If you’ve rescued a pet or volunteered at your local Humane Society or adoption center, you know of the hidden gems and incredible animals within those walls. And history proves it! With National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day on April 30th, I wanted to showcase the dogs who became household names as movie and television starts. They were welcomed into our living rooms, and hearts, throughout the decades, and nearly all of them were on the euthanasia list due to lack of space and interest. But, thanks to their endearing personalities, shelters began seeing an increase in adoptions across the US. Here are a handful of Hollywood’s four-legged darlings.
OLD YELLER
Old Yeller may be one of Disney’s saddest movies, and as a young child still haunted by the ending, I can attest to this! But the backstory of its canine star is anything but dismal. Spike, who played the title role, was adopted from a Van Nuys, California shelter when he was still a puppy by animal trainer Frank Weatherwax for just $3. When Weatherwax’s wife, Connie, read part of Frank Gipson’s classic novel in The Saturday Evening Post, the author’s description of the dog reminded her of Spike. So when Disney announced that they’d be adapting the book to the big screen, Weatherwax got Spike an audition. But there was a problem: The lop-eared yellow Mastador was just too sweet. So Weatherwax went to work on training the lovable pup to snarl and growl on command. Spike nailed the part, and went on to have a fruitful acting career. While he even made a few appearances as one of Lassie’s buds, it was his role in Old Yeller that would solidify him as an example of the deep bond between a dog and his people.
Rin Tin Tin in the 1929 film, Frozen River
RIN TIN TIN
In 1918, American corporal Leland Duncan stumbled upon a bombed-out dog kennel near Lorraine, France, where he found a German Shepherd mom tending to her litter of newborn puppies. Duncan rescued the dogs, and brought two of the puppies home to California with him: Nanette and Rin Tin Tin. Though Nanette passed away, Rin Tin Tin became a huge star, appearing in more than two dozen silent films. Today, you can visit his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Frank Inn with Higgins, the original ‘Benji’ | By Croes, Rob C. / Anefo – [1] Dutch National Archives, The Hague, Fotocollectie Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANeFo), 1945-1989, Nummer toegang 2.24.01.05 Bestanddeelnummer 930-1617, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl, Wikimedia Commons
BENGJI
Frank Inn was a dog lover through and through: Though he made his living as a professional animal trainer, he was also an enormous advocate of shelter dogs. He’d regularly adopt pups who were at risk of being euthanized, then attempt to train them. Not every dog takes to acting or life on the stage, and in those cases, he’d find loving homes for them through friends and family. One of his greatest success stories was Higgins, a mutt he found at California’s Burbank Animal Shelter, who proved to be a natural in front of the camera. After making his onscreen debut on Petticoat Junction, his real star-making turn came in the first Benji film.
According to the Humane Society, Higgins’s history as a shelter dog led to the adoption of 1 million more because of Benji.
SANDY
In Annie, the red-headed orphan finds a kindred spirit in Sandy, a streetwise stray dog she adopts as her own faithful companion. Since the musical’s original Broadway run, animal trainer and behaviorist William Berloni has filled the role with shelter dogs. In 1976, he paid just $7 to save the original Sandy from being euthanized and trained him to appear on Broadway. He ended up stealing the show in more than 2,300 performances!
And it started a bit of a trend; when Annie was revived for the stage in 2012, Berloni put a shelter dog named Sunny to work for the part.
MURRAY
From 1992 to 1999, Maui—a collie mix who was adopted from a California shelter by animal trainer Boone Narr—played Murray, the lovable pooch of Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt) on Mad About You. “Maui is very sweet and takes direction well,” Betty Linn, who trained Maui for several years, told Mutt News in 2008. “He’s completely spoiled by everyone and consequently loves to go to the set when we begin a new show on Mondays.”
Special thanks to Mental Floss for all the historical data. We hope remembering this amazing dogs has inspired you to open your home to one as well…the possibilities are endless!
