Remember the kid from Old Yeller?

Found this on IMDB. Those Disney bastards.

Scrappy Tommy Kirk was born in 1941 and 13 years old when he was discovered in a production of Eugene O'Neill's "Ah, Wilderness!" at the Pasadena Playhouse. The freshly-scrubbed, All-American kid was brought to the attention of Walt Disney who signed him to a long-term contract. In 1955, he joined the Mickey Mouse Club TV series and won a legion of young fans as the irrepressibly inquisitive Joe Hardy in the "Hardy Boys" serial with Tim Considine, another Disney staple, as brother Frank. Tommy became a prime juvenile hero and ideal mischief maker for many of Disney's wholesome full-length classics including Old Yeller (1957), The Shaggy Dog (1959), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), Babes in Toyland (1961) and The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964). However, in 1964, the Disney factory found out Tommy was gay and they immediately released him from his contract after finishing The Monkey's Uncle (1965). Tommy still pursued teen-oriented movies but was essentially blacklisted and listed as "box office poison." The offers he did receive became progressively dismal. From mediocre fun-in-the-sand fluff like Pajama Party (1964) and It's a Bikini World (1967) to absolutely fiascos like Mars Needs Women (1968) in which he played a Martian, and Blood of Ghastly Horror (1972). Depressed over the down-swing turn of events, Tommy sought solice in drugs and nearly died. He abandoned his career, became a recovering addict, and put together a carpet and upholstery cleaning business which has run steadily for over two decades. As recently as 2001, Tommy has managed to show his stuff again in Hollywood, glimpsed in a few lowbudgets here and there, though a full time commitment to acting again is quite unlikely.

I cried for days after I watched the movie as a kid. But Tommy was really a wonderful idol of mine, since we (my older sister and I) fought daily over wether to watch the Mouskeeters or American Bandstand...I wonder how I ever got to know the Mouskeeters since back then we only had ONE TV in the house?

What do you mean a child abuse film?

the 'child abuse' was that it was such a SAD SAD SAD tale I cried for days after I watched the movie.