From a cold prison cell in Sandstone, Minn., to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, actor and comedian Tim Allen never let the stigma of being an ex-con get him down.
Born Timothy Allen Dick on June 13, 1953, Tim spent his early years in Denver, Colo., with his parents Gerald and Martha Dick. Unfortunately for Tim, his life took an unexpected turn at the age of 11, when his father was killed in a car accident. Two years later, his mother remarried, and Tim, along with his six siblings, moved to Birmingham, Mich.
During high school, Tim developed a love for both cars and laughter. He excelled in shop class and reveled in being the class clown. Following graduation, Tim enrolled at Central Michigan University and later transferred to Western Michigan University. In 1976, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications and a minor in philosophy and design.
After receiving his college degree, Tim began working at an advertising firm in Detroit. It was not long thereafter that his life began to take a troubling turn. In October 1978, he was arrested on felony drug charges for being in possession of 1.4 pounds of cocaine. Facing life in prison, Tim copped a plea and informed on other drug dealers in exchange for a three- to seven-year sentence.
Tim served 28 months of his prison sentence in the Federal Correctional Institution in Sandstone, Minn., before earning his early release. A 29-year-old ex-con, Tim decided to return to Detroit, where he started doing stand-up comedy — something he began experimenting with just before receiving his prison sentence.
Tim quickly became a hit with his observational and thoughtful jokes about the perceptions of relationships between men and women. Then, in 1984, Tim married his college sweetheart, Laura Deibel, a woman who had stood by him during his time in the correctional institute, and he changed his name to Tim Allen.
Tim continued to do stand-up comedy and eventually developed the macho tool guy persona that would land him his role on the hit ABC television sitcom Tool Time. The series became the biggest family show of the '90s, and Tim’s movie career soon hit the big time with films such as Toy Story, Toy Story 2, The Santa Clause, The Santa Clause 2, Jungle to Jungle, For Richer or Poorer, Joe Somebody, Galaxy Quest, Shaggy Dog, and most recently, The Santa Clause 3.
In 2003, Tim and his wife Laura divorced, although she continues to remain a part of his career team. In October 2007, Tim married actress Jane Haiduk in Grand Lake, Colo. His most recent film project, The Six Wives of Henry LeFay, is currently in production and scheduled for release sometime in 2008.
If anything, Tim Allen’s life story shows us that "once a con always a con" is not always the case.
