Thomas Lee Tommy Kirk (December 10, 1941 – September 28, 2021) was an American actor and businessman.
He was best known for his work with the Disney Studios.
Tommy Kirk | |
---|---|
Born | Thomas Lee Kirk December 10, 1941 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
Died | September 28, 2021 | (aged 79)
Occupation | Actor/businessman |
Years active | 1955–2001 |
Parent(s) | Louis and Lucy Kirk |
Kirk's Disney career began in 1956 when he played Joe Hardy in The Mickey Mouse Club serial The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure. The Disney movies Old Yeller (1957), The Shaggy Dog (1959), and Swiss Family Robinson (1960) made him a popular teen star.
The Disney Studios dropped Kirk's contract when a woman complained to the Studio about the young actor's relationship with her 15 year old son. He went to American International Pictures. He appeared in their low-budget teen movies such as Pajama Party and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.
Kirk was arrested for drug possession on Christmas Eve 1964. In 1970, he retired from movies and sought help for his dependency issues. He ran his own carpet and upholstery cleaning business. He wrote, and sometimes acted. Kirk became a Disney Legend on October 9, 2006.
Kirk is openly gay. He was interviewed by the National Enquirer of January 2013 and said: "I don't blame anybody but myself and my drug abuse for my career going haywire. I'm not ashamed of being gay, never have been, and never will be. For that I make no apologies. I have no animosity toward anybody because the truth is, I wrecked my own career."
Kirk was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He died at his Las Vegas, Nevada home on September 28, 2021 at the age of 79.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia Simple English article Tommy Kirk, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license ("CC BY-SA 3.0"); additional terms may apply (view authors). Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
®Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wiki Foundation, Inc. Wiki Simple English (DUHOCTRUNGQUOC.VN) is an independent company and has no affiliation with Wiki Foundation.