Tommy Kirk

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For the Australian rugby league player, see Tommy Kirk (rugby league footballer).
Tommy Kirk

Tommy Kirk as Travis Coates in Old Yeller
Born Thomas Lee Kirk
December 10, 1941 (1941-12-10) (age 66)
Louisville, Kentucky

Thomas Lee Kirk, better known as Tommy Kirk (born December 10, 1941, in Louisville, Kentucky) is a former American child actor, and later a businessman and adult actor.

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[edit] Disney years

Kirk was discovered by talent agents at the age of thirteen in a production of Eugene O'Neill's "Ah, Wilderness!" at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California. Hired by Walt Disney Productions, he was cast as a clean-cut teenager in The Hardy Boys serial feature which was aired in the The Mickey Mouse Club television series in 1956 and 1957. Kirk played Joe Hardy opposite Tim Considine as older brother Frank Hardy in two serials: The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure (September 21, 1956 - February 1, 1957), based on the book The Tower Treasure, and the original story The Mystery of Ghost Farm (September 13 - December 20, 1957).[1]

Kirk went on to starring roles in a succession of successful Disney feature films, in both dramatic and comedic settings. He played Travis Coates in Old Yeller (1957), an adventure story about a boy and his heroic dog. He then played a dog himself in The Shaggy Dog (1959), a comedy about a boy inventor, Wilby Daniels, who is repeatedly transformed into an Old English Sheep Dog under the influence of a magic ring. He had a more straightforward role as middle son Ernst Robinson in another adventure film, Swiss Family Robinson (1960). Kirk then played the "scrambled egghead" student inventor Merlin Jones in two comedies, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964) and The Monkey's Uncle (1965). Other major Disney roles for Tommy Kirk included that of college student Biff Hawk in The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and its sequel, Son of Flubber (1963), and as Grumio in the fairy tale fantasy Babes in Toyland.

In several of these films, Kirk played the older brother of child actor Kevin Corcoran, better known as Moochie. Veteran actor Fred MacMurray starred in at least four of Tommy Kirk's films, The Shaggy Dog , The Absent-Minded Professor, Son of Flubber and Bon Voyage!. Annette Funicello played the girlfriend of Kirk's character in the two Merlin Jones films, and the girl Wilby passes over in The Shaggy Dog. MacMurray once reportedly gave Kirk "the biggest dressing-down of my life" during the filming of Bon Voyage!, which Kirk says he deserved.[2] His relationships with other actors produced more positive reactions. "Tommy played my brother in a lot of films and put up with a lot of things that I did to him over the years," Corcoran says in a commentary on the DVD release of Old Yeller. "He must be a great person not to hate me." Tim Considine calls Kirk "a monster talent".[2]

When Kirk's contract with Disney expired in 1963, however, the studio chose not to renew the contract upon the discovery that Kirk is gay. Walt Disney himself reportedly fired Kirk.[3] He was re-hired for the Merlin Jones sequel The Monkey's Uncle.

[edit] Post-Disney career

Kirk also played a part in several of the 1960s Beach Party film and teen movie genres, with appearances in American International Pictures' Pajama Party (taking Frankie Avalon's usual role with Annette Funicello, while Avalon played a Martian leader!) and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (opposite Deborah Walley), and later in the independent It's a Bikini World (paired again with Walley); and starred in Village of the Giants (1965). He co-starred with Vincent Price, Frankie Avalon, and Dwayne Hickman of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis television series in the mad scientist / beach party cult film Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine. In 1966 Kirk starred in The Unkissed Bride (Mother Goose a Go-Go). He costarred with "Batgirl" Yvonne Craig in AIP's Mars Needs Women, released in 1968. He appeared with Lyle Waggoner in Catalina Caper (1967), which along with Village of the Giants were eventually lampooned on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Kirk's career tapered off during the 1960s, hampered by the transition to adulthood, by drug use and "personal problems".[2] Eventually he left show business, gave up drugs and started his own successful business. He continued to act occasionally, however, including a role in the R-rated spoof Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold. He has, as of 2006, a total of more than thirty feature films roles to his credit.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Disney legend

Tommy Kirk was inducted as a Disney Legend in on October 9, 2006, alongside his old co-stars Tim Considine and Kevin Corcoran. His other repeat co-stars, Annette Funicello and Fred MacMurray, had already been inducted (in 1992 and 1987, respectively). Also in 2006, the first of Kirk's Hardy Boys serials was issued on DVD in the fifth "wave" of the Walt Disney Treasures series.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ TV - 1955 / 57 Disney Serials. Hardy-Boys.com. Retrieved on 2006-12-21.
  2. ^ a b c Tommy Kirk (Television & Film). Disney Legends. The Walt Disney Company (October, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-12-21.
  3. ^ Truesdell, Jeff (2000-01-27). The Fabulous Kingdom. Salon.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  4. ^ "Sir Elton John, Joe Ranft Headline Disney Legends Award", AWN Headline News, AWN Inc., October 9, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-10. 

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Kirk, Tommy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kirk, Thomas Lee
SHORT DESCRIPTION
DATE OF BIRTH 1941-12-10
PLACE OF BIRTH Louisville, Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages