Please Take a Moment to Meet Some of Hollywood’s Legendary Leading Canines

The following dog film stars are featured in Wendy Mitchell’s new book, Citizen Canine: Dogs in the Movies.

*

Lobo
The Clash of the Wolves, 1925
Breed: German Shepherd

Rin Tin Tin is a Hollywood legend for good reason—he was an exceptional performer with an exceptional biography.

US Army man Lee Duncan was serving in France at the end of World War I, when he found a litter of German shepherd puppies in a bombed-out kennel. Duncan brought one of those puppies, who he named Rin Tin Tin, back to California and noticed how trainable the dog was. Rin Tin Tin’s first major role came with 1923’s Where the North Begins, which became a hit that saved a struggling Warner Bros. Soon, Rin Tin Tin was earning more than human superstars and receiving 50,000 fan letters a month.

The Clash of the Wolves is a great showcase for his talents—it’s one of only six of Rin Tin Tin’s 26 silent films that survives today. The story revolves around Lobo, a half-breed wolf who leads a pack until a prospector needs his help. The action is amazing: watch him dashing unbelievably quickly across the desert, leaping down a hill, then climbing a tree. Yes, climbing a tree! He can also look soulful and forlorn.

Susan Orlean, who authored a fascinating biography of Rinty, said, “No matter how skeptical you could be about if a dog could convey emotion, he really does.”

Oscar snub: Rin Tin Tin was so popular in Hollywood that he is said to have received the most votes for the Best Actor Oscar in 1929. However, the Academy decided the award had to go to a human.

Sweet treat: Windowpanes that Rin Tin Tin jumped through were made of translucent sugar. Sometimes he would get to eat some of the candy shards as a reward.

*

Photo courtesy of the publisher.

George
Bringing Up Baby, 1938
Breed: Wire Fox Terrier

It takes a pretty special performance to steal the show from Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant (in a maribou-trimmed ladies’ dressing gown, no less) and a Victrola-loving leopard named Baby.

Asta was just the dog to win over audiences playing George in Howard Hawks’ witty screwball comedy about a carefree young woman “helping” a straitlaced palaeontologist secure a big donation from her wealthy aunt (who happens to be leopard-sitting).

From the age of six months, Skippy was trained by his owners Henry East and Gale Henry East. He first came to fame starring as the pet dog Asta in The Thin Man movies and had already appeared with Grant in 1937’s The Awful Truth. Skippy was later renamed Asta because of his celebrity in The Thin Man films.

Asta is still regarded as one of the best canine actors ever, and in Bringing Up Baby he demonstrates brilliant barking timing, a range of facial expressions, dashing away with a priceless dinosaur bone, diligently digging holes across a 26-acre garden, singing along to “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby,” and holding his own in a playful sparring session with Baby the leopard.

A real pro: At the height of his fame, Asta could earn $250 a week while his trainer earned just $60. Other actors weren’t allowed to talk to him between takes because his owners thought it would break his concentration, and he had his own dressing room.

Heavy petting: Animal lover Katharine Hepburn enjoyed petting the leopard on set; Cary Grant was more fond of the safer interactions with Asta.

*

Cujo
Cujo, 1983
Breed: Saint Bernard

Macabre master Stephen King wouldn’t write a sweet story about a mild-mannered mutt, would he? There are ominous signals about Cujo’s future from the very first scene, as the Saint Bernard chases a rabbit into a cave inhabited by bats. And thus begins Cujo’s transformation from affectionate to rabid. Put down the popcorn and steady yourself for screams and slobber.

In a classic siege story, mom Donna (Dee Wallace) and her son Tad (Danny Pintauro) are trapped in their broken-down car as Cujo becomes more and more aggressive. He’s a fearsome, battering beast—foaming at the mouth (egg whites and sugar), covered in blood (red-dyed syrup) and with a crazed look in his eyes.

It took five dogs, a mechanical head, and a stuntman in a dog suit to play the multi-faceted role of Cujo. The canine actors were so playful and happy during the attack scenes that their wagging tails had to be tied down with fishing line.

Teresa Ann Miller, animal trainer and daughter of Cujo trainer Karl Lewis Miller, remembers one of the Cujo dogs, Daddy, living with her family and being “very sweet,” which made the dog’s hair-raising performance in the film all the more impressive.

Toy time: For the scenes of Cujo attacking the car, the filmmakers hid the dogs’ favorite toys inside the vehicle so they would try to jump in.

Hog dog: Stephen King said he was inspired to write the story after meeting his motorcycle mechanic’s menacing dog.

*

Photo courtesy of the publisher.

Buddy
Air Bud, 1997
Breed: Golden Retriever

That’s not CGI wizardry, Buddy the golden retriever really can play basketball. The initial thought is, “This can’t be real.” That’s why the film’s end credits point out emphatically that “no special visual effects were used in the basketball sequences.”

The story is simple—Buddy runs away from an abusive clown and is adopted by a lonely teenage boy, Josh, who breaks out of his shell thanks to Buddy’s companionship (and also his dexterity on the basketball court).

Owner Kevin DiCicco found Buddy as a stray dog wandering out of the forest in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and played catch with him to nurse him back to health. DiCicco realized Buddy had special sporting skills and trained him to play basketball (his favorite), baseball, American football, soccer and hockey.

After Buddy dunked a ball on David Letterman’s talk show, and then played Comet on TV’s Full House, DeCicco developed the idea of the Air Bud character, which inspired five films and the Air Buddies spinoffs.

Hoops aren’t Buddy’s only skills in the film; he’s also confident climbing a trellis, walking across a roof, and jumping into a bedroom window. He delivered on the film’s genius tagline: “He sits. He stays. He shoots. He scores.”

By the number: Buddy’s basketball jersey features the number K-9.

Well oiled: The basketballs that Buddy used were partially deflated and coated with olive oil to make them easier for him to handle.

*

Winky, Miss Agnes, Beatrice & Hubert
Best in Show, 2000
Breed: Norfolk Terrier, Shih Tzu, Weimaraner, Bloodhound

Best in Show is a hilarious watch for pooch parents who can laugh about their own doggy obsessions. This largely improvised comedy mockumentary by the brilliant Christopher Guest goes behind the scenes of a top dog contest (the fictional Mayflower Dog Show, inspired by the real Westminster Dog Show) as we meet impressive show dogs and their neurotic and hilarious owners.

The cast of champion canines—Hubert the slobbering bloodhound; serenaded Norfolk terrier Winky (who inspired the song “God Loves a Terrier”); Busy Bee-obsessed Weimaraner Beatrice and pampered shih tzu Miss Agnes—were all played by real show dogs who knew how to perform. It was the actors who needed lessons with a veteran handler, Earlene Luke, to learn how to show off these top canines.

Working with real show dogs had its perks. Director and actor Guest (of Spinal Tapfame) recalled, “Considering how many dogs we have been working with, it’s really remarkable how easy it’s been.” Shockingly, there was only one unscripted bark in the final film (heard as two of the characters argue backstage).

Eyes on the prize: During the research for his role, actor John Michael Higgins was asked to handle a dog at a real competition and actually won a blue ribbon.

Ode to Winky: The genius lyrics to “God Loves a Terrier,” as sung by Winky’s parents Cookie and Gerry: “God didn’t miss a stitch/be it dog or be it bitch/when he made the Norwich merrier/with his cute little ‘derrier’/yes, God loves a terrier!”

*

Photo courtesy of the publisher.

Lucy
Wendy & Lucy, 2008
Breed: Mixed Breed

In this minimalist but powerful drama, Michelle Williams stars as a vulnerable young woman living off the grid in contemporary America. She’s broke and sleeping in her car in Oregon when her beloved mutt Lucy goes missing.

Remarkably, director Kelly Reichardt cast her own rescue dog Lucy, who had already played a smaller role in her earlier film Old Joy.

Reichardt said, “She was never trained… I just let her be herself. It’s a good way to keep an actor in the moment—they are responding to a dog and you don’t know what the dog will do.”

Williams had a natural rapport with Lucy that comes across on screen. Lucy, aged six when the film was shot, isn’t required to do any special tricks, but she’s wonderful as woman’s best friend—she knows when to trot along by Wendy’s side, when to fetch a stick, and just when to give the right whimper, bark, head tilt or doleful look.

The description on the lost-pup posters say it all: “floppy ears, sharp eyes, yellowish brown, friendly face.” Williams delivers a quietly poignant performance—when she gets a call that Lucy is okay, the smile that emerges on her face is priceless.

Stick to it: Sometimes the film crew would put a stick in Williams’ backpack so Lucy would follow her.

Editing room: Reichardt jokes that Lucy “didn’t seem to understand the editing process at all.” The filmmaker cut the film in her apartment and anytime she’d work on the dog pound scene, Lucy would ‘bark her head off’ when she heard the sounds of the other dogs.

__________________________________

Excerpted from Citizen Canine: Dogs in the Movies by Wendy Mitchell Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Mitchell. Excerpted by permission of Laurence King Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.