Thomas Noel "Tommy" Rettig played "Jeff
Miller" in the first three seasons of CBS's Lassie television series, from
1954–1957, later seen in syndicated re-runs as Jeff's Collie. 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.
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) 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, even though it 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.
He found the transition from child star difficult, and had
several well-publicized legal entanglements relating to illegal recreational
drugs (a conviction for growing marijuana on his farm, and a cocaine possession
charge that he was exonerated of). Some years after he left acting, he became a
motivational speaker, which—through work on computer mailing lists—led to
involvement in the early days of personal computers.
For the last 15 years
of his life, Rettig was a well-known database programmer, author, and expert. He died at fifty-four of a heart attack.
