People: He’ll always be Lassie’s lad
Jon Provost made his movie debut at age 2, playing Jane Wyman‘s son in “So Big.”
He went on to play the son of Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly in “The Country Girl” and toddler roles in several other films.
His big break came at age 7, when he was cast as Timmy in TV’s beloved “Lassie.”
But after seven years of chasing the collie around the Martin farm, Provost grew tired of the role and started chasing around L.A.’s Sunset Strip, where the ‘60s were in full bloom.
It wasn’t long before he fled that wild urban scene and, in a figurative sense, returned to the farm, settling in rural Northern California, where he lives to this day.
The story is told with refreshing candor in his new autobiography, “Timmy’s in the Well: The Jon Provost Story,” which he wrote with his wife, author Laurie Jacobson. (For the record, Timmy never actually fell in a well.)
Provost, now 58, was a natural as an actor with his tousled blond hair, bright eyes and innocent face. He also had a hard-driving mother who pursued jobs for him.
After seven years on “Lassie,” Provost was offered a three-year extension. His parents said he could make the decision himself; he said no.
“The main problem with being a child star was not having an identity other than your character’s,” he says. “Everybody called me Timmy, which was not my real name; it was Jon. Having that thrust on you and not having any control over it is not good.”
As he entered puberty, Provost was able to play more mature roles, notably in “This Property Is Condemned” with Natalie Wood.
His 16th birthday brought another landmark: his driver’s license. He began to frequent the Sunset Strip, where clubs offered the music of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, as well as ready access to alcohol and drugs.
Eager to escape the Hollywood hoopla, Provost followed a girlfriend north and enrolled at Sonoma State University. When he finished his education, he went to work in real estate, where he remained for over 20 years.
In 1995, after a failed marriage which produced two children – Ryan, 24, and Katie, 22 – Provost was plunged into the worst depression of his life.
“I spiraled down hard and fast,” he writes. “I drank too much. I binged on ice cream. … I was in the deepest darkest well I’d ever been in, and there was no dog in sight.”
Then came the weekend autograph shows that helped him escape from his despair. After years of trying to abandon his Lassie identity, it was like coming home.
At one event, he met Jacobson, who was signing one of her Hollywood books. They were married in 1999.
Provost, who does fundraising for pet shelters and the service dog organization Canine Companions for Independence, writes about Jacobson at the end of his book:
“She’s devoted to my kids, and she is head over heels about our dog, Barney. She tells me I was meant to play second fiddle to a dog my whole life through. That suits me just fine.”
The birthday bunch
Guitarist Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane) is 67. Singer-songwriter John Sebastian is 64. Actor Patrick Duffy is 59. Actor Kurt Russell is 57. Actress Lesley-Anne Down is 54. Actor Gary Sinise is 53. Actress Vicki Lewis (“NewsRadio”) is 48. Actor Rob Lowe is 44. Actress Marisa Coughlan is 34.