Background and career
Timothy Daniel Considine (December 31, 1940 – March 3, 2022) was an American actor, writer, photographer, and automotive historian. He was best known for his acting roles in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Considine was born in Los Angeles on December 31, 1940. His mother, Carmen (née Pantages), was the daughter of theater magnate Alexander Pantages; his father, John W. Considine Jr., was an Oscar-nominated movie producer for Boys Town. Considine's grandfather, John Considine, was Alexander Pantages' rival vaudeville impresario, while one of his uncles, Bob Considine, was a columnist and author. He had two siblings: John, who was also an actor, and Erin.
Considine made his film debut in 1953, co-starring with Red Skelton in The Clown (1953), a remake of the 1931 movie The Champ. Credited as Timmie Considine, a review by The New York Times characterized his performance as "properly wistful, serious, and manly". In 1954, Considine appeared in the feature film Her Twelve Men (1954) alongside David Stollery.
Considine's first acting performances included roles in the 1955–1957 Disney TV serials which appeared as 15-minute segments on The Mickey Mouse Club. He was also in the 1955 film, The Private War of Major Benson alongside his future My Three Sons costar William Demarest. Based on the 1942 novel Marty Markham by Lawrence Edward Watkin, Disney adapted the novel into a serial, with the working title The Marty Markham Story. Considine was originally cast as the main lead of Marty, but preferred the secondary character, Spin. The project was retitled to Spin and Marty, and expanded the role of Spin to a lead character. Considine personally recommended his friend and actor, Stollery, for the role of Marty. The serial was made into three seasons, The Adventures of Spin and Marty (1955), The Further Adventures of Spin and Marty (1956), and The New Adventures of Spin and Marty (1957). In the 1956 serial, The Hardy Boys, Considine played older brother Frank Hardy, opposite Tommy Kirk as Joe Hardy. It aired for two seasons, The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure (1956) and The Mystery of Ghost Farm (1957). In 1957, Considine played the role of Ned Nickerson in a television unaired pilot made for CBS based on the Nancy Drew series of books by Carolyn Keene. He co-starred with Roberta Shore and Frankie Thomas. Also as part of The Mickey Mouse Club, Considine starred in the 1958 serial, Annette, which featured the Mouseketeer Annette Funicello. Considine played Steve Abernathy, and once again, co-starred with Stollery. In 1959, he appeared in the Disney show The Swamp Fox as Gabriel Marion, nephew of Francis Marion. In the Disney motion picture The Shaggy Dog (1959), Considine was cast as Buzz Miller, and appeared alongside his Disney co-stars Funicello, Kirk and Stollery.
Considine appeared as the eldest son, Mike Douglas, in the first years of the long-running television series My Three Sons, when it aired on ABC. In both The Shaggy Dog and My Three Sons, he starred with Fred MacMurray. On December 31, 1959, his 19th birthday and before the debut of My Three Sons, Considine appeared as Jamie Frederick in the episode "Bound Boy" on CBS's Johnny Ringo western television series, starring Don Durant in the title role. In the story line, a rancher is investigated for turning orphaned boys into virtual slaves. The following year, Considine played the role of Franklin D. Roosevelt's eldest son James between ages 14 and 17, in the 1960 feature film Sunrise at Campobello. In a 1966 episode of The Fugitive he acted as a helper for Dr. Kimble. He played young rebel Billy Penn in the Bonanza episode "The Reluctant Rebel", which aired on November 21, 1965. Considine played the role of "Scott Coleman" in the 1970 Gunsmoke television series (S16.E6 and S16.E7), "Snow Train" parts 1 and 2. Considine later featured in the 1970 film Patton, portraying the shell-shocked soldier slapped by General George S. Patton Jr. The role is credited as "Soldier Who Gets Slapped".
As an adult, Considine was an automobile historian, photographer, and writer who specialized in motor sports. He was the author of The Photographic Dictionary of Soccer (1979, ISBN 978-0-4468-7953-8), The Language of Sport (1982, ISBN 978-0-8719-6653-7), and American Grand Prix Racing: A Century of Drivers and Cars (1997, ISBN 978-0-7603-0210-1). He also filled in for the late William Safire as writer of the "On Language" column in The New York Times Magazine. His photography work included the cover of Joni Mitchell's 1971 album Blue.
