section_path: After acting/A Minor Consideration
section_name: A Minor Consideration
paragraph_text: A Minor Consideration
  
  On January 18, 1990, North received a phone call from Paul Petersen telling him that former child star Rusty Hamer from The Danny Thomas Show had died by suicide. Hamer's death was a turning point for North when childhood friends Petersen (Jeff Stone on The Donna Reed Show) and Jeannie Russell (Margaret Wade on Dennis the Menace), concerned with North's similarities, put him in contact with therapist Stan W. Ziegler, who specialized in troubled former child actors. North later joined Petersen's organization, A Minor Consideration, using his experiences to counsel child stars dealing with the same pressures and difficulties he had faced growing up.
  
  On January 18, 1990, North received a phone call from Paul Petersen telling him that former child star Rusty Hamer from The Danny Thomas Show had died by suicide. Hamer's death was a turning point for North when childhood friends Petersen (Jeff Stone on The Donna Reed Show) and Jeannie Russell (Margaret Wade on Dennis the Menace), concerned with North's similarities, put him in contact with therapist Stan W. Ziegler, who specialized in troubled former child actors. North later joined Petersen's organization, A Minor Consideration, using his experiences to counsel child stars dealing with the same pressures and difficulties he had faced growing up.