Former child actor Blake Garrett — whose film credits include a part in How to Eat Fried Worms — has died. He was 33 years old and passed away on Sunday.
Garrett’s mother, Carol Garrett, told TMZ of her son’s death on Monday and said the cause has not yet been determined. The family is waiting for autopsy results to establish what led to his passing.
Carol added that Blake had been living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the past three years. She said he visited an emergency room the week before his death complaining of severe pain and was later diagnosed with shingles.
According to Carol, Blake had worked on his sobriety in recent years and appeared to be doing better, but she suggested he might have tried to ease the pain on his own — a possibility she said could be connected to his death.
Blake began performing as a child, making his stage debut on the 2004 tour Barney’s Colorful World, Live!, which he stayed with for about 18 months. His first feature-film role came in 2006 when he appeared in the movie adaptation of How to Eat Fried Worms.
The comedy, adapted from Thomas Rockwell’s 1973 children’s book, follows a new boy named Billy (played by Luke Benward) who becomes the target of a school bully, Joe (Adam Hicks), and is challenged to eat 10 worms in a single day or suffer the consequences. Garrett played Plug, one of Joe’s sidekicks.
Speaking to The Oklahoman in 2006, Blake acknowledged that his character was one of the bully’s “henchmen,” but he emphasized that the cast got along well during filming.
He also recounted a behind-the-scenes memory about being among the few kids who knew how to ride a bicycle on set, which let him choose first from the bikes available. He remembered a scene filmed on a gravel road where the riders slid to a stop; during one take gravel struck a camera on the ground and the shot ended up being used in the final cut.
Following the movie’s release, Garrett and his fellow young cast members were honored with the Young Artist Award for Best Young Ensemble in a Feature Film in 2007.
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