Tommy Rettig (also known as Tom Rettig) (December 10 1941 – February 15 1996) was an American child actor and computer software engineer and author. Rettig is probably best remembered for starring as character Jeff Miller in the first four seasons of the Lassie television series, from roughly 1954 to 1957.
Born Thomas Noel Rettig to Elias and Rosemary Rettig in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York, he started his career at age six, touring 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 20 feature films including The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (written by Dr. Seuss) and The River of No Return with Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum. It was his work with a dog in that film and contact with animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax that led to his audition for the Lassie television series.
As an adult, Rettig preferred to be called "Tom". Some years after he left acting he eventually became a motivational speaker, which led him 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. Oddly, many computer people who read his books and articles or used Rettig's software products did not realize he was a former child star.
Rettig had several well-publicized legal entanglements relating to illegal recreational drug use (marijuana and cocaine) and was also critical of the treatment of child actors. He reportedly received no residual payments although his work in the Lassie series was syndicated and widely shown under the name Jeff's Collie .
Tom Rettig did a guest appearance in an episode of the 1989 television series The New Lassie which aired on October 25 1991. The series also 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 untimely death at age 54 (of natural causes), his memorial service in Marina del Rey, California was attended by Roger Clinton and perhaps 10 other former child stars who were featured in a photo spread in The National Enquirer.
External links
