Most of us can recall tuning in for nearly 20 years to follow Lassie, the most well-known dog on TV, on his most recent exploits. From 1954 to 1973, this beloved Rough Collie dog and her human companions graced our television screens for 17 seasons, even making the switch from black and white to color in the 1960s.
However, who could forget the adorable youngster, Timmy Martin, age 7, who made an appearance on the show in the fourth season when he and his family adopted Lassie. According to Wikipedia, actor Jon Provost, who played Timmy, recently celebrated his 72nd birthday and talked about how much fun it was to film with his dog and how Hollywood first noticed him when he was just 3 years old.
The actor, who was raised in Los Angeles, claimed that when he was 3 years old, his mother took him to an audition for a Jane Wyman movie so he could meet her and ask for an autograph. But Jon was chosen for the role out of the 200 young people who auditioned. The future of Jon as an actor was far from certain. His father was an aeronautical engineer, which meant that he dealt with completely different things. “My parents weren’t associated with the entertainment industry. According to Jon, my mother is from Texas and my father is from Alabama.
He was cast in a Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby movie when he was just 4 years old.
I was unrepresented. I got one, which led to more films like The Country Girl with Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly. Prior to ‘Lassie,’ I worked on about 12 films, he told Fox News. Three different male dogs who played the role of the female Lassie were the three different male dogs with whom Jon developed bonds; of the three, he said he had the closest relationship with the final actor.
CBS/Getty Images “I worked on the program for seven years, producing 249 half-hour episodes.
Three different Lassies and I worked together.
He told Fox News, “I worked with the last dog for five years by myself.
“We shared a childhood.
We saw each other every day on weekdays for five years, and occasionally on weekends as well.