Real Dogs Behind Famous Movie and TV Roles

Silent-era hero of The Silent Call (1921) and its follow-ups Born Etzel von Oeringen in Germany and trained in Berlin as a police dog, this German Shepherd served with the German Red Cross in World War I before director Laurence Trimble spotted him and persuaded screenwriter Jane Murfin to buy him. Renamed Strongheart, he became one of the earliest dog stars, and Trimble directed him in four rugged outdoor adventures. Start here if you want to see where the canine leading man began. He was burned by a hot studio light in 1929 and died that year, and in 1960 he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Star of Where the North Begins (1923) and the silent adventures that followed Lee Duncan, an American soldier, rescued him from a World War I battlefield in France, and his first starring role, Where the North Begins, has often been credited with saving Warner Bros. from bankruptcy. Counts of his output vary, but the usual figure is 27 Hollywood films. Two pieces of the legend need correcting. The story that he was voted Best Actor at the first Academy Awards has been called an urban legend by a former head of the Academy, who confirmed no one voted for him. And the 1950s series The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin was nominally led by Rin Tin Tin IV, but nearly all its screen work was done by another dog, Flame Jr. The original died in 1932.

Pete, the dog with the ring around his eye, in the Our Gang comedies Pete was never one dog. The first was Pal the Wonder Dog, an American Pit Bull Terrier who had already played Tige in the Buster Brown films and was born with part of his famous eye ring; his trainer and owner, Harry Lucenay, finished the rest. Pal was poisoned in 1930, and his son, Lucenay's Peter, took over with the whole ring painted on. After that the studio used several unrelated dogs, so the Pete you see depends on which short you are watching. Lucenay's Peter lived to 16 years and 4 months, dying of old age in 1946.

Asta in The Thin Man (1934), Mr. Smith in The Awful Truth and George in Bringing Up Baby The Wire Fox Terrier who stole scenes from William Powell, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in the space of four years. In The Awful Truth he is the subject of Grant and Irene Dunne's custody fight; in Bringing Up Baby he is the bone-hiding pup who belongs to Hepburn's aunt. Skippy was trained by his owners, Henry East and Gale Henry East, and was credited as Asta in the first three Thin Man films. Later entries and the TV series used other terriers. Fans of Dashiell Hammett's novel may be surprised that the book's Asta was a female Schnauzer.

Toto in The Wizard of Oz (1939) A female Cairn Terrier owned and trained by Carl Spitz, Terry earned $125 a week on The Wizard of Oz, more than many of the human actors. Filming had its hazards: one of the Winkie guards stepped on her paw and sprained it. Oz was one of 23 film appearances, and in the fall of 1939 three of her films were in theaters at the same time. The role took over her identity, and her name was formally changed to Toto in 1942. She died in 1945 and was buried at Spitz's ranch in Studio City; a memorial to her was dedicated at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in 2011.

Lassie in Lassie Come Home (1943) and the MGM features that followed Lassie is a female character, but the dog who made her famous was a male Rough Collie. MGM had cast a female show collie, and Pal, owned and trained by Rudd Weatherwax, got his chance when the studio filmed a flooded San Joaquin River; he completed the scene in one take and the producers gave him the part. Some accounts say the female was dropped because she shed heavily during shooting. Pal led seven features through The Painted Hills (1951) and appeared as Lassie in two television episodes in the mid-1950s. He died in 1958, and his line continues: a 10th-generation direct descendant, also called Pal, works with trainer Carol Riggins.

The title role in Disney's Old Yeller (1957) The yellow dog who made a generation cry was a lop-eared Mastiff and Labrador mix rescued as a pup from a shelter in Van Nuys, California. He became the pet and pupil of animal trainer Frank Weatherwax. Old Yeller was the peak, but Spike kept working: he played Patrasche in A Dog of Flanders and appeared in every episode of Brian Keith's western series The Westerner. Sources disagree about his birth and death years, so treat any precise dates you see with care.

Dog on Petticoat Junction and the original Benji (1974) Trainer Frank Inn found him as a puppy at the Burbank Animal Shelter in 1963, and his mixed ancestry was never pinned down; a blend of Miniature Poodle, Cocker Spaniel and Schnauzer is the usual guess. His uncredited turn as Dog on Petticoat Junction first made him a household face. The surprise is his age. Higgins came out of retirement at about 11 to star in Benji, which became his biggest hit. He died in 1975, and when the character returned in For the Love of Benji (1977), the part went to his daughter, Benjean.

Hooch in Turner & Hooch (1989) Tom Hanks's slobbering co-star was a Dogue de Bordeaux, or French mastiff, named Beasley. He was only about 17 months old when cameras rolled, after roughly five months of preparation with trainer and stuntman Clint Rowe. Not every trick landed: Rowe said Beasley could crack open a beer can but would not drink the beer. The rougher stunts went to a double named Igor, so the Hooch you see in the action scenes is not always the same dog. Beasley died in 1992.

Beethoven in Beethoven (1992) and Beethoven's 2nd (1993) The family-wrecking St. Bernard of the first two films was a real dog called Chris, a name also spelled Kris, credited in the role as a two-year-old purebred. He never carried the part alone: the first film also used several canine doubles and stand-ins, plus a run of puppies for the young Beethoven, and the later sequels cast other St. Bernards. Even that was not the whole cast. The first production used a full mechanical dog and, for the violent snare scene, a man in a dog costume. Accounts of who trained Chris and of his later years differ, so treat any confident life story with care.

Eddie Crane on Frasier (1993 to 2004) and Skip in My Dog Skip (2000) The Jack Russell who stared Kelsey Grammer down for a decade was not always the same dog. Moose, trained by Mathilde de Cagny, created Eddie, and his son Enzo, one of several puppies bred as possible replacements, first did the harder stunts for his aging father and then shared the role with him from the eighth season. Father and son also split Skip in My Dog Skip, with Moose playing the older dog in a few scenes. By de Cagny's account the two could not stand to be in the same room. Moose spent his last six and a half years retired in West Los Angeles and died in 2006.

Wishbone on the PBS children's series Wishbone (1995 to 1998) The costumed Jack Russell who imagined himself into classic stories beat more than 100 other dogs at the audition, and Soccer appeared in almost every episode of the show's run. He lived with his trainer, Jackie Martin Kaptan, on the ranch in Princeton, Texas, where the series was filmed, and he also starred in the TV film Wishbone's Dog Days of the West (1998). He died in 2001, aged 13, and was buried on that ranch.

The title role in Disney's Air Bud (1997) and Comet on Full House The basketball-playing Golden Retriever was a real stray, found in the Sierra Nevada in 1989 by Kevin DiCicco, who taught him sports. Buddy's shooting was not a camera trick: he tried to bite the ball, and it slipped from his mouth toward the hoop. Before the film he showed off on Late Night with David Letterman and played Comet in a 1995 Full House episode. Air Bud was his final role. He had a leg amputated in 1997 because of cancer and died in his sleep in February 1998, so every one of the many sequels used other dogs.

Jack in The Artist (2011) and Queenie in Water for Elephants (2011) The Parson Russell Terrier who nearly upstaged a Best Picture winner was a reject first: two owners gave him up as too wild, and he was about to go to a pound when trainer Omar von Muller took him in, meaning only to foster him. Queenie in Water for Elephants was his first named role and his big break. The Artist brought the honors: the Palm Dog at Cannes in 2011, Best Dog in a Theatrical Film at the first Golden Collar Awards in 2012, and paw prints in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. A memoir, Uggie, My Story, followed. He was euthanized at 13 in 2015 after developing a prostate tumor.

Brandy in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) Brad Pitt's devoted pit bull is best known through Sayuri, a three-year-old making her film debut, trained by Monique and Matt Klosowski in Wilmington, Delaware. She did not carry the part alone: Sony said Brandy was played by three pit bulls, Sayuri, Cerberus and Siren, so not every shot of Brandy is the same dog. Sayuri is the one the critics singled out. She won the Palm Dog at Cannes in 2019, and with her not there to collect it, Quentin Tarantino accepted the award on her behalf.

Snoop in Anatomy of a Fall (2023) Justine Triet's courtroom drama gives its Border Collie more to do than most human supporting players, and Messi, owned by trainer Laura Martin Contini, who adopted him as a puppy, carried it off well enough to win the Palm Dog at Cannes in 2023. He then became the unexpected star of awards season, attending the Oscar nominees luncheon with his co-stars in February 2024. He has kept working in France since, in the miniseries Contre toi and an episode of Bref, and he fronted a 2024 Cannes show seeing the festival from a dog's point of view. A good pick if you want a dog performance that is part of the drama rather than comic relief.