Whatever happened to Little Oscar?

Remember "The Tin Drum"? It was a great movie based on a great book by Gunter Grass. Of course, the movie sticks in my mind better, but the story was about a kid, Little Oscar, born in Nazi Germany who, at the age of 3, decides he isn't going to grow up. He has a tin drum and screams as so to break glass.

But what is most amazing is a fact about David Bennent, the actor who played Little Oscar, that I did not realize until recently. David Bennent was just like Little Oscar in that he was a perfectly formed handsome dude who just stopped growing. What I didn't know was that just like Oscar who, at the end of WWII decided to start growing, Bennent didn't start growing until his career slowed down. He was 19 years old and 4'2" in 1985 when he played Gump in "Legend." After that film, things slowed for Bennent, but he started growing until he hit 5'9". Here's a recent pic of Bennent in Spike Lee's "She Hate Me."

Director Ridley Scott said he thought it was a psychological thing. Because Bennent's success was tied to being small, he didn't grow until he wasn't getting work for being small any more.