'RIN TIN TIN' STAR DIED LIKE A DOG!
Lee Aaker, 77, wound up alone & penniless
SUCCESSFUL and beloved ’50s child star Lee Aaker, who played Rusty on “The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin,” tragically died penniless from a stroke at 77!
The sad news was broken on social media by former teen TV sensation Paul Peterson. The “Donna Reed Show” actor, 75, revealed Lee passed away on April 1, “alone and unclaimed … listed as an ‘indigent decedent.’”
Lee’s career kicked off in spectacular fashion in 1951 at age eight with the Oscarwinning short film “Benji.” Three years later, the pintsized superstar of “High
Noon” and “The Greatest Show on Earth” was cast opposite a canine castmate in TV’s “Rin Tin Tin,” which ran until 1959.
But Lee’s acting prospects nosedived after the series ended — and by 20, he was a Hollywood has-been.
“My folks had always told me that my career might not last, but when it happened, it was still a hard thing for me to adjust to,” Lee recalled.
The Tinseltown reject served in the Air Force and later worked as a carpenter and ski instructor — and like many other child stars he also reportedly struggled with drugs and alcohol.
In the end, insiders said
Lee was living off a $1,500 monthly pension from the Screen Actors Guild and any money he could scrounge up by working fan conventions. Sources said he had only one living relative, who was unable to help him financially. But Paul, an advocate for former child stars, insisted that Lee would receive a proper send-off.
“As an Air Force veteran, Lee is entitled to burial benefits,” he said. “I am working on that.”