Timmy Martin - Role in Lassie

Role in Lassie

In the opener of the fourth season, "The Runaway" fictional midwestern farm family Ellen Miller (Jan Clayton), her son Jeff (Tommy Rettig), and her father-in-law, George Miller (George Cleveland), discover a seven-year-old tattered runaway hiding in their barn. Timmy, they later learn, has fled his aged and ill relatives, believing he is a burden on their slim resources. Ellen contacts the boy's relatives and a social worker, and all agree Timmy would benefit from a summer on the farm.

Midway in the fourth season, Ellen sells the farm to a young couple, Ruth and Paul Martin (Cloris Leachman and Jon Shepodd), after the death of her father-in-law. The Martins adopt Timmy, and Jeff leaves Lassie on the farm with Timmy when he moves to the city, knowing the dog could never adjust to life in a busy city. Leachman and Shepodd would finish the fourth season and then be dropped. Their characters would be played thereafter by Hugh Reilly and June Lockhart. During the years that Reilly and Lockhart were on the show, the writers phased out all mention of Timmy being adopted, leading new viewers to believe that June Lockart and Hugh Reilly played Timmy's real parents.

In the fourth season episode, "The Ring", Paul's uncle Petrie (George Chandler) joins the cast but proved unpopular with the audience and left the show in the fifth season.

An attempt was made (but failed) to pair Timmy with a pal his own age. Kelly Junge, Jr. played Scott Richards through the last half of the fourth season but did not return for the fifth. Todd Ferrell as Ralph "Boomer" Bates, a chubby, beanie-wearing character, entered the show to recreate something of the popular Jeff and Porky friendship from the Miller years. "Boomer" never became an audience favorite and was dropped at the end of the fifth season. Thereafter, Timmy never had another steady chum on the show though classmate Wilhelmina "Willy" Brewster (Linda Wrather, 1957–1961, daughter of the show's producers Jack Wrather and Bonita Granville Wrather), made several appearances.

In 1959, veteran actor and comedian Andy Clyde was cast in the show's "grandfatherly" role of Cully Wilson, an eccentric farmer, nature lover, and Martin family neighbor. Timmy and Cully were scripted into many adventures together, and Cully became one of Timmy's several adult friends that included Fire Chief Ed Washburne (Dick Foran), veterinarian Doc Weaver (Arthur Space), telephone operator Jenny (Florence Lake), and Sheriff Miller (Robert Foulk). Cully was a hit and, as a result, producers curtailed Paul's presence in the series, fearing two adult males on the show would overwhelm the audience.

As the series aged and environmental issues became a real-life concern across America, producers introduced the subject into the show at the request of the United States Forestry Service. Characters on the show were placed in situations concerning such issues. Timmy and Cully, for example, protest the proposed construction of a road through a pristine forested area. In other episodes, Timmy spearheads a classroom tree planting project called Operation Woodland, he traps and relocates (rather than kills), the beavers wreaking havoc with a local waterway, he builds bluebird nesting boxes, and feeds wildlife during severe winter weather.

In 1963, the multi-part episode, "The Journey" was edited into a feature film called Lassie's Great Adventure. The show's three principal human stars appeared in their well known roles. In the film, Timmy and Lassie are swept away in a carnival hot air balloon which finally descends far from home in the Canadian wilderness. The two travelers have several adventures before being rescued by the Mounties. Ruth's role is confined to tearfully worrying about Timmy and finding comfort in Paul's arms. The couple fly to the wilderness to be at hand when Timmy is found. The episode was the only episode filmed in color during the Martin family seasons.