Former child actor Tommy Kirk, of ‘Old Yeller’ fame, dies age 79

Tommy Kirk, best known for his portrayal of Travis Coates in Disney’s “Old Yeller,” has died at age 79.

Kirk’s neighbor found the former child actor dead in his Las Vegas home around 8 p.m. Tuesday, police told TMZ. No foul play is suspected.

Besides “Old Yeller,” the story of the bond between a boy and his beloved dog, Kirk appeared in “Swiss Family Robinson” and numerous other series during a prolific career as a child and teen actor. Discovered as a 13-year-old playing opposite Will Rogers Jr. in the play “Ah, Wilderness,” he was eventually cast in “The Mickey Mouse Club.”

It was “Old Yeller” in 1957 that put him on the map. The timeless tear-jerker has moved generations of audiences, with rabid fans continuing to sings its praises. All 21 critics reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are positive, and in 2019, the film was selected for preservation into the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

The star was allegedly dumped from Disney at age 21 for being gay, according to reports cited by TMZ.

“When I was about 17 or 18 years old, I finally admitted to myself that I wasn’t going to change,” Kirk once said, according to TMZ. “I didn’t know what the consequences would be, but I had the definite feeling that it was going to wreck my Disney career and maybe my whole acting career. It was all going to come to an end. Eventually, I became involved with somebody, and I was fired.”

Another former child star, Paul Petersen — who founded the group A Minor Consideration, which advocates for child actors — said on Facebook that “Tommy was gay and estranged from what remains of his blood-family.”

Still, Kirk didn’t let that get him down, wrote Petersen, best known for his role in “The Donna Reed Show.”

“Please know that Tommy Kirk loved you, his fans,” Petersen said. “You lifted him up when an Industry let him down in 1965. He was not bitter. His church comforted him.”