Los Angeles, United States
Lee Aaker, who was a child star thanks to the ‘Rin Tin Tin’ series, died of a heart attack at the age of 77 in Mesa, Arizona.
The news was revealed by fellow actor Paul Petersen via a Facebook post. “I say goodbye to Lee Aaker. You have to be a certain age to remember ‘Rin Tin Tin’. Lee Aaker died in Arizona on April 1, alone and without anyone to claim him, listed as a ‘homeless deceased'” As a veteran of the Air Force, Lee is entitled to benefits for his funeral. I’m working on that, ”he posted.
Born in Inglewood, California in 1943, Aaker was discovered by director Fred Zinnemann and chosen for his short film Benjy, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film in 1951. Zinnemann enlisted Aaker to appear in his most recent film. Iconic, Alone in danger, next to Gary Cooper.
After appearing with John Wayne in western Hondo in 1953 and opposite Barbara Stanwyck in Cunning of a Woman, Aaker landed the role of a lifetime as Rusty in ‘Rin Tin Tin’, a series that aired between 1954 and 1959.
When the fiction ended, the then-teen got several cameos on television series like ‘The Donna Reed Show’ or ‘Route 66’. His last credit dates back to 1963, when he appeared on an episode of ‘The Lucy Show’. He later left Hollywood, enlisted in the Air Force, and earned a living as a carpenter.