For nearly two decades most of us can remember tuning in to see the latest adventures of the most famous dog on TV – Lassie.
This much-loved Rough Collie dog and her human companions graced our screens for 17 seasons from 1954 to 1973 and even made the transition from black and white to color in the ’60s.
But who could forget the adorable little boy who joined the show in its fourth season when he and his family adopted Lassie – 7-year-old Timmy Martin.
Now Jon Provost, who played Timmy, has celebrated his 74th birthday and shares the joy he had filming with his four-legged friend and how he was discovered by Hollywood at just 3 years old.
The Los Angeles-born actor said when he was 3 years old he was taken to an audition for a Jane Wyman movie because his mom was a huge fan and hoped to get her autograph. But, out of the 200 kids auditioning for the part, Jon got it.
It was far from evident that Jon would become an actor. His father worked with something completely different – he was an aeronautical engineer.
”My parents weren’t Hollywood people. My father is from Alabama and my mother is from Texas,” Jon said.
At age 4, he landed a role in a Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby movie.
“I didn’t have an agent. I got one and that led to more movies like The Country Girl with Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly. I did about 12 movies before I started ‘Lassie’”, he told Fox News.
Three different Lassies
Recalling the bonds he formed with the three different male dogs that played the part of the female Lassie, Jon said he developed the biggest bond with the last dog to play Lassie.
“I did the show for seven years, 249 half-hour episodes. I worked with three different Lassies. The last dog I worked with, I worked with him for five years alone,” he told Fox News.
“We grew up together. For five years, we saw each other five days a week and sometimes on weekends.
Revealing how well behaved the dog was he added: “The actors made more mistakes than the dog. They were more of a problem,” he laughed.
After leaving the show at 14 years old he starred alongside the likes of Natalie Wood and Kurt Russell and never fell into the Hollywood child actor trap saying: “My parents let me pretty much do what I wanted to do. I didn’t have to take a job.
“When I left Hollywood, I thought it was good that I did.”
Today Jon lives out of the limelight in Northern California but still gets fan mail from his time in “Lassie”. In 1994, the actor received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Meanwhile, Lassie, the canine character, became so popular that she even had a “Lassie” riveting radio series.
Jon Provost wife
In 1979, Jon Provost tied the knot with Sandy Goosens. Together, they had two children, Ryan and Katie.
After being married for 14 years, the two divorced on December 20, 1993.
In 1999, Jon Provost found love again when he married Laurie Jacobson, a well-known researcher, and author.
I was such a fan of the adventures this sweet duo got up to. And with a moral to every episode, it was the perfect show for kids.
Please share with all the “Lassie” fans you know.
The First Active Duty Air Force Pilot To Compete To Be Miss America…
Madison Marsh is the young woman who just won 2023’s Miss Colorado pageant. She’s also an active-duty Air Force piIot who recently graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy, which means she will be the first-ever active-duty USAF pilot to compete for the Miss America pageant crown.
Marsh also recently appeared on FNC’s Fox & Friends Weekend to discuss her run for the pageant title and how the miIitary views her decision to go for the crown.
This year’s Miss America pageant has been going on since January 6, 2024.
And Marsh is not just a pilot and pageant contestant. Fox & Friends Weekend host Pete Hegseth, going over her impressive resume, said, “you’re a National Truman Scholar, two-time National Astronaut scholar, eight-time Dean’s List at the Air Force – three-times Superintendent’s List, a National Rhodes finaIist, certified private pilot, and a black belt in taekwondo, and you’re a graduate of the Kennedy School at Harvard.
Then, after they joked about how intimidated potentiaI suitors must be, Marsh turned to discussing why her story is one that is important and worth telling. Doing so, she told the hosts, Cause I started flying around 15, that’s whenever I kind of fell in love with the Air Force Academy and the idea of serving.
And so I walk through what that flight looks Iike and some of the things that went wrong and how they relate to me today as a leader and an officer, and kind of how that goes into pageantry as well.”
Leave a Reply