Tommy Rettig

Age: 54 (passed away Feb. 15th, 1996)
Height: 5' 4"

Birth Place: Queens, New York, USA
Born: Dec. 10th, 1941

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Tommy Rettig's Main TV Roles

Show	Character(s)
Lassie	Jeff Miller
The Man From Blackhawk	Pierre
Many Happy Returns	Eddie
Never Too Young	Jo-Jo
The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse	Johnny (2)

NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at IMDB

BIOGRAPHY:

Tommy was a successful child actor in 1954 when he was chosen out of a field of 500 to play Jeff Miller in the TV series "Lassie" (1954). He was with the show for four years, after which Lassie acquired a whole new family. Later Tommy had a troubled life; he could not land adult roles, and had major setbacks, including drug arrest and conviction, bankruptcy and divorce.

TRIVIA:

Father to actor 'Mason Storm (I)' (qv).
More than anything else, due to his shortness in height (5' 4"), his adult career never panned out.
TV folklore has it that when the producers had narrowed the casting down to three boy juveniles for the part of Lassie's young master, they allowed Lassie herself to make the final decision. Supposely the dog walked straight over to Tommy and affectionately nuzzled the boy, thus winning him the role.
After appearing with Mary Martin in "Annie Get Your Gun" for 22 months, Tommy was offered more stage roles, including "Peter Pan" and "The Member of the Wedding," the latter play made famous by Brandon de Wilde. His strong-willed mother, however, decided Tommy should go for the movies. Ironically, Tommy won the boy role on "Lassie" after de Wilde turned it down.
Was Marilyn Monroe's youngest date ever when he escorted her to the premiere of "River of No Return" in 1954.
For the last ten or so years of his life (starting 1984, maybe earlier), Tom was a computer software developer working on business application frameworks. He was regarded as one of the experts; a software guru in the area of desktop PC database applications such as dBase. At the time of his untimely death, he was a central figure in the community of FoxPro database developers and his passing was felt professionally and personally by many who had come to know Tom as a visionary and as generous mentor.

Tommy Rettig Photos

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