By Marty Cooper
Some of the most unforgettable stars in film history happened to bark instead of speak.
“Man’s best friend” has been moviemakers’ and filmgoers’ best friend for more than 120 years…almost from the earliest days of commercial motion pictures.
The first canine cinema star was Blair, a collie owned by British filmmaker Cecil Hepworth. Blair starred as Rover in the 1905 British silent film, Rescued by Rover. Film historians regard it as the first movie to use a dog as a central dramatic figure. In the film, Rover rescues a kidnapped baby by tracking the abductors and leading the father to the child.
But it was an American collie, known as Jean the Vitagraph Dog, who became the first film star, appearing in about 15 silents between 1910 and 1915. Her first film, Jean and the Calico Doll, marked the film debut of the famed actress, Helen Hayes.
But without doubt, the most important dog in motion picture history was Rin Tin Tin (sorry, Lassie lovers). After all, no other dog can be credited as saving a film studio, as Rinty did for Warner Bros.
While fighting in France during World War I, on September 15, 1918, an American soldier, Lee Duncan, found a small German shepherd alive in the back of a bombed kennel at a deserted German encampment in the Meuse Valley. He named the dog Rin Tin Tin, after the small good luck charm, Rintintin, that French children gave to American soldiers for protection.
Duncan brought the dog back to the United States and trained him. Rin Tin Tin’s first film appearance was in 1922’s silent film, The Man from Hell’s River. He appeared as himself in a supporting role.
The film that made him a four-legged celebrity, often mistakenly called his first movie, was Where the North Begins, a 1923 Warner Bros. release. That was his first starring role and the film that launched him into worldwide fame. The four Warner brothers had opened their film company on April 4, 1923, and Where the North Begins was one of their first releases, premiering on July 1, 1923, only a few months after the company incorporated.
Rin Tin Tin became one of the studio’s first box-office successes, starring in a string of highly profitable silent films that often outperformed movies featuring human actors. His popularity helped stabilize the studio financially during its early days, bringing in millions of dollars in ticket sales and giving Warner Bros. a reliable star before the arrival of sound films.
In 1931, Warner Bros. lent Rin Tin Tin to Mascot Films, located at today’s Radford Studio in Studio City for a 12-part serial, The Lightning Warrior, which was partially filmed at Chatsworth’s Iverson Ranch.
Rinty appeared in 27 Hollywood films between 1922 and 1931 and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1627 Vine Street in 1960.
But Rin Tin Tin was not the only cinematic canine to capture movie-goers’ attention…and hearts.
Between 1943 and 1951, MGM’s beloved Lassie (and his – yes, his – offspring) starred in seven films for the studio, but was better known for the television series, which aired from 1954 through 1973.
Not surprisingly, Burbank-headquartered Disney has produced more dog-centric films than any other studio, just some of which are: Lady and the Tramp (1955 and 2019), Old Yeller (1957), The Fox and the Hound (1981), Beethoven (1992), White Fang (1991), Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993), and The Shaggy Dog (1959 and 2006). Many of them were shot on the studio lot and numerous Valley locations.
But the Mouse House isn’t the only studio to profit from dogs, of all sizes, breeds, and dispositions; a few others: Benji (1974), Marley & Me (2008), Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (2009), and Rescued by Ruby (2022). MGM, Paramount, 20th Century-Fox, and others all reaped cinematic gold from dog films.
During the Depression, Asta was Hollywood’s foremost canine scene-stealer. A wire-haired terrier, he was the four-legged sidekick of retired private detective Nick Charles and his wife Nora, played by William Powell and Myrna Loy, in The Thin Man series. Asta became the highest-paid animal star of his day, earning $250 a week…with his own private dressing room.
He even managed to hold his thespic own against co-stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby (1938).
In its September 10, 1910, issue, the trade publication The Moving Picture World, wrote of 1910’s film, Jean and the Calico Doll, “The intelligence of animals makes a good picture at any time, and when it is utilized in rescuing life, as this one is, the interest is measurably increased.”
That could be said of hundreds of films starring dogs, from 1910 to today.
Martin Cooper, President of Cooper Communications, supervised public relations for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for 10 years; held executive positions with Disney and Universal Studios; and was Board Chairman of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. He is a member of the Board of the British Film Institute in America.
An award-winning author, he has written four books, two of them on the San Fernando Valley. His fifth book, The ‘Reel’ Hollywood: The San Fernando Valley, the history of motion pictures in the Valley, was published this month and is available on Amazon and in book stores.
