Thomas Noel Rettig was another sad tale of the Hollywood child star syndrome. He had a four year run on the series "Lassie" from 1954-1958 and this was to be the television highlight of his short career. Rettig left "Lassie" at age seventeen and never looked back. He was ready to live life as normal teen, but as is often the case with former child stars, Rettig was destined for a number of failures in his personal and professional life after his acting career ended. He found little work as an adult actor, presumably from his own perspective, because of his diminutive stature (he only
… More reached 5'4" as an adult). His utter lack of self-confidence, led to bankruptcy, convictions for growing marijuana, importing cocaine, and divorce. Rettig was saved by technology and the latter part of his relatively short life (he died of natural causes at 55) was successful as a computer software developer. Rettig is survived by several sons, one being actor Mason Storm. 
