Trent Lehman ( Butch ) , committed suicde..... - Nanny and the Professor (1970) Discussion

[–] steveicm 17 years ago

I'm a Cinemajunkie !

It's sad Trent (Butch).

It looks like the rest of the cast were able to move on in there lives. They had satisfactory projects etc to keep them happy.

Acording to the IMDB Trents carear slowed down and was all but dead by 1982.
I'll bet he was a victim of the Childhood star syndrome before they understood it existed.

If you notice Butch hung himself in early January (Right after the x-mass Hollidays).

Today they watch dog groups for child TV actors.

I'm glad to see you posted this and people are coming to this page. I orignaly came here several years ago and read about Trents sad fate.
At that time no one was coming here or posting.

I got to thinking about it recently so I came here to create a post in honor of Trent memory.

I hope somewhere people have happy memories of Trent. I hope they release this series on DVD, so he can live on thorugh his work.

I was good friends with Stanly Fafara (Whitely on Live it to Beaver).
Stan died 8 years clean and sober but the whole childhood star syndrom took it's toll on him.

I'm glad we as a society are talking more about things then we did in the past.

Stan kept in touch with childhood Actor Paul Peterson. I guess Paul is doing some cool things to protect childhood actors and x-childhoosd actors with his group a minor consideration.

Cheers to the great entertainment and happines Trent(Butch) gave fans of the show.

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[–] texasturkey 17 years ago

Someone posted the article describing Trent Lehman's suicide story in the LA Times. There were incidents that led up the taking his own life. His girlfriend broke up with him. Soon after, his apartment was burglarized. Ironically, Trent's friend found his dead body hanging from the fence in the school yard at the same North Hollywood elementary school they both attended. He was pulled out for on-set tutoring as a cast member of "The Nanny and the Professor". Trent had worked very little in television since the series got cancelled, and fell into the former child actor syndrome. He had emotional problems and got into drugs. Very tragic. Too young and lost too soon. He would have been 45 years old today if he had lived.

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[–] jughead10m 17 years ago

Yes I heard about it too. Except for a guest role on the Emergency TV Series as well as 2 and a half years as Butch Everett, he had no future in acting after Nanny and The Professor got cancelled.

This is what I know made him want to committ suicide and hang himself on a fence and kill himself at age 20. A girlfriend he had broke up with him. His apartment was burglarized, he must have used up his savings of what he made in his trust fund on Nanny and the Professor and he had conflicts with his Mom too and so much was bothering him and his girlfriend breaking up with him at the same time of his apartment being burglarized he had no life so naturally he hung himself on a fence and committed suicide.

Here is how Trent should have handled all his problems. He could have gone to the police and if they watched Nanny and the Professor they would know he was kindof famous for playing Butch. Plus him being famous he could have gotten himself a new girlfriend and if he had insurance after burglary and if he didn't have a war with his Mom she would have helped him.

I spoke to Kim Richards once when I met her at a Super Mega Show and when there was time I spoke to her about how she felt about Butch's or Trents death and she was sad. If Trent could have gotten in touch with her, she would have helped him out so might have Juliet Mills as well in that time because when the show was cancelled I am sure they could have kept in touch with him and helped him that time he was 20 years old.

I will be meeting Juliet Mills in a week at the Mega Show and if there is no long line after I get her autograph and photo I will ask her how she felt when Butch or Trent hung himself on suicide.

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[–] judgeraye 15 years ago

I will be meeting Juliet Mills in a week at the Mega Show and if there is no long line after I get her autograph and photo I will ask her how she felt when Butch or Trent hung himself on suicide."

well? did you ever get close enough to ask her?

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[–] jughead10m 15 years ago

Juliet Mills cancelled her appearance at that time so I didn't get the chance however, I did get to ask Kim Richards back in 2004 when she was at a Super Megashow and she said she felt very bad and if Trent had contacted her, she might have helped him out that time rather than him killing himself like talking to Trents mother to negotiate or him being famous as many Television Watchers saw him as middle child Butch Everett. Plus the police might have helped him out when he was burglarized and maybe he could have worked hard to get an acting career back.

So sorry I didn't get to ask Juliet Mills about it like I had asked Kim Richards.

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[–] skiddoo 8 years ago

I don't see how his friend finding he had hanged himself at the school they both attended before he lost that for on-set tutoring could be considered ironic. It's sadly understandable that he went back to the last place he was a normal, happy kid. He probably wanted to erase everything that came after that, sort of rewriting history for himself.

It would be ironic if he tried to hang himself and got bitten by a dog and died from rabies. Ironic means one thing is expected and something entirely different or opposite happened instead. It would be inexplicable if he killed himself at a school he had no connection to in a country he'd never visited before when everything was going great for him. We couldn't explain it.

Hard on his friend, that's for sure! It makes me wonder about Trent's family.

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[–] ridgerunner72160 16 years ago

It's always a sad situation when something like this happens. And the kids were likeable on the show. These days it seems every child actor's role consists of being a smart aleck jerk with anybody over the age of 25 as the foil. As for the other kids, David Doremus and Kim Richards, I saw Kim in a movie called Tuff Turf quite a few years ago. She had grown up from a cute little girl into a very attractive woman. And I saw where David Doremus (Hal) had been in quite a few episodes of 'The Waltons', but he seems to have dropped out of show business. Anyway, it's too bad Trent Lehman (Butch) couldn't have had a better life after the show's end.

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[–] NuevoOzCinema 15 years ago

More recently, Kim Richards appeared - unrecognizable - as Christina Ricci's mother in BLACK SNAKE MOAN, a film I reviewed for a website. By the way, Richards is the aunt of Paris Hilton(!), although that's old news.

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[–] Hoohawnaynay 8 years ago

Yes in Black Snake Moan all the years of booze and drugs caught up with her. She looks as though she has had botox etc since but still looks worn like like an older Lindsay Lohan

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