Nolan Splavec

Nolan Kyle Splavec (April 1, 1974 - March 19, 1988) was an American child actor, voice actor, singer, and songwriter who was best known for portraying Billy Campbell on the sitcom A New Kind of Family from 1979 - 1987.

Splavec was born on April 1, 1974 in Los Angeles, California to musician Bradley Splavec and elementary school teacher Jenny Splavec. He started his career in 1977 when he was in many commercials, including one for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes. He appeared as Billy Campbell in the TV series A New Kind of Family from 1978 to 1987. Splavec was just 3 years old when he first started acting. Splavec portrayed Little Stan Kurtz in the psychological horror film The Creepy Man (1981). He had also guest starred on several television shows such as Diff'rent Strokes, Charlie's Angels, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Magnum P.I., Murder She Wrote, MacGyver, and Dynasty. In 1983, Splavec got abused by his father, because he said something bad, he threatened Splavec with a gun, Bradley said to him, If you say anything, I will blow your brains out, you little bastard. At that time, Splavec thought it was just a joke, but he knew that it wasn't, his father really did it and this made him cry. After that incident, his father went away for some months, then he came back again. Some people thought Bradley was jealous of him because Splavec was more popular than him.

On March 19, 1988, while Splavec was asleep, Bradley came into Splavec's room and shot him in the head with a .22 caliber pistol. The bullet entered through his right temple and exited through his left cheek. Splavec died instantly. Jenny came into Splavec's room and tried to wake him up, he was dead. Bradley came up to Jenny and shot her in the chest. She bled to death right there on the bed. Bradley attempted to burn their bodies, but it didn't work. On the day after their murders. Bradley shot himself in the head, to get away from being put in jail. Their neighbor came inside the house and saw them lying on the floor and called 911. Splavec and his mother were buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Hollywood Hills West Section, Los Angeles, California.