Items16The creator’s order
  1. 1StrongheartStrongheartSilent-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…0
  2. 2Rin Tin TinRin Tin TinStar 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…0
  3. 3Pete the PupPete the PupPete, 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,…0
  4. 4Skippy (dog)Skippy (dog)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…0
  5. 5Terry (dog)Terry (dog)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…0
  6. 6Pal (dog)Pal (dog)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…0
  7. 7Spike (dog actor)Spike (dog actor)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:…0
  8. 8Higgins (dog)Higgins (dog)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…0
  9. 9BeasleyBeasleyHooch 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…0
  10. 10Chris (Kris), the St. BernardChris (Kris), the St. BernardBeethoven 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…0