"Old Yeller" star Tommy Kirk has died, Fox News can confirm. He was 79.
Kirk's "Old Yeller" co-star Beverly Washburn confirmed the actor passed away "peacefully" at his home in Las Vegas on Tuesday night, reports FOX News.
"He was so loved," Washburn told Fox News in a statement. "Anybody who has ever met Tommy can attest to the fact that he was so fan-friendly."
Kirk's long-time friend Paul Peterson shared a tribute to the actor on Facebook. Peterson also pointed out Kirk's love for his fans.
"Please know that Tommy Kirk loved you, his fans," Peterson wrote. "You lifted him up when an Industry let him down in 1965."
Kirk had acting success, but got his big break after being cast as Travis Coates in "Old Yeller." The actor went on to star as Disney's go-to All-American teenager in a handful of movies including "The Shaggy Dog" and "Swiss Family Robinson."
Kirk was born in Louisville, Ky. in 1941 and grew up in Los Angeles County. He began acting as a teenager, and appeared in a play at the Pasadena Playhouse, where he was discovered by an agent who helped him to make his screen debut in “The Last of the Old Time Shooting Sheriffs,” a 1955 episode of “TV Reader’s Digest.” From there, he appeared in episodes of several TV series including “The Loretta Young Show” and “Gunsmoke.” His profile rose when he began to play the role of Joe Hardy in the “Hardy Boys” series “The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure” and “The Mystery of the Ghost Farm.”
Kirk officially retired from acting by 2006.
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