Lassie (1954 TV series)

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Lassie
Tommy Rettig as "Jeff Miller" with Lassie (1955)
Genre	Children's television series
Starring	Tommy Rettig Jon Provost Robert Bray
Country of origin	USA
Production
Running time	24 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	1954 – 1974
Links
IMDb profile

Lassie was an American television series which originally aired from 1954 to 1974 on the CBS Network. It is seen in syndicated reruns as Jeff's Collie and Timmy and Lassie. The series was filmed in Black and White until CBS switched to color in 1964.

The star was Lassie, a Rough Collie, billed as "the world's most famous dog" and a fictional character who has starred in many movies, TV shows, and books over the years.

During the two decades of the 1954-1974 television series, Lassie's owners and her fictional situations changed. Jeff Miller (Tommy Rettig) and Timmy Martin (Jon Provost) were Lassie's first two masters. Both were farm boys helped out of frequent scrapes by their super-intelligent dog. Jan Clayton starred as Jeff's mother.

After Rettig finished four seasons, the child actor wanted to be released from his contract, and the story was written to have the Miller family give Lassie to the Martins in one of the most memorable episodes. Cloris Leachman played Timmy's mother, but was later replaced by June Lockhart, who had previously appeared in the movie Son of Lassie.

After Provost also outgrew the role, an adult master, Ranger Corey Stuart (Robert Bray) came, and, near the end of the series, Lassie struck out on her own, with no regular human master. Following its cancellation on CBS, it continued for another three seasons in first run syndication. Lassie was adopted by a combination ranch/orphanage.

The most recognizable Lassie theme song, "Whistle," was written by Les Baxter. ASCAP records suggest this theme was used on the show from 1958-1964, and then again in 1966 until the series ended. [1]

Classic Media currently owns the rights to the Lassie series, however Warner Bros. (through Turner Entertainment) holds the rights to the Lassie films made by MGM (see the main article for Lassie for more information on the character). Reruns of the 1954-1958 episodes starring Tommy Rettig were later syndicated as Jeff's Collie.

The TV series has since been revived twice, as the syndicated The New Lassie in 1989, set in Glenridge, California, with Will Estes playing opposite Lassie, and later a Canadian-produced Lassie, which aired on the Animal Planet network 1997-1998. Corey Sevier starred opposite Lassie, set in Hudson Falls, Vermont.

Lassie received Emmys in 1955 and 1956 for Best Children's Series and also was the recipient of the Peabody Award for excellence in 1956.

1 Memorable lines
2 Cast
3 See also
4 Compare with
5 External links

[edit] Memorable lines

"I think Lassie's trying to tell us something...what is it, girl?" Spoken by numerous characters after Lassie, anxious to alert her owners to a crisis, would begin running toward the calamity, and then stop, look back and bark.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Cast

The Miller family

Tommy Rettig as Jeff Miller (1954-1957)
Jan Clayton as Ellen Miller (1954-57)
George Cleveland as George (Gramps) Miller (1954-57)

The Martin family

Jon Provost as Timmy Martin (1957-1964)
Cloris Leachman as Ruth Martin (1957-58)
Jon Shepodd as Paul Martin (1957-1958)
June Lockhart as Ruth Martin (1958-64)
Hugh Reilly as Paul Martin (1958-1964)
George Chandler as Uncle Petrie (1957-64)

Other stars

Arthur Space as Doc Weaver (1954-1964)
Robert Bray as Corey Stuart (1964-1968)
Jack De Mave as Bob Erickson (1968-1969)
Jed Allan as Scott Turner (1968-1970)
Darwin Joston as Ed (1966, 1968)
Joey D. Vieira as Porky Brockway (1954-1958)

The role of Lassie was played by a succession of dogs descended from the Pal, owned by brothers animal trainers Frank and Rudd Weatherwax. Pal and Rudd Weatherwax are credited with making the role famous in the first Lassie movie, 1943's Lassie Come Home.