Tim Considine, Young Star of ‘My Three Sons,’ Is Dead at 81

The show had its premiere on ABC in 1960 and ran, moving to CBS, until 1972. But Mr. Considine bowed out in 1965; his character married his girlfriend, played by Meredith MacRae, and moved away. (To fill his shoes, more or less, the family adopted a neighborhood boy, Ernie Thompson, played by Barry Livingston, Stanley’s real-life younger brother.)

Timothy Daniel Considine was born on Dec. 31, 1940, in Los Angeles. His father, John W. Considine Jr., was a producer whose films included “Broadway Melody of 1936,” “Boys Town” (1938) and “Young Tom Edison” (1940). His mother, Carmen (Pantages) Considine, was the daughter of Alexander Pantages, founder of the vaudeville and movie theater chain.

His paternal grandfather, John Considine Sr., was Pantages’s biggest rival. His uncle was the columnist and author Bob Considine.

As Timmie Considine, he made his film debut at 12 in “The Clown” (1953), Red Skelton’s revisiting of the sentimental 1930s drama “The Champ,” which had starred Wallace Beery and 9-year-old Jackie Cooper. The Times review called Timmie “properly wistful, serious and manly” in the role of a washed-up alcoholic comic’s son.

He followed that with TV guest spots, from “The Ford Television Theater” to “Rin Tin Tin,” and four films. Then Disney came along and brought him a decade of success and popularity, which included playing a Revolutionary War hero’s nephew on the series “The Swamp Fox” (1957-60), with Leslie Nielsen, and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s teenage son in the movie “Sunrise at Campobello” (1960), with Ralph Bellamy.

Leaving “My Three Sons,” Mr. Considine did six television guest appearances in five years and had a memorable scene — playing a character credited as Soldier Who Gets Slapped — with George C. Scott in the film “Patton” (1970).

He did even less acting over the next 50 years, turning up onscreen once or twice a decade and playing his last role as a judge with a gray beard in the thriller “Ray of Sunshine” (2006).

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