Posted by Tommy Kirk Cause of Death – Is Dead: Tommy Kirk, the entertainer known for playing Travis Coates in “Old Yeller” and a few other Disney films, was discovered dead in his Las Vegas home Tuesday. He was 79.
Kirk’s long-lasting companion Paul Petersen II posted the news on Facebook, expressing, “Kindly realize that Tommy Kirk cherished you, his fans.”
Kirk was brought into the world in Louisville, Ky. in 1941 and experienced childhood in Los Angeles County. He started going about as a teen, and showed up in a play at the Pasadena Playhouse, where he was found by a specialist who assisted him with making his screen debut in “The Last of the Old-Time Shooting Sheriffs,” a 1955 scene of “television Reader’s Digest.” From there, he showed up in scenes of a few TV series including “The Loretta Young Show” and “Gunsmoke.” His profile rose when he started to assume the part of Joe Hardy in the “Solid Boys” series “The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure” and “The Mystery of the Ghost Farm.”
In 1957, he was projected in “Old Yeller,” the Disney exemplary with regards to a kid and his canine. The film’s prosperity prompted a lot more Disney jobs for him. Outstandingly, he played Wilby in “The Shaggy Dog,” Ernst in “Swiss Family Robinson,” and Biff Hawk in “The Absent-Minded Professor” and its spin-off, “Child of Flubber.”
One of Kirk’s last large Disney jobs was “The Misadventures of Merlin Jones,” which was delivered in 1964. During the creation, while he was 21, he started seeing a 15-year-old kid, as indicated by interviews with Kirk. After discovering Kirk was gay, Disney decided not to reestablish his agreement.
He then, at that point, moved to American International Pictures and featured inverse Annette Funicello in “Pajama Party,” which prevailed in the cinema world, prompting one more AIP job in “How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.” Meanwhile, Disney welcomed him back for another film, “The Monkey’s Uncle,” a spin-off of “The Misadventures of Merlin Jones” because of the achievement of the main film.
In 1964, Kirk was captured on a cannabis charge and was likewise found to have barbiturates in his vehicle, however, the barbiturates were subsequently found to have been recommended by a specialist. In any case, these episodes made studios supplant him in a few of his impending jobs including “How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.”
Kirk openly came out as gay in 1973. He likewise chose to end his acting profession and confessed to having battled with substance addiction, which he talked on all through the remainder of his life, saying he didn’t fault studios for not having any desire to work with him.
To Kirk’s fans, he added, “You lifted him when an industry let him down in 1965. He was not unpleasant. His congregation ameliorated him. May God show leniency toward his spirit?”