Tommy Rettig
Tommy Rettig
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He also co-starred with another former child actor, Tony Dow, in the mid-1960s television teen soap opera Never Too Young and recorded the song by that title with the group The TR-4.
Rettig was born to a Jewish father, Elias Rettig, and a Christian mother, Rosemary Nibali, in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York. He started his career at age six, on tour with Mary Martin in the play Annie Get Your Gun in which he played Little Jake.
Before his famous role as Jeff Miller in the first Lassie television series, Rettig also appeared in about 18 feature films including So Big, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (written by Dr. Seuss) and River of No Return with Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum. Rettig later told of a warm personal friendship with Monroe, who was more reserved in the company of older males.
It was his work with a dog in The 5000 Fingers Of Dr. T. that led animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax to urge him to audition for the Lassie role, for which Weatherwax supplied the famous collies.
Rettig later told interviewers that he longed for a life as a normal teenager, and after four seasons, was able to get out of his contract. He was also critical of the treatment and compensation of child actors of his day. He reportedly received no residual payments from his work in the Lassie series although his work was syndicated and widely shown under the name Jeff's Collie.
He graduated in 1959 from University High School in Los Angeles. In 1964–1965, he co-starred with another former child actor, Tony Dow, in the ABC television soap opera for teens, Never Too Young. With the group "The TR-4", he recorded the song by that title on the "Velvet Tone" label.
As an adult, Rettig preferred to be called "Tom". He found the transition from child star to be difficult, and had several well-publicized legal entanglements relating to illegal recreational drugs (a conviction for growing marijuana on his farm and a charge for cocaine of which he was exonerated). Some years after he left acting, he became a motivational speaker, which led him while working on mailing lists to get involved in the early days of personal computers.
For the last 15 years of his life, Rettig was a very well-known database software author and expert. He was a very early employee of Ashton-Tate, and specialized in (sequentially) dBASE, Clipper, FoxBASE and finally FoxPro. Rettig moved to Marina del Rey in the late 1980s.
Rettig made a guest appearance in an episode of the later television series The New Lassie, with Jon Provost, which aired on October 25, 1991. The series featured appearances from two other Lassie veterans, Roddy McDowall, who had starred in the first movie Lassie Come Home (1943) and June Lockhart, who had starred in the 1945 movie Son of Lassie, and the television series (as Timmy's mother in the years after Rettig left the show).
After his death at the age of fifty-four of a heart attack, his memorial service in Marina del Rey, California was attended by Roger Clinton, Jr., the half-brother of then U.S. President Bill Clinton, and several former child stars who were featured in a photo spread in The National Enquirer.
Rettig was born to a Jewish father, Elias Rettig, and a Christian mother, Rosemary Nibali, in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York. He started his career at age six, on tour with Mary Martin in the play Annie Get Your Gun in which he played Little Jake.
Before his famous role as Jeff Miller in the first Lassie television series, Rettig also appeared in about 18 feature films including So Big, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (written by Dr. Seuss) and River of No Return with Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum. Rettig later told of a warm personal friendship with Monroe, who was more reserved in the company of older males.
It was his work with a dog in The 5000 Fingers Of Dr. T. that led animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax to urge him to audition for the Lassie role, for which Weatherwax supplied the famous collies.
Rettig later told interviewers that he longed for a life as a normal teenager, and after four seasons, was able to get out of his contract. He was also critical of the treatment and compensation of child actors of his day. He reportedly received no residual payments from his work in the Lassie series although his work was syndicated and widely shown under the name Jeff's Collie.
He graduated in 1959 from University High School in Los Angeles. In 1964–1965, he co-starred with another former child actor, Tony Dow, in the ABC television soap opera for teens, Never Too Young. With the group "The TR-4", he recorded the song by that title on the "Velvet Tone" label.
As an adult, Rettig preferred to be called "Tom". He found the transition from child star to be difficult, and had several well-publicized legal entanglements relating to illegal recreational drugs (a conviction for growing marijuana on his farm and a charge for cocaine of which he was exonerated). Some years after he left acting, he became a motivational speaker, which led him while working on mailing lists to get involved in the early days of personal computers.
For the last 15 years of his life, Rettig was a very well-known database software author and expert. He was a very early employee of Ashton-Tate, and specialized in (sequentially) dBASE, Clipper, FoxBASE and finally FoxPro. Rettig moved to Marina del Rey in the late 1980s.
Rettig made a guest appearance in an episode of the later television series The New Lassie, with Jon Provost, which aired on October 25, 1991. The series featured appearances from two other Lassie veterans, Roddy McDowall, who had starred in the first movie Lassie Come Home (1943) and June Lockhart, who had starred in the 1945 movie Son of Lassie, and the television series (as Timmy's mother in the years after Rettig left the show).
After his death at the age of fifty-four of a heart attack, his memorial service in Marina del Rey, California was attended by Roger Clinton, Jr., the half-brother of then U.S. President Bill Clinton, and several former child stars who were featured in a photo spread in The National Enquirer.
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