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Tim Hovey
Hovey in a trailer for the 1958 film, Money, Women and Guns.
Born	(1945-06-19)June 19, 1945 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	September 9, 1989(1989-09-09) (aged 44) Watsonville, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Suicide by overdose
Other names	Timothy Hovey
Occupation(s)	Actor, musician, audio engineer and road manager
Years active	1955–1989

Tim Hovey (June 19, 1945 – September 9, 1989) was a former American child actor during the 1950s. He later became a musician, road manager and an audio engineer for rock bands.

Acting career

Born in Los Angeles, California, Hovey was discovered by a talent agent who saw his photo in the window of a photography shop. In 1955, he made his acting debut in an episode of Lassie. Later that year, he made his film debut as Tiger Flaherty opposite Charlton Heston in The Private War of Major Benson.

From 1955 to 1959, Hovey worked steadily in films and television, often playing characters younger than his real age due to his small stature. In 1957, he was signed to a film contract with Universal-International. While working at U-I, Hovey appeared in the Westerns Slim Carter and Money, Women and Guns, both opposite Jock Mahoney.

Hovey's final onscreen appearance was in an episode of the anthology series Schlitz Playhouse of the Stars, in 1959. Despite receiving an offer to appear in a Broadway play produced and directed by Otto Preminger, Hovey chose to retire from acting.

Later years

In the 1970s and 1980s, Hovey lived in Northern California and worked with computers. He was also the road manager for the rock band Grateful Dead. Hovey later learned how to play the slide guitar and would play with the band on occasion. From 1971 to 1977, Hovey served as the chief audio engineer for the Grateful Dead and Kingfish, the side project of Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir. He is credited as co-writer of "Important Exportin' Man" (with Dave Torbert), on the album The Adventures of Panama Red, by the New Riders of the Purple Sage.

Death

On September 9, 1989, Hovey died of an intentional drug overdose at his home in Watsonville, California. Hovey's suicide, along with the suicides of fellow former child actors Trent Lehman and Rusty Hamer, prompted Paul Petersen to form the child actor advocacy group A Minor Consideration.

Filmography

Notes

1. ^ "Tim Hovey, 44; Child Actor in the 1950s". Los Angeles Times. November 3, 1989. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
2. "Moppets In Movieland". The Miami News. Miami, Florida. August 25, 1957. p. 33. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
3. "Hovey-Mahoney Team". Toledo Blade. Toledo, Ohio. October 18, 1957. p. 52. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
4. ^ Talevski, Nick (2010). Rock Obituaries - Knocking On Heaven's Door. Omnibus Press. p. 285. ISBN 978-0-857-12117-2.
5. Lamparski, Richard (1982). Whatever Became Of-- ?: Eight Series: The Best (updated) and Newest of the Famous Lamparski Profiles of Personalities of Yesteryear. Crown Publishers. p. 285. ISBN 0-517-54346-X.
6. Brioux, Bill (2007). "Ward, I'm Worried About the Beaver: TV Rumors Involving Child Stars". Truth and Rumors: The Reality Behind TV's Most Famous Myths. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-275-99247-7.
7. Kubey, Robert William (2004). Creating Television: Conversations With the People Behind 50 Years Of American TV. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. pp. 387. ISBN 0-8058-1077-3.

Bibliography

• Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, pp. 253–254.
• Best, Marc. Those Endearing Young Charms: Child Performers of the Screen, South Brunswick and New York: Barnes & Co., 1971, pp. 116–121.

External links

• Tim Hovey at IMDb
• Former Child Star Central

• 1945 births
• 1989 deaths
• 20th-century American male actors
• 20th-century American guitarists
• American audio engineers
• American male child actors
• American male film actors
• American male songwriters
• American male television actors
• American rock guitarists
• American male guitarists
• Drug-related suicides in California
• Male actors from Los Angeles
• Male Western (genre) film actors
• People from Watsonville, California
• Road crew
• American slide guitarists
• Songwriters from California
• Guitarists from Los Angeles
• Engineers from California
• 20th-century American engineers
• 20th-century American male musicians
• 1989 suicides
• 20th-century American songwriters