Darlene Portwood is the ex-wife of Tom Rettig. Darlene’s ex-husband Tom Rettig, whose full name was Tom Noel Rettig was an American child actor, computer software engineer and author. He was popularly known in his active days for a role he played in CBS‘s television series titled Lassie, a series that he played run for three seasons and later other syndicated re-runs. Tom also starred in a teen soap opera titled Never Too Young.
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Darlene Portwood was the first wife of Tom Rettig, and the two got married at the time when Darlene was only 15 years old.
In this article, we have all the details you need to know about Darlene Portwood. Where was she born? Who were her parents? What was her occupation? How did she meet Tom Rettig? For answers to all these questions and more, keep reading to get informed!
Darlene Portwood Age, Birthplace, Wikipedia
Darlene Portwood, Tom Rettig ex-wife was born December 8, 1939 in Flint Road Madison, Kentucky in the United States of America. She should be around 82 years old in 2022. She is an American nationality. Her race or ethnicity is white. She is the daughter of Searcy Portwood and Ella Mae Portwood, who were all natives of Kentucky. She had two brothers ; Elmo Portwood and Arnold E. Portwood, and a sister ; Kathleen Portwood. Darlene was the youngest of the family.
There are no details on Darlene’s upbringing, but we believe she grew up with her family in Kentucky where she might have had her formal education and other form of education. We also do not have any information on her career and other personal data.
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Darlene Portwood was not a popular personality until her marriage to successful child actor Tom Rettig, hence the lack of much information on her on the internet. She might also be a private person and has prevent much of her personal information from being in the public domain.
How did Darlene Portwood and Tom Rettig meet?
You might be wondering how the two lovers met. Well, there is no information on the internet regarding how the two first met, but we know they got married after Tom graduated from Los Angeles University High.
Darlene Portwood and Tom Rettig first got together in 1958 and after dating for a year, they eventually got married in 1959. At the time of their marriage, Darlene was only 15 years old and Tom was also 18 years old and a fresh graduate from L.A University High.
Tom Rettig was a cast in an episode of The Man From Blackhawk, a ABC western series, called The Ghost of Lafitte.
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The couple, Darlene Portwood and Tom Rettig were married for 18 years, from 1958 to 1977. The reason for the divorce still remains unknown.
The 18 years old marriage resulted in the birth of two children who were all males. We know of only one of the couples sons. He is called Mason Healey Best and was born April 30, 1977. There are no details on the other son of divorced couple.
Both Darlene and Tom had no previous marriage relationship before they met. They married at a very early age 15 years and 18 years. There are also no details of whether they both remarried after their divorce.
Darlene Portwood Ex-husband
Tom Rettig is the ex-husband of Darlene Portwood. Darlene’s ex-husband Tom was born in Jackson Heights in the Queens borough of New York City. He was born to a Jewish father called Elias Rettig and an Italian-American mother called Rosemary Nibali. Due to his parents origins, he has a Jewish and Italian background aside having an American nationality.
Tom started his career as an actor at a very young age of 13, after being selected from among over 500 young boys to play the role of Jeff Miller in CBS’s television series, Lassie, between 1954 and 1957.
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Aside being famous for his role in Lassie, he also featured in other over 17 credited movies and series. Some of these series and movies includes River Of No Return, Sugarfoot, The Man From Blackhawk, Wagon Train, Death Valley Days, and amongst many others.
Tom Rettig, Darlene Portwood’s ex-husband had a very difficult transition from a child actor into an adult actor, coupled with a lot of legal issues in relation to his illicit drug use.
He finally left acting and later became a motivational speaker. He also spent the last 25 years of his life working as a data programmer and author, and he was well-known in those areas.
Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack at age 54 on February 15, 1996. He was cremated and his ashes in addition to that of his friend Rusty Hamer, were spread at sea in a combined burial ceremony.
Where is Darlene Portwood Now?
After her divorce to her ex-husband, nothing has really been heard about her. We do not have any information on her whereabout, where she got married again or not. We do not know where is currently and this article will be updated if anything on her whereabout pops up.