Jeff Miller (Lassie)

Jeff Miller
Tommy Rettig as Jeff Miller in debut (1954)
First appearance	"The Inheritance" (1954)
Last appearance	"Transition" (1957)
Created by	Robert Maxwell Rudd Weatherwax
Portrayed by	Tommy Rettig
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Farm boy • School boy
Family	Ellen Miller (mother) • George "Gramps" Miller (paternal grandfather) • Timmy Martin (foster brother) • Lassie (companion animal)

Jeff Miller is a fictional character in the long-running television series Lassie (1954–1973). Jeff is an eleven-year-old boy living on a weatherbeaten farm in the American midwest with his war-widowed mother, Ellen Miller, and his paternal grandfather, George "Gramps" Miller. The character was created by producer Robert Maxwell and Lassie trainer Rudd Weatherwax, and was portrayed by child actor Tommy Rettig. Jeff makes his first appearance in the series premiere, "The Inheritance" (1954), and his last appearance in the mid-fourth season episode, "Transition" (1957). The series won its only Emmy Awards during the character's stint on the show.

Jeff is the typical 1950s American boy. He enjoys boyhood adventure, collects baseball cards, and struggles a bit with school work. He is eleven-years-old when the show opens and is the son of slain war hero John Miller and his wife, Ellen. With his mother and paternal grandfather George Miller, Jeff lives on a weatherbeaten farm on the outskirts of the fictional small midwestern town of Calverton. Some fifty miles distant is Capitol City which Jeff sometimes visits. In one episode, he hitch-hikes to Capitol City to find medical help for Lassie when she loses her eyesight. On the not-so-nice side, Jeff surreptitiously listens-in on party-line telephone conversations at home, much to the annoyance of his mother. Jeff attends a one-room schoolhouse and has his own horse, Domino.

In 1943, Eric Knight's fictional rough collie, Lassie, made her film debut in MGM's Lassie Come Home. Canine star Pal, a male dog, appeared in the titular role. The success of the film generated six more MGM Lassie films, and, with the seventh feature, The Painted Hills (1951), Lassie's MGM career came to an end. Pal's owner and trainer, Rudd Weatherwax, took all rights to the Lassie name and trademark in lieu of back pay owed him by MGM and toured America with Pal in an 18-minute program starring "Lassie". Producer Robert Maxwell convinced Weatherwax that the dog's future lay in television. Together the men developed a scenario set on a weatherbeaten farm in Middle America about a struggling war widow, her son, her father-in-law, and their dog.