CBS
Joey D. Vieira is remembered as former actor Donald Keeler of “Lassie” fame, and died one day on April 7th, 81-year-old shy.
Joey played Porky in the first four seasons of the show. “Lassy” has continued to achieve one of the longest-running American television series in history, with a monumental 19 seasons in history.
Vieira’s “Lassie” co-star Jon Provost announced something sad Facebookalso passed away this week, referring to the death of another TV child star, Jay “Dennis the Menace” North.
“What a week it was,” wrote Provost, 75. “The original ‘Lassy’ cast members Joey Vieira and ‘Porky’ passed by last night. I received a call from my daughter Shanin saying she had been in the hospice a few days ago. ”
Jay North, TV’s Dennis the Menace dies at age 73
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“I met Joey when I was seven,” he continued. “When we started Lassi, we hit it and become friends forever. Joey was a great guy, a talented actor, and even a successful record producer. Joey joined his son’s view in heaven.”
Born April 8, 1944, Viira, whose aunt was the great Hoofarby Keeler to date, first went when Donald Keeler began his career. He was also the half-brother of another child actor on the classic show, Ken “Pugsley” weather wax from the “Adams family.”
His most enduring performance, his debut in the TV series The Ray Milland Show (1953) and the film The Private War of Benson (1955) was Sylvester “Porky” and “Brockway” in “Lassie.” He notched 91 episodes of 591 productions.
Other television shows he guested included “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” (1960) and “My Sen Sons” (1962).
Most interestingly, Vieira, who lost weight for a while from Hollywood, is packed into 50 pounds. For a part of the show “Hank,” it’s a sitcom created by future hit maker Garry Marshall. There were nine episodes that followed from 1965 to 1966.
He became uncredited in the film “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice” (1969), and also appeared in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (1986) and Mel Gibson’s “The Patriot” (2000).
Vieira is also a musician and her song “R&B Ballad” It was sampled by creator Tyler for the 2017 song “911/Mr. Lonely.”
He was preceded in 2023 by his son Beau and survived by his daughter.
