The New Lassie
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The New Lassie was an American television series which aired in first-run syndication for two seasons beginning in 1989, reviving the beloved "Lassie" collie character who debuted in the 1943 movie Lassie Come Home, followed by several more movies and a long-running earlier Lassie television series from 1954 to 1974.
The New Lassie series centered on a suburban family, the "McCulloughs", as the owners of the then-present-day descendent of the famous canine. Real life spouses Christopher Stone and Dee Wallace Stone played Chris and Dee McCullough, with Will Estes (credited as Will Nipper) and Wendy Cox appearing as, respectively, their young son Will and teenage daughter Megan. Jon Provost, the former child actor who starred as "Timmy Martin" in the 1950s Lassie series, portrayed Chris' brother Steve. Steve McCullough was revealed in a later episode to be the adult Timmy Martin in an episode guest-starring June Lockhart in a reprisal of her role as Timmy's mother.
The very young Leonardo DiCaprio appeared occasionally during the series. Other guest stars with a Lassie past included Roddy McDowall, who had starred in the first movie Lassie Come Home (1943) and Tommy Rettig, who had played "Jeff Miller" in the early years of the original television series (later syndicated as Jeff's Collie).
Other ties with the show's predecessors included the dog's trainer, Robert Weatherwax Sr., the son of Rudd Weatherwax. The latter had trained the original "Lassie", Pal in the 1943 movie. Robert Sr. handled one of Pal's descendants for the 1989 series. Rudd's grandson, Robert Jr., assisted Robert Sr. for the first year of The New Lassie series and also appeared in the opening scene of one of the episodes ("Snakebit") with Leonardo DiCaprio. Robert Jr. was replaced by Carol Riggins in the show's second season but continued to work for many years as an animal trainer.
The Lassie character is one of only three dogs to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (the others being Strongheart and Rin Tin Tin).
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