Timmy Martin

Timmy Martin
Jon Provost as Timmy Martin
First appearance	"The Runaway" (1957)
Last appearance	"The Wayfarers" (1964)
Created by	Robert Maxwell • Jack Wrather
Portrayed by	Jon Provost
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Farm boy • School boy • 4-H member • Cub Scout
Family	Jed and Abby Clausen (aged aunt and uncle) • Ellen, George, and Jeff Miller (foster family) • Ruth and Paul Martin (adoptive parents) • Lassie (companion animal)

Timmy Martin is a fictional character portrayed by child actor Jon Provost in the long-running television series Lassie (1954–1973). Provost debuted in the first episode of the fourth season, "The Runaway" (1957), as the fictional foster child of farm woman Ellen Miller. Both the character and its portrayer were hits with the show's audience. In the middle of the fourth season series star George Cleveland died unexpectedly and producers were forced to overhaul the show. Timmy was fostered (see season 11 Episodes 9, 10 & 11 when the Martins leave Timmy behind to go to Australia and New Lassie Season 1 episode 7 when Timmy (Jon) now adopted and goes by Steve McCough and June Lockhart are reunited) by newcomers to the series Paul Martin and his wife, Ruth, who purchase the Miller farm.

Once the Timmy years of the show were launched, Lassie enjoyed its highest ratings, with Timmy appearing in all 226 episodes between his debut and his final appearance in the first episode of the 1964-1965 season. The Timmy character appeared in comic books, novels, Viewmaster reels, and other spinoff materials related to the show. Provost briefly reprised the character as an adult Timmy in the syndicated series, The New Lassie (1989–1990). Jon Provost was nominated in 2003 for a TV Land award connected to his participation in Lassie.

In the opener of the fourth season, "The Runaway" fictional midwestern farm family Ellen Miller (Jan Clayton), her son Jeff (Tommy Rettig), and her father-in-law, George Miller (George Cleveland), discover a seven-year-old tattered runaway hiding in their barn. Timmy, they later learn, has fled his aged and ill relatives, believing he is a burden on their slim resources. Ellen contacts the boy's relatives and a social worker, and all agree Timmy would benefit from a summer on the farm.

Midway in the fourth season, Ellen sells the farm to a young couple, Ruth and Paul Martin (Cloris Leachman and Jon Shepodd), after the death of her father-in-law. The Martins foster Timmy, and Jeff leaves Lassie on the farm with Timmy when he moves to the city, knowing the dog could never adjust to life in a busy city. Leachman and Shepodd would finish the fourth season and then be dropped. Their characters would be played thereafter by Hugh Reilly and June Lockhart. During the years that Reilly and Lockhart were on the show, the writers phased out all mention of Timmy being adopted, leading new viewers to assume that June Lockart and Hugh Reilly played Timmy's biological parents.