Tommy, or Thomas Noel Rettig, was an American child star, best remembered for his role as the honest and upright farm boy ‘Jeff Miller’ in the series ‘Lassie.’ He was also a well-known computer software engineer and an author. Born in New York, he entered the acting profession at 6, with a role in the play ‘Annie Get Your Gun.’ After touring with the drama company, he moved to California with his family and worked in a number of movies, including ‘Weekend with Father,’ ‘So Big,’ ‘River of No Return,’ and ‘The 5,000 fingers of Dr. T.’ After his memorable role in ‘Lassie,’ he worked in a few series but did not achieve much success in his adult career. Rettig tried several occupations, but his failure led to drug habits and legal issues for the use of recreational drugs. Later, he turned vegetarian and also became a motivational speaker. This got him interested in personal computers. Soon, he became a renowned database programmer and an expert in programming languages. He had two sons from his wife, Darlene. They divorced later. Rettig died of a heart attack at 54.