How to Eat Fried Worms actor Blake Garrett has died. He was 33.
The former child star died on Sunday, February 8, Blake’s mother, Carol Garrett, told TMZ on Monday, February 9.
According to the outlet, Blake’s family is waiting for autopsy results from a medical examiner in Oklahoma to determine his cause of death.
Carol reportedly told the outlet that Blake visited an emergency room in Tulsa, Oklahoma, one week prior to his untimely and sudden death. The former actor had been living in Tulsa for three years after becoming sober. (Carol told TMZ that her son had “truly turned things around” when it came to his sobriety.)
Blake experienced “intense pain” when he went to the hospital and was later diagnosed with shingles, per the publication.
Us Weekly has reached out to Carol and Blake’s rep for comment.
Blake started acting in local productions as a child, including Aladdin and His Magical Lamp and Peanuts: A Charlie Brown Tribute. He later started touring at age 10 for the arena show Barney’s Colorful World International Tour.
He then made his video debut at the age of 11 in 2004’s Barney’s Colorful World, Live! a straight to VHS production.
Two years later, he starred in his first and only feature film, How to Eat Fried Worms, playing Plug, a friend of classroom bully Joe (Adam Hicks).
In the movie, new kid Billy (Luke Benward) accepts a challenge from bully Joe that he can eat 10 worms without throwing up. If successful, Billy will shift the class power dynamic.
“I play the bully’s henchman,” Blake told The Oklahoman in an August 2006 interview when he was 13 years old. “But everybody got along on the set.”
He recalled the set having “rows of bicycles” and that the cast and crew gave him “first pick.”
“There was one scene where we were riding on a gravel road and got to slide to a stop. The guys who could ride worked on that scene. They had a camera on the ground, and in one scene I slid and gravel hit the camera,” Blake shared. “They really liked that shot, and that’s the one they used in the movie.”
While Blake’s life on the big screen was short-lived, his role in How to Eat Fried Worms earned him a 2007 Young Artist Award. Blake and the rest of his cast won Best Young Ensemble in a Feature Film that year.
After filming the movie, Blake headed back to Edmond, Oklahoma, to finish out his time at Summit Middle School. Local news station News on 6 reported in 2006 that Blake was hoping to focus on sports and play cornerback or safety on the football team and possibly take part in wrestling.
