Scrappy Tommy Kirk was born in 1941 and 13 years old when he was discovered by talent agents in a production of Eugene O'Neill's "Ah, Wilderness!" at the Pasadena Playhouse. The freshly-scrubbed All-American kid was swiftly brought to the attention of Walt Disney who signed him to a long-term contract. In 1955, he joined "The Mickey Mouse Club" TV series and won a legion of young fans as the irrep ...
show all Scrappy Tommy Kirk was born in 1941 and 13 years old when he was discovered by talent agents in a production of Eugene O'Neill's "Ah, Wilderness!" at the Pasadena Playhouse. The freshly-scrubbed All-American kid was swiftly brought to the attention of Walt Disney who signed him to a long-term contract. In 1955, he joined "The Mickey Mouse Club" TV series and won a legion of young fans as the irrepressibly inquisitive teen sleuth Joe Hardy in the "Hardy Boys" serial with Tim Considine, another young Disney staple, playing his brother Frank. Tommy became a prime juvenile hero and ideal mischief maker for many of Disney's wholesome full-length classics including "Old Yeller (1957)", "The Shaggy Dog (1959)", "Swiss Family Robinson (1960)", "The AbsentMinded Professor (1961)", "Babes in Toyland (1961)" and "The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964)". However, in 1964, the Disney factory found out Tommy was gay and they immediately released him from his contract after finishing "The Monkey's Uncle (1965)". Tommy still pursued teen-oriented movies but was essentially blacklisted from the industry and deemed "box office poison." The offers he did receive became progressively dismal. From mediocre fun-in-the-sand fluff like "Pajama Party (1964)" and "It's a Bikini World (1967)" to absolute fiascoes like "Mars Needs Women (1967) (TV)" in which he played a Martian, and "Blood of Ghastly Horror (1972)", Tommy's career went into an irreversible tailspin. Depressed and angry, he sought solace in drugs and nearly died at one point. For health reasons, he completely abandoned his career and slowly moved forward as a recovering addict. He put together a successful carpet and upholstery cleaning business which has run steadily for well over two decades. As recently as 2001, Tommy showed up again in Hollywood -- glimpsed in a few low-budgets here and there -- but a full time commitment to acting is quite unlikely.
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