Tommy Rettig

Actor

About

Read More

Also Known As

Thomas Noel Rettig, Tom Rettig

Birth Place

Queens, New York, USA

Born

December 10, 1941

Died

February 15, 1996

Biography

Read More

American child star of stage, screen, radio, and TV who reached a career peak as Jeff Miller, the first young master of CBS-TV's "Lassie" from 1954-57. Rettig started performing at age six, touring with Mary Martin in "Annie Get Your Gun." He started in films at ten with a small role in Elia Kazan's medical crime drama, "Panic in the Streets" (1950), and went on to amass 20 feature credi...

Filmography

Read More

The Story of Lassie (1994)

The Last Wagon (1956)

The Cobweb (1955)

At Gunpoint (1955)

River of No Return (1954)

The Egyptian (1954)

Photos & Videos

View All

5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T -- (Movie Clip) Go Back To Your Cell!

5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T (1953) -- (Movie Clip) Not My Instrument

Biography

American child star of stage, screen, radio, and TV who reached a career peak as Jeff Miller, the first young master of CBS-TV's "Lassie" from 1954-57. Rettig started performing at age six, touring with Mary Martin in "Annie Get Your Gun." He started in films at ten with a small role in Elia Kazan's medical crime drama, "Panic in the Streets" (1950), and went on to amass 20 feature credits over the course of the 1950s in films directed by such luminaries as Douglas Sirk ("Weekend With Father" 1951), Michael Curtiz ("The Egyptian" 1954), Otto Preminger ("River of No Return" 1954), and Vincente Minnelli ("The Cobweb" 1955). The film for which he will probably always be remembered is one of the quirkiest children's films ever made--"The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T." (1953).

Scripted by Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, the semi-musical cult film presented Rettig as the day-dreaming son of a single mother who so deeply resents his daily piano lesson that he escapes into a surreal world that allows him to act out his frustrations. Retting brought an admirably straight-faced sincerity to the decidedly odd goings-on. He gained fame playing another boy without a father in "Lassie," in stories that were fairly conventional but heartwarming tales of canine heroism. Jon Provost's Timmy was the first of many people who inherited the wonder dog after Retting aged out of the part.

Retting failed to make the transition to adult roles and retired with his wife to a California farm. His name resurfaced several times over the 70s in relation to drug arrests, convictions, appeals, and dropped charges. Rettig went on to work as a computer programmer and drug addiction counselor and periodically popped up in specials about grown-up child stars and profiles of Lassie until his death in 1996.

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

The Story of Lassie (1994)

The Last Wagon (1956)

The Cobweb (1955)

At Gunpoint (1955)

River of No Return (1954)

The Egyptian (1954)

The Raid (1954)

The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953)

The Lady Wants Mink (1953)

Ritchie Connors

Dirk DeJong, age 8

Gobs and Gals (1952)

The Strip (1951)

Elopement (1951)

Weekend with Father (1951)

Two Weeks with Love (1950)

For Heaven's Sake (1950)

The Jackpot (1950)

Panic in the Streets (1950)

Cast (Special)

Lassie Unleashed: 280 Dog Years in TV (1994)

A Salute to America's Pets (1991)

When We Were Young... Growing Up on the Silver Screen (1989)

Life Events

1947

Acting debut at age six, touring with Mary Martin in the popular musical "Annie Get Your Gun" (date apoproximate)

1950

Feature acting debut at nine, Elia Kazan's "Panic in the Streets"

1953

Starring role in a feature, "The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T", a children's fantasy scripted by Dr. Seuss

1954

Starred as Jeff Miller, the first young master on the classic children's series "Lassie"

1956

Last feature credit, "The Last Wagon"

1972

Arrested for growing marijuana

1975

Arrested on charges of smuggling cocaine and sentenced to five years in federal prison; charges dropped after an appeal

1980

Charges dropped for another drug-related indictment after an appeal

1989

Returned to TV as an interview subject on "When We Were Young . . . Growing Up on the Silver Screen", a PBS documentary special

1994

Featured in the PBS special "The Story of Lassie"

1994

Featured in the ABC special "Lassie Unleashed: 280 Dog Years in TV"

Videos

5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T -- (Movie Clip) Go Back To Your Cell! Mom (Mary Healy) and the plumber (Peter Lind Hayes) chat as Bart (Tommy Rettig) dreams his way into the world run by his evil piano teacher (Hans Conried) in the "Dr. Seuss" movie, The 5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T, 1953.

5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T (1953) -- (Movie Clip) Not My Instrument Strangeness right from the top, the opening to the only movie ever written by "Dr. Seuss" (Ted Geisel), The 5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T, 1953, starring Hans Conried and Tommy Rettig, directed by Roy Rowland.

5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T -- (Movie Clip) Beat The Bushes! Dr. T (Hans Conried) panics as Bart (Tommy Rettig) has escaped, his enslaved mother (Mary Healy) helping search, thugs chasing, in the only movie written by "Dr. Seuss" (Ted Geisel), The 5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T. 1953.

5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T -- (Movie Clip) Dungeon For Scratchy Violins Fleeing Bart (Tommy Rettig) has come upon the "Dungeon For Scratchy Violins" (etc.) and a big musical number as staged by Eugene Loring, in director Roy Rowland's "Dr. Seuss" movie, The 5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T, 1953.

5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T -- (Movie Clip) One Extra Boom Busted by the singing guards, Bart (Tommy Rettig) and August (Peter Lind Hayes) are ushered to the elevator by Dr. T (Hans Conried), where the attendant (Alan Aric) does a strange song, in The 5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T, 1953.

Panic In The Streets (1950) -- (Movie Clip) In Case It Is Something Remarkable intimate family scene though still expository, Elia Kazan directing from Daniel Fuchs’ screenplay, we’ve just met Richard Widmark who’s a dad and public health officer in probably-New Orleans, and Barbara Bel Geddes his wife, when he’s called in on a rare day off, after an unwell immigrant was shot and dumped in the opening scenes, early in Panic In The Streets, 1950.

River Of No Return (1954) -- (Movie Clip) Looking For My Dad Young Mark (Tommy Rettig) is doing odd jobs at a Northwestern gold camp circa 1875 when his father Matt (Robert Mitchum) at last finds him, then gets introduced to showgirl Kay (Marilyn Monroe), early in Otto Preminger's River Of No Return, 1954.

River Of No Return (1954) -- (Movie Clip) On It Or Under It Recently re-united on their frontier farm (shot on location in Alberta), Calder (Robert Mitchum) and son Mark (Tommy Rettig) are checking out the natives when acquaintances Harry (Rory Calhoun) and Kay (Marilyn Monroe) ride up on a raft, in Otto Preminger's River Of No Return, 1954.

River Of No Return (1954) -- (Movie Clip) She's A Strong Girl Unhappy traveling partners Kay (Marilyn Monroe) and Calder (Robert Mitchum), along with his son Mark (Tommy Rettig), forced to run the generally not-navigable river, trouble and bonding ensuing, in Otto Preminger's River Of No Return, 1954.

Two Weeks With Love - (Original Trailer) Two sisters (Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds) find romance during a turn-of-the-century family vacation in MGM's Technicolor musical Two Weeks With Love (1950).

Weekend With Father - (Teaser trailer) Love blooms when two single parents (Van Heflin, Patricia Neal) send their children off to camp in Weekend with Father (1951).

5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, The - (Teaser Trailer) A young boy dreams that his piano teacher (Hans Conreid) is a super-villain out to rule the world. The first movie based on the wild imagination of Dr. Seuss.

Strip, The - (Original Trailer) Mickey Rooney plays a jazz drummer fighting to clear his name when he's accused of killing a racketeer in The Strip (1951).

So Big (1953) - (Original Trailer) Jane Wyman and Sterling Hayden star in Robert Wise's adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel So Big (1953).

River of No Return - (Original Trailer) A frontier farmer takes off with his son and a saloon singer after the man who stole his rifle and his horse in River of No Return (1954).

For Heaven's Sake - (Original Trailer) An angel's earthly mission takes a wrong turn when he falls in love with mortal life in For Heaven's Sake (1950).

Panic in the Streets - (Original Trailer) A killer evades the police not knowing he has a deadly plague in Panic in the Streets (1950).

Bibliography

By using this site, you agree to our updated Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use