John Megna, who as a boy starred in Broadway plays and in the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird," died on Monday at Midway Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 42 and lived in Los Angeles.

The cause was AIDS, his family said.

Mr. Megna was born in New York City and graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., where he majored in performing arts. He made his acting debut as a 6-year-old in the Broadway musical "Greenwillow," by Frank Loesser.

He also appeared in the Broadway production of "All the Way Home," based on the novel by James Agee about the impact of a father's death on his family.

In the 1962 movie "To Kill a Mockingbird," based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about race relations and justice in the South, he played Dill, a neighbor and friend of Scout, the little girl patterned after the author.

Mr. Megna appeared in many other movies and television shows. He last acted in "Go Tell the Spartans," a 1978 movie starring Burt Lancaster.

Since then Mr. Megna has taught English, Spanish and history in Los Angeles public schools. He was the founding director of L.A. Arts, a nonprofit theater group in Los Angeles.

He is survived by two sisters, the actress Connie Stevens of Los Angeles and Ava Megna Bonamy of Pasadena, Calif., and a brother, Charles Ingolia of Las Vegas.

John A Megna