Tommy Kirk

Is he still alive?

I saw him in Disney's BON VOYAGE from 1962 the other day, where he was Fred McMurray & Jane Wyman's dopey son on that trip to France.

It seems he was involved with a younger teenager which didn't play well at the time, and apparantly Wyman was nasty to him, and Fred wasnt really friends with him anymore.

Apparently Fred never liked him, They had a huge blow up on the set of Bon Voyage.

Kirk said

[quote]I really liked him very much but the feeling wasn't mutual. That hurt me a lot and for a long time I hated him. It's hard not to hate somebody who doesn't like you. I was sort of looking for a father figure and I pushed him too hard. He resented it and I guess I was pretty repellent to him, so we didn't get along. We had a couple of blow ups on set... He was a nice person, but I was just too demanding. I came on too strong because I desperately wanted to be his friend.

The boy's mother blabbed to the studio, who fired him. Walt let him come back to do [italic]The Monkey's Uncle[/italic], the sequel to [italic]The Misadventures of Merlin Jones[/italic], but then he went to AIP along with Annette Funicello and his films kept getting worse and worse, as did his drug habit.

He does commentary on "The Shaggy Dog" and "Swiss Family Robinson" DVD's and on "The Hardy Boys" DVD Disney Treasures Set.

There are recent interviews with him on the discs as well.

He seems like a nice enough guy, but he also seems very humorless.

He and Annette did a great duet in "Pajama Party" which was better than anything she and Avalon ever did. No double tracking vocal for Annette and some nice harmonizing.

He and Kevin Corcoran both packed on the pounds as they aged.

He should be an icon - the clean-cur, All-American Boy.

Who was gay. Out, in the 60s.

[quote]He seems to be quite forgotten

Seems?

Honey, no one cares about this shit that happened 50-plus years ago.

I remember him. Very interested in reading his history. Didn't even know he was gay. Whatever happened to Tim Considine? I thoughT he was a sexy boy!

It's sad, being as out as possible back in those days ruined his career. Only gay comedians could have active careers back then and even then they couldn't acknowlege it openly.

I remember seeing him in Swiss Family Robinson as a kid and knew he was gay and so was I.

IIRC, he was not invited back to the Mouseketeer Reunion in 1980.

Cute cute kid. Seeing him bound and gagged in "Shaggy Dog" gave me great pleasure, a sign of things to come in adulthood.

[quote]Cute cute kid. Seeing him bound and gagged in "Shaggy Dog" gave me great pleasure, a sign of things to come in adulthood.

Re-watching those old Disney movies (pre-1984) has led me to think that either Walt or his son-in-law were self-loathing closet queens. Or perhaps both of them.

In 2010 this guy/author William Dakota claimed Walt Disney had sex with him and offered him $100 for it. He promised a update to his book telling his story, but it never happened. That seems to have been the basis on the rumors - an internet posting. Disney seemed very creepy to me as a kid. I was scared of him.

Who Would Walt Do?

He was inducted as a Disney Legend in 2006.

Probably to shut him up, R17.

That boy whose booty cost him his job was 15 years old. He was 21 at the time. That boy was older than the boy whose naked ass opens [italic]Pollyanna[/italic]. Walt was kind of a hypocrite for firing Tommy for that reason, but at least he tried to make up for it with [italic]The Monkey's Uncle[/italic].

They found Kevin Corcoran and Kurt Russell, so they didn't need him anymore.

My impression is that Walt tried to "make up for it" only because Kirk was popular in his Disney roles with the public (who weren't privy to his sexuality) and Walt saw dollar signs with Kirk returning. Walt's decision seemed to be economically based rather than because he was being a good person.

Kurt Russell's heterosexuality is a key factor in my atheism.

R3: That's just like my father and me.

Wait, was Tommy Kirk the hot blond stud in Swiss Family Robinson? or the nerdy gangly brown haired dweeb?

Tommy Kirk's plight is typical of Hollywood hypocrisy. Heterosexuals who were caught with 13 year olds get off scot-free, but any gay scandal and it's kiss your career goodbye?

Did Annette ever say anything about this whole thing?

R20: Kevin Corcoran retired from acting when he hit puberty and became a producer of some Disney movies in the 1970s such as [italic]Hot Lead and Cold Feet[/italic].

[quote] Whatever happened to Tim Considine? I thoughT he was a sexy boy!

He designs Toyotas.

R24 here. I am very sad to learn that the hot blond stud was James MacArthur, who DIED in 2010.

Living and dying, sound and fury, signifying nothing.

I think Tommy's shelf life as a boy actor had expired and he had to make (the still very difficult) transition to being an adult "manly" actor. He was physically slight and not exactly butch, but think of those boys like Tony Dow, Don Grady, Tim Considine, Johnny Crawford and even Brandon de Wilde, none of whom could really connect as adult actors (Brandon had the most talent but was very slight and pretty -- though straight -- and there weren't many roles for him).

That culture so long ago prized the "manly" stud like actor for leading roles and the older fuddy-duddy type for large supporting parts and these young men didn't really fit those types (they would have done better today in the frat boy, eternal adolescent roles of many movies but it even took Neil Patrick Harris a long time to find a niche, Max Casella who was his side kick has survived in small, sometimes very small character roles).

I also think the word went around that Tommy Kirk was a druggie as well as more or less openly gay and sometimes difficult and those are hard things to over come. Like Haley Joel Osment he was a wonderful boy actor, but as an adult just seemed sort of odd -- the usual problem.

Jim Parson's career is the one Tommy Kirk could have had had the times been more enlightened. The line from Merlin Jones to Sheldon Cooper is a direct one.

R24/R28, James MacArthur was the love child of playwright/screenwriter Charles MacArthur (who was portrayed by Matthew Broderick in MRS. PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE) and a mistress. Charles' wife Helen Hayes ended up adopting James as her own.

Tommy was raised Southern Baptist. No wonder he did drugs.

What a weird comparison, OP. Takei is remembered because he's part of a huge cult TV and movie series. Good for him for coming out but he did it late in life on his own terms and the fanboys only care about the "Star Trek" connection.

Parson's=Parsons'. Dear me.

Tommy Kirk, 2009, when he was 68

He was my first crush. Nice to know he's gay.

[quote]Probably to shut him up,

What is there to keep quiet after all these years? Anything he might have told he's probably said long ago.

tab and tommy

Fred MacMurray was a right-wing Irish-Catholic homophobe who owned a nude beach but didn't do a goddamn thing about it until gay men started going there. Then he called the cops and reported them for "indecent exposure."

I'm glad the Jews took over Disney. They would have gone bankrupt without us. And I bet someday we'll have an openly gay CEO.

No, R38 that's Tab Hunter and Roddy McDowell (who supposedly had a huge dick)

This page says "Roddy McDowell," R11. He doesn't look anything like Tommy Kirk.

R38 shows why I dodged a bullet by choosing Mr. Browne instead of that goy preacher who tried to steal my house.

R38...That's Roddy Mcdowell. Even now Tommy Kirk is being fucked by Disney. Look at the cover art for "Swiss Family Robinson" He is the only member of the family left out. Such bullshit.

He's not on the Blu-ray cover for [italic]Babes in Toyland[/italic] either (and they've been using the same picture for every video since 1990), and the only good scenes in that clunker are the ones he's in.

There was another gay Mouseketeer named Dennis Day. Did their paths ever cross?

R40 R41 R43 His name was McDowAll.

R45 Dennis Day was Jack Benny's Irish tenor vocalist.

This is for you, R47:

He was a cutie back in the day. I'd have done him.

[quote]Whatever happened to Tim Considine? I thought he was a sexy boy!

Here's a 2006 interview with the cast of "The Shaggy Dog", including Kirk and Considine. In it, Roberta Shore says that "all the mouseketeers had crushes on Tim". I wonder if that includes the male ones?

R39...That Fred MacMurray story is not true. He did not own a nude beach. He owned a huge piece on the Russian River in Sonoma County. Part of that land included miles of riverfront. It was wild and overgrown. True it was a hippy beach area at first. But gay people started using it with the straight people. It was popular for years and years. He never called the cops because of the sun worshipers, gay or straight. It was finally closed off after his death. His estate still owns the land.

Crap, R28, I guess I'd forgotten MacArthur died. Between seeing him in SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON and SPENCER'S MOUNTAIN I had a bigtime crush on him.

Good catch, R46.

R46...Whatever!

I was in fifth or sixth grade and they showed Old Yeller in class. Tommy Kirk stripping off his shirt was when I knew I was gay.

[italic]Old Yeller[/italic] is one of Walt's best films. Gotta love a movie where a gay guy wields a gun.

Tommy Kirk and Fabian got this little boy all hot and bothered. First indication that I was attracted to guys.

I remember the first time I saw OLD YELLER, I thought Travis was a woman because he was so much bigger than Arliss and his voice was still high. And when he took off his shirt, I thought he had titties!

Wasn't MacArthur on the original Hawaii 5-0?

r59 You are correct. He was a real honey. He was also in a dramatic series about a family moving West. The parents died enroute, so he had to assume responsibility for keeping the rest of the family safe.

"In 2010 this guy/author William Dakota claimed Walt Disney had sex with him and offered him $100 for it. He promised a update to his book telling his story, but it never happened."

I guess not, since he sounds like he has all the credibility of Darwin Porter or Scotty Bowers.

Was just watching the MICKEY MOUSE CLUB Disney Treasures DVD which lead me to looking up a lot of the Mouseketeers. One of the original kids really seemed to flame...

Does anyone know the story behind Michael Smith? Wondering what the gritty side was and wonder what he died from?

From a Mckey Mouse Club fan site: Mike's adult life had it's gritty side, which will be passed over here. He went to junior college for a while, but didn't graduate. He performed in the chorus of some Las Vegas shows, but thereafter seems to have been limited to working as a casual laborer in a variety of unskilled positions. In 1975 he listed his occupation in Keith Keller's book as "wallpaper hanger", and in 1980, took part in the televised reunion. He died December 3, 1982, in Hollywood, of unknown causes.

I loved Brandon deWilde, such a shame he was killed so young.

VICTIM EXTRAORDINAIRE

Drugged out weirdo who blames everyone except himself for his failures, which were all his own fault anyway

BOO HOO HOO, Disney didn't want to be associated with a drugged out, oversexed, sissy. Like anyone could blame them.

The years haven't been too kind.

Tommy Kirk blames himself. An adult going with a 15 year old boy whose mother confronts Disney and drugs. Very stupid. Admits Fred was right in being so angry with him. Though Jane Wyman was an out an out bitch. Kind of like in Pollyanna. And this was as somebody noted about the time Disney saw big potential in Kurt. Famous fact: Russell's name was last note Disney put down before his death.

Met MacArthur at showing of Gish silent film(always forget the name. Rightfully forgotten) where he spoke about her. She was his godmother. Had no idea he was Charles's real son. Asked him about his years at Disney and he said Walt allowed him to stay overnight in his private apartment in Disneyland. I thought that was cool. Said he had met up again recently with Mills when she was on tour with King and I.

Yeah he and Kirk spend a good amount of time shirtless with a great Caribbean tan in SFR. As a boy was electrified where they wanted to strip naked to make navigating the river easier. Of course there's a girl there to ruin such beautiful brotherly bonding. They should have done it anyway.

I knew Kirk briefly. He really was the sort of humorless homosexual that nobody really cares for. As mentioned above, he didn't really fit any film "type". Even the humorless office drone is usually played by an actor with some comedic chops. I imagine he did drugs in the belief that it made him more "likeable".

Tommy Kirk had his 15 minutes of fame and went on.

DL fave Joyce Bulifant was MacArthur's first wife. She will be appearing in the Happiest Millionaire concert version at the Public.

Ever since Papp saw this musical at Radio City 50 years ago it was his dream to bring I this extraordinary film to the stage. Now the Public realizes his dream.

r65 This is true, if he were a woman part, he'd be a cunt

R8 why the hate. 71 posts. Clearly some people care. Why'd you open the thread if it's so tiresome? Doesn't the world offer enough things for you to get upset about? Move on.

Thanks R72. I was thinking the same thing. There are plenty of subjects worthy of heaping shit on here at DL. Some hapless, ex-Disney guy who seems like he was sweet and didn't have such an easy ride (gay or not) doesn't seem like a fair target to me.

He grabbed my nasty bits so much that I quit My Three Sons and became a racing car driver

My Grandmother worked with Fred McMurray many, many years ago. She said he was a tightwad and radically moral. She still liked him. She was a guest star a few times on My Three Sons and Fred adamantly refused to let any long haired boy on the show. One of the scripts listed a 'hippie' as an extra and he axed that.