would be around $540 today).

Now, James Tehrani, author of Alfalfa—The Rascal You Knew, the Character You Never Knew, hopes to set the record straight on all of the rumors after doing a lot of research on the star, his life and death. Before he died, Switzer was far from the Hollywood icon he once was. He was working as a bartender and hunting dog trainer but also had several brushes with the law.

THERE'S ONE BORN EVERY MINUTE, Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer, 1942

Everett Collection

Tehrani explained that the dispute started during a hunting trip when Switzer was training a dog that belonged to Moses “Bud” Stiltz. Unfortunately, the dog went missing during the training, but Switzer put up a newspaper ad offering a $35 reward. When the dog was found, he paid the reward and bought drinks for the man who returned the dog. He then felt that Stiltz should pay him back for the $50 he spent, as he was having money troubles.

Switzer and his friend Jack Piott went to Stiltz’s home to get the money back. It was there that things got dicey, and the confrontation escalated. Tehrani found out that Stiltz shot Switzer but claimed it was self-defense. Switzer’s last words were reportedly, “What did you shoot me for?” Ultimately, a jury ruled the incident a justifiable homicide, leaving lingering questions about what truly happened that night.

THE ROY ROGERS SHOW, from left, six-time guest Carl Switzer (aka Alfalfa Switzer), Roy Rogers, Walt Oliver, ca. 1952-55

Everett Collection

Tehrani concluded, “There’s a myth out there that after he left the Our Gang series, he disappeared from Hollywood. To some degree, that is true. He didn’t have the biggest parts after the Our Gang series, but he was either in a TV show or film every year until right before he died in 1959. Look at It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s a film people watch every year around the holidays … He had a role there. He wasn’t credited with it, but he was in the great dance scene, and he was dancing with Donna Reed … He was in The Defiant Ones and The 10 Commandments, two important films. He deserves to be recognized. He was one of the most famous child actors of the 1930s, and arguably one of the most well-known of all time … Was he a perfect person? No, he did do some things that were not so great that I talked about in the book. But he was also a child put in a very tough situation.”