Did Cheetah, the beloved chimpanzee from the original Tarzan film series, pass away this week? Conflicting reports abound, but his enduring legacy was never in question. From Lassie to Rin Tin Tin, The Daily Beast looks back at some of movies’ favorite animal stars.
Everett Collection (2) ; AP Photo (2)
The Tarzan film series was a huge hit in the 1930s, but the star that really captured audiences’ hearts was Cheetah, Tarzan’s hilariously humanlike chimpanzee friend. News of Cheetah's death went viral this week, prompting an outpouring of grief for the famous chimp and amazement that he had reached the ripe old age of 80. But skeptics soon jumped in, and one primate expert told USA Today that the idea of Cheetah enjoying a golden retirement in Florida is “ridiculous.” Wherever the true Cheetah may lie, The Daily Beast looks back at his groundbreaking career, plus some of his fellow nonhuman acting legends.
The German shepherd that became known and loved as Rin Tin Tin was born in a bombed-out dog kennel on a battlefield in eastern France just two months before the end of World War I. He and his shell-shocked brothers and sisters were discovered by an American serviceman who took him and one other pup back to Los Angeles, where he learned several tricks and how to leap. His owner was so proud of Rin Tin Tin’s skills that he wanted to put him in the movies. The dog got his big break playing a wolf in The Man From Hell’s River in 1922 and went on to star in Where the North Begins a year later. The film’s success saved Warner Bros. from bankruptcy, and Rin Tin Tin’s career skyrocketed. The first-ever Academy Awards took place in 1929—two years after Rin Tin Tin released four films in one year—and Hollywood legend says the talented dog actually received the most votes for Best Actor. However, the Academy decided to give the award to a human actor, as it was seeking to make the awards seem serious, and giving the first Best Actor to a dog did not scream “prestigious.”
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Pal, the rough collie better known as Lassie, was chosen—among 1,500 other dogs—to play the title character in the 1943 film version of the book Lassie Come-Home, perhaps because he was the perfect image of what a collie should look like. Born in North Hollywood in 1940 to dogs named Red Brucie and Bright Bauble, Pal’s lineage can be traced back to England’s first-ever great collie. Following the first Lassie, Pal went on to star in six more films about the loyal dog and later a television series. Pal made the rounds at rodeos and fairs, under the name of Lassie, before he died.
AP Photo
The horse that played Mr. Ed in the pilot of the 1960s show about a talking horse was not the permanent star of the show’s six-season run. Bamboo Harvester joined the cast as Mr. Ed after the first episode and became one of the most famous equine actors in TV history, even winning the Patsy Award—Picture Animal Top Star of the Year, that is. It was long rumored that the show’s producers put peanut butter under the horse’s lip to make it look like look like he was talking, but director and costar Alan Young later revealed that he’d made up that rumor in order to keep children from the disappointment of knowing how they actually made Mr. Ed talk. Initially a piece of nylon thread was put in the horse’s mouth, until eventually Bamboo learned to move his lips on his own on cue. Though it is widely believed that Bamboo was euthanized at age 19 because he was suffering from kidney problems and arthritis, Young has claimed that he used to visit his costar in retirement in a Burbank, Calif., stable before the horse was inadvertently administered a fatal tranquilizer.
CBS / Landov
Born in the late 1970s, Keiko won hearts around the world as the whale in Free Willy, a tale about a boy who befriends an injured orca at an amusement park and helps him reunite with his family. It was a case of art imitating life. Keiko was captured at a young age by a fishing boat and sold to a series of marine parks, where the conditions are less than ideal. Free Willy helped shine a light on the problems of animals in captivity. Keiko was freed and was eventually sent to Norway to be reintroduced to the wild. The orca died in December 2003.
Everett Collection
When Roy Rogers appeared onscreen, he often had his steed Trigger by his side. Dubbed “the smartest horse in the movies,” the golden palomino was a fixture in Rogers’s movies and television show. He appeared in dozens of Westerns, helping Rogers defeat the villains. When Trigger died one day before his 31st birthday in 1965, Rogers was so distraught he had his trusty sidekick stuffed. Trigger remained on display for many years in the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum in Victorville, Calif. In 2010 Trigger fetched more than $266,000 at auction in New York City.
Everett Collection
Few people—let alone animals—can be considered among Oprah’s favorite things. But that’s exactly where Benji, the little orphan dog with a heart of gold, would find himself. Starting in 1974, Benji starred in eight movies and his own television series. Always a helpful pup, Benji often helped people out of predicaments and even saved children who’d been kidnapped, making him one of the most helpful animals in cinematic history.
Everett Collection
Flipper first came to the screen in 1963. In the movie, the injured dolphin befriends a boy named Sandy in the Florida Keys, despite the misgivings of his father, who feels the friendship is taking away from the boy’s responsibilities. A highly intelligent dolphin, Flipper helped make rescues at sea. The movie was so popular it spawned a sequel and a television series a year later. Three decades later, both the television show and the movie were rebooted for modern audiences with a new cast and a new dolphin.
Everett Collection
Wishbone, the PBS TV series from the mid-1990s, starred Soccer, a precocious Jack Russell terrier that’s always comparing his real-life adventures to the stories in classic literature. Soccer beat out 100 other dogs for the part because of his expressiveness, which he presumably learned from his previous acting gigs in Nike and dog-food commercials. Like most successful actors, Soccer had some specific dietary demands—he was a fan of dry dog food and skinless grilled chicken. The Wishbone star died in June 2001 at age 13.
Everett Collection
