Hugh Reilly; Played Father in TV’s ‘Lassie’

Hugh Reilly, the father of the second family who fed and groomed Lassie on the long-running television series about the collie, has died. He was 82.

Reilly, who portrayed the kindly farmer Paul Martin from 1958 to 1964, died Friday of emphysema at his home in Burbank.

The initial “Lassie” series, based on a 1940 novel that also spawned a series of motion pictures, ran on television from 1954 to 1971. During that time, the dog answered to two families, the Millers and then the Martins, and three forest rangers, and ultimately wound up wandering on her own.

Reilly’s character was head of the Martin family, which set the stage for Lassie to join the forest rangers in 1964, when the Martins left her in order to move to Australia. Reilly was the second actor (succeeding Jon Shepodd in 1957) to play Paul Martin, who bought the Midwestern farm from Lassie’s first owners, the Miller family. The Millers had included a widowed mother, a grandfather and an 11-year-old boy played by Tommy Rettig. They were joined in 1957 by the orphan Timmy (Jon Provost), whom Lassie brought home.

As Martin, Reilly played opposite June Lockhart as his wife, Ruth, traditionally considered the mother of the Lassie series. She also played the mother in the second film, “Son of Lassie,” in 1945. The childless Martins became surrogate parents to little Timmy, Lassie’s second young master.

“We would have a lot of chuckles on the set,” Lockhart said after learning of Reilly’s death. “He was very easygoing, very laid back, a good professional colleague.”

Provost, who played Timmy during Reilly’s six years on the show, described Reilly as a “gentle and caring man” and said that hearing of his death was “like losing a member of the family.”

After serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II, Reilly acted on Broadway in such shows as “Dear Charles,” “Fair Game,” “Teahouse of the August Moon” and “Philadelphia Story.”

He performed in plays on television’s first showcases for theater, including “Playhouse 90.”

Reilly later appeared in such motion pictures as the 1967 Western “Chuka,” starring Rod Taylor, and in television movies such as “Attack on Fear” in 1984.

He is survived by three sons, John, Ethan and Dave.