Tommy Kirk (1941–2021), “Old Yeller” star
Tommy Kirk was an actor best known for starring in Disney films such as “The Shaggy Dog” and in beach party movies.Tommy Kirk was a teenager when he started acting, appearing in “Gunsmoke” and “Big Town.” His big break came when he won the role of Joe Hardy opposite Tim Considine on Walt Disney’s televison serial “The Hardy Boys.” That would lead to Kirk becoming a Disney favorite and he was cast as the lead in the movie “Old Yeller,” a timeless film about the bond between a boy and his dog, and in “Swiss Family Robinson.” He then appeared in a string of popular Disney movies, many opposite Annette Funicello (1942–2013), including “The Shaggy Dog,” “The Absent-Minded Professor,” and “The Misadventures of Merlin Jones.”Kirk said in