Often, animals who work as actors achieve considerable fame, albeit under the name of the character they are portraying, rather than their own. This hardly seems fair, especially since many animal actors have played several different characters over the course of their careers. Animal actors work in the same way as their human counterparts. They need to hit the mark, respond to cues, and convey a sense of reality to their audience.
According to human actors, some are fun to work with, others are difficult, and some even display the prima donna attitude that some humans display. Many have earned sums of money over the course of their careers that have made their owners and trainers quite rich. However, few know their real names. Here are ten relatively unknown animal actors whose characters were quite famous.
10. Bamboo picker
"Mr. Ed" — a 1960s television sitcom featuring a character from a series of short stories written by Walter R. Brooks. The first of the stories, featuring a talking horse owned by an alcoholic, appeared in the magazine Liberty Magazine in September 1937. He eventually wrote 23 stories featuring the talking horse, Mister Ed. The series was adapted for television in 1961, but the owner's drunken character was dropped. The producers chose a horse named Bamboo Harvester to play the talking horse.
Bamboo Harvester played Mister Ed in the series, although he had no discernible acting experience. He was an American Saddlebred gelding sired by an Arabian who was eleven years old when the television series began. His trainer, Les Hilton, was a protégé of Will Rogers. As Mister Ed, Bamboo Harvester opened the show by saying, "Hello, I'm Mister Ed," followed by the program's theme song. Mister Ed's lips moved as if he were actually speaking, and while many theories have emerged as to how this was done, the means have never been officially revealed.
Apparently, Mister Ed/Bamboo Harvester didn't actually talk; he was voiced by an actor named Allan Lane. Bamboo Harvester also had a stand-in, a horse named Pumpkin, who posed for him in publicity photos and occasional personal appearances. But he played the lead role of Mister Ed in all 143 episodes of the show over six seasons before retiring. He was euthanized in 1970 after a series of illnesses in his 20s.
9. Pal
Lassie, a character dog in film and television, is a female Rough Collie. Pal, the dog who first played Lassie in the 1943 film "Lassie, come home" (with a young Elizabeth Taylor), was a male rough collie. In fact, in modern feature films, the female Lassie has always been portrayed by men, many if not most of whom were descendants of Pal. The same is true of the long-running television series "Lassie" The series began in 1954 with Pal filming a pilot episode, which was replaced by his son Pal II, renamed Lassie Jr., for the first season. It ran for 19 years and 591 episodes, with several dogs eventually portraying Lassie.
Pal and his many descendants were owned and trained by Rudd Weatherwax. Weatherwax used the profits from Pal's seven successful films as Lassie to purchase the rights to the Lassie name and franchise, which he then helped develop for television. Pal reportedly starred in the pilot for the series, after which a number of Pal's descendants took on the role of Lassie. Pal thus created a famous character and a long line of actors, though he did not achieve the fame of the Booths or the Barrymores.
Pal also performed as Lassie in personal appearances and even on radio, where he apparently only had to bark, whine, or growl on command, albeit with a suitable accent as the role required. He retired as Lassie in 1954 and died in 1958. After his death, attempts to use non-pedigree collies as Lassie caused legal disputes and negative commentary. The Lassie trademark was sold by the Weatherwax family (Rudd Weatherwax died in 1985) in 2000, and after changing hands through mergers and other business transactions, is now owned by Universal.
8. Popcorn De-Elites
In the 2003 filmRusk tells the fictional story of a real racehorse who captured the nation's attention during the depths of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Several horses were used to portray Seabiscuit, as well as the horses he raced against, to film the racing scenes. The film also featured several real jockeys, including Gary Stevens as George "Iceman" Woolf. But in scenes featuring Tobey Maguire as Red Pollard and others where people directly interact with Seabiscuit, the famous racehorse was portrayed by a thoroughbred racehorse named Popcorn Deelits.
The Popcorn Deelites had a less than stellar racing career, starting 58 races, winning 11, and earning just $56,800 in earnings from racing both before and after filming.Crackers. In the paddock and around the barns, he was called Pops, a name Tobey Maguire used for him in their scenes in the film. Gary Stevens spoke fondly of Popcorn Deelites when he learned of the horse's death in 2022, calling him "his guy in all the big scenes."
MovieRusk with its story of a forgotten underdog who finds success and wins the hearts of fans, was a huge success in 2003. It was the only appearance of Popcorn Deelites' acting career. He returned to racing with limited success and retired to Old Friends, a thoroughbred retirement farm in Kentucky in 2005. He lived there for the remaining 17 years, forgotten as both a racehorse and an actor.
7. Thorn
Frank Weatherwax, the brother of Rudd Weatherwax's Lassie, was also an animal trainer who helped his brother train Pal and his offspring for their Lassie roles. Another dog he trained was Spike. Spike was a Labrador Retriever/Mastiff mix (sometimes called a Mastador), yellow in color and with floppy ears. He appeared in several films in the 1950s and 1960s, often uncredited. One such film became a big hit upon its release and again when it was shown on television. It was the story of a stray dog and the boy who finds him in Texas after the Civil War, and although Spike played the lead role, he was again uncredited.
It was a Walt Disney production."Old screamer" starring Tommy Kirk, Fess Parker and Dorothy McGuire. Old Yeller became a cultural icon of the late 1950s and early 1960s, spawning comic books, merchandise, posters, toys, and other items that are now considered collectibles. "Old Yeller" was re-released in theaters in 1965 and again achieved considerable financial success. It received acclaim from audiences and critics, and in 2019, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry. Try watching the end of Old Yeller without crying. Only the coldest can do it.
Spike has appeared in additional films, including an appearance in"The Dog of Flanders" playing the titular dog, Patrasche, again uncredited. He also appeared in the television series Lassie, The Mickey Mouse Club " and in the Brian Keith series "The Westerner" , again, all uncredited. He finally got screen recognition for one of his final roles, as Pete in the 1961 film "Silent call". Spike died in 1962. His most famous role "Old Yeller" continues to have high approval ratings on online streaming and movie review sites.
6. Bruno
In the early 1900s, there was a silent film actor known as Bruno the Bear. Trained as a circus performer, Bruno the Bear starred in short films such as Mack Sennett comedies. A later bear actor known simply as Bruno was born around 1962, although there are some disputed stories about his early life. The North American black bear eventually arrived and was trained on an animal ranch in Africa and the United States in California. From there, he was recruited for a role in the film "Zebra in the Kitchen" and then in the episode "Daktari".
In 1967, a 650-pound, nearly 8-foot bear (declawed) appeared in the film ""The Good Giant" and TV series "Good Ben" as Ben the Bear. Bruno's name was changed to Ben for the role, and like other actors, he commuted from his home in California to the Florida Everglades set while filming the series. He disliked the humid Florida heat. However, this did little to dampen his appetite, and Bruno was known to eat any food he found on the set, including cigarette packs left by the crew.
Bruno eventually played over four hundred roles, usually as comic relief, and was often hesitant to work due to laziness or the heat, or his interest in food over work. He appeared as Watch Bear in the 1972 film The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" with Paul Newman and Jacqueline Bissett. During his career, he was nominated for three PATSY Awards, winning in 1968 for his role in "Gentle giant." He also appeared as a guest on television variety shows, including a 1973 special of Don't call me mom anymore " featuring Mama Cass. Bruno's date of death is unknown, but is believed to have been around 1981.
5. Higgins
Dog actor Higgins made his television debut as a small dog who lived at the Shady Rest Hotel in the seriesPetticoat Junction. Trained by trainer Frank Inn, Higgins went on to a 14-year career in film and television.
But back to Higgins. The dog, a Norwich Terrier, won a PATSY award for his role in Petticoat Junction and was featured on the cover of TV Guide in 1966, but he was not credited for the role. Also, his character had no name and was simply referred to as "Dog" by other characters. Higgins guest starred in "Green Acres" with Eva Gabor and her sister Zsa Zsa Gabor in the 1971 film Mooch goes to Hollywood, in which Zsa Zsa played herself, one of several actresses who worked with two of the three Gabor sisters.
But it is precisely in the role of the original Benji Higgins won the hearts of audiences when he teamed up with his old friend and Petticoat Junction star Edgar Buchanan in 1974. all three actors. As with his other roles, Higgins was not credited. By then, Higgins was 16 years old, an advanced age for any dog, and was unable to appear in any of the sequels. By then, he had sired many puppies, and it was one of his daughters, Benjin, who appeared as Benjy in the first sequel, For the love of Benji » in 1977.
4. Skippy
From 1932 to 1947, the wire fox terrier starred in more than two dozen films, appearing alongside such stars as Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Katharine Hepburn, William Powell, Irene Dunne and other stars of Hollywood's Golden Age. The dog's name was Skippy, although he was given many names, including the character he made famous, Asta. Asta was Nick and Nora Charles' faithful companion in "The Subtle Man" and its many film sequels, as well as a later television series. Skippy was owned and trained by Gale and Henry East, and became one of Hollywood's highest-paid animal stars during the series' run. "The Subtle Man" .
Most animal stars of the time were paid around $3.50 a day for their contributions to a film. Skippy was paid over $250 a week, plus expenses and a stipend for his handlers. He could also be temperamental on set, once biting Myrna Loy during a rehearsal. In addition to his role as Asta, Skippy played a dog in"Raising a Child" , who buried a valuable fossilized paleontologist's bone. He also appeared as Mr. Smith, the subject of a custody dispute between the characters played by Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in "The terrible truth."
But he is remembered primarily as the dog who portrayed Asta in at least the first three films. about the Thin Man . This role is attributed to Asta in all the Thin Man films, and it is likely that later roles were played by another dog, as Skippy would have been too old for the final films. His last role as Skippy was in the 1939 film "Topper Goes on a Journey" . Beyond that, little is known about the remaining days of Skippy, the dog who created the role often used as an answer to crossword puzzles in newspapers and magazines across the country.
3. Sykes
The story of Sykes, the dog actor, is a true rags-to-riches story (pardon the bad pun), canine style. Sykes was a foundling, a stray dog who was lucky enough to be found by a stunt trainer named Gill Reddings. Reddings estimated the dog to be around seven months old when she found him in 2004. Trained and raised primarily with food rewards, Sykes first appeared in public view in British television advertising campaigns. A terrier mix, the dog soon landed roles in major motion pictures, including The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Other Boleyn Girl And "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street."
Sykes has appeared in several UK advertising campaigns, starting withEvery home needs a Harvey." commercial for Thinkbox, which extolled the power of television advertising. He played Harvey, a dog waiting for adoption. As a result, he became known to the public as Harvey rather than his real name. He later appeared in two additional Thinkbox advertisements, as well as an advert for John Smith's Brewery with British actor and comedian Peter Kay. He has also appeared in several British television programmes.
He then appeared in several seasons of the British crime drama "Midsomer Murders ", set in the fictional British county of Midsomer. Sykes portrayed the character John Barnaby's family dog and was a recurring character for several seasons of the show, totaling 29 episodes. He was replaced in the series by another dog actor named Paddy when Sykes retired after his fifth season in 2016. His character died in the series. Sykes lived in retirement in a foster home, with his expenses paid by Raddings, until he died in June 2019.
2. Orange
In the 1958 science fiction film,Bell, book and candle " starring James Stewart and Kim Novak, the latter as the witch, required no fewer than 12 Siamese cats to play the roles of Pewacket, her cat, and the witch herself. The reason so many cats were needed was because of the difficulty of training the animals to do their tricks. Not so with Orange, the orange tabby trained by Frank Inn. Orangey was a professional cat actor who had appeared in many films, including the role of Musha in " The Diary of Anne Frank" and as Holly Golightly's unnamed roommate in " "Breakfast at Tiffany's."
Like many actors before and since, Orangey was known to be temperamental on set, scratching his co-stars and occasionally biting. But he got away with his less-than-professional attitude toward his fellow players thanks to his ability to perform, winning two PATSY Awards for " Rhubarb" (credited as "Rhubarb"), in which he played the lead role of a cat who inherits a fortune, and for "Rhubarb". Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Orangey also appeared on television. He was Minerva the cat in the 1950s seriesOur Miss Brooks" , and also appeared in a 1967 episode of " Mission Impossible " called "Seal," in which he played a cat trained as an agent for the Impossible Mission Squad. His last known appearance was in a two-part episode of the camp version Batman 1960s , in which he appeared alongside Eartha Kitt in her role as Catwoman. Orange is the only cat to have won a PATSY Award twice, and is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California, along with many other screen stars.
1. Terry
Terry was a Cairn Terrier with an impressive list of films on her resume in the 1930s and 1940s. While filming her most famous role as Toto in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz" She was injured when one of the Winkies stepped on her foot, breaking it. Star Judy Garland kept her at home while she recovered, and filming was temporarily halted. During the filming of the movie, Terry earned $125 a week. This was a wage level unattainable for the average American worker of the time. It was also more than some of the actors in the movie were paid for their work.
She was not credited as Terry, but as Toto for the film, which became a classic and remains one of the most beloved films of all time. She was again credited as Toto in "Son of the Navy" , leading some to conclude that her name was changed to Toto following the success of " The Wizard of Oz" , but this claim is undocumented. She, like many animal actors, became known for the character they played rather than the person they were.
During her acting career, Terry performed with Jack Benny, Nelson Eddy, Joan Bennett, William Powell, Hedy Lamarr, Spencer Tracy, Fredric March and many other Hollywood stars, always performing stunts under the guidance of her trainer Carl Spitz. However, she was never referred to as Terry. Even on her memorial stone at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, her name Terry is the same as her role as Toto. The place is not her burial place.
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