He was the blond boy with a flat nose, friend of one of the most famous dogs in the history of cinema: Rin Tin Tin.
Lee Aaker, star of the television series “The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin”, died in Arizona, as a destitute, on April 1st. The news was given by his friend, Paul Peterson. “To say goodbye to Lee Aaker – he wrote on social media – you must be of a certain age and remember Rin Tin Tin. Lee died in Arizona, alone and forgotten, classified as ‘destitute deceased'”.
Born in Inglewood, California on September 25, 1943, the son of a dance school owner, Aaker was discovered by the legendary director Fred Zinnemann and starred in a ’51 short, “Benjy,” to raise funds for an orthopedic hospital in Los Angeles. Narrator of Henry Fonda, in the short film Aaker played the role of a child with scoliosis who has the opportunity to undergo a decisive treatment, but only if he obtains permission from the parents who had abandoned him. The film won l’Oscar as best documentary.
From child prodigy to drug addict
After making an appearance in ‘High Noon’, without appearing in the credits, Aaker achieved stardom as ‘Rusty’, the young friend of Rin Tin Tin, in the television series produced from ’54 to ’59 from ABC, and inspired by the famous German shepherd of the cinema of the 1920s.
Rin Tin Tin became the alternative to Lassie, and Aaker, who had been singing and dancing since the age of 4, was the darling of the public. After a few appearances in some films, including ‘Hondo’, with John Wayne and Geraldine Page, the former child prodigy spent all the money he had accumulated, traveling the world as a sort of ‘flower child’, eventually retiring to Arizona, where he fought drug addiction for years and where he met his death.
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