Jon Provost

Forever associated with a heroic TV collie whom he frequently had his arms lovingly wrapped around, blond tyke Jon Provost actually was a veteran performer by the time he won the role of "Timmy Martin" at age seven in the series Lassie (1954). Los Angeles born (March 12, 1950) and bred, Jon was just three years old when he was cast as Jane Wyman and Sterling Hayden's son in the film So Big (1953). He proceeded with The Country Girl (1954) as Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly's son, Back from Eternity (1956) starring Anita Ekberg, and co-starred in Escapade in Japan (1957), which featured an unknown (and unbilled) Clint Eastwood. And then came Lassie (1954). Teenager Tommy Rettig, as Lassie's original young master "Jeff Miller", had become too old to be romping around with his dog after three seasons. In 1957, the producers had him moving away to college and his entire family sold the farm to a brand new clan -- the Martins and their 7-year-old son, Timmy. Timmy's parents were played by rang