Child star Lee Aaker of ‘Rin Tin Tin’ fame dies ‘alone and unclaimed’ at 77: report
Child actor Lee Aaker died “alone and unclaimed” on April 1, according to child actor advocate and Shokus Internet Radio personality Paul Petersen. He was 77.
“Saying Goodbye to Lee Aaker,” he wrote on Facebook. “You have to be a certain age to remember Rin Tin Tin. Lee Aaker passed away in Arizona on April 1st, alone and unclaimed...listed as an “indigent decedent.” As an Air Force veteran Lee is entitled to burial benefits. I am working on that. God knows when a sparrow falls.”
Petersen was a regular on the “Donna Reed Show” where he worked with Aaker on a couple episodes in 1959 and 1961. Aaker was best know for playing Corporal Rusty on ABC’s “The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin,” which ran on Friday nights from 1954 to 1959. He also worked with John Wayne on the 1953 film Hondo.
The Hollywood Reporter spoke to Petersen, who reportedly claimed Aaker suffered a fatal stroke on April 1 near Mesa, Ariz. Aaker was said to have struggled with drug and alcohol abuse. His last acting credit was an episode of “The Lucy Show” in 1963,
Aaker reportedly left Hollywood before he turned 20 to become a carpenter and a ski instructor, living on his SAG pension. The Inglewood, Calif., native once said he made $250 per episode on “The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin,” but got a raise in the hit TV show’s final season.
