1. Terry
Terry as Toto with Judy Garland in 1939's "The Wizard of Oz"
The scrappy little Cairn Terrier known as "Toto" is almost as iconic as his human costar, Judy Garland. In fact, the movie made her so famous, her name was changed from Terry to Toto in 1942.
Born during the Great Depression, she was owned and trained by Carl Spitz. From the beginning, she was an unusally intelligent dog, and made her first film appearance in 1934's Ready for Love. Where she really got noticed, though, was in the iconic Shirley Temple film, Bright Eyes.
In addition to her intelligence, Terry was known to be fearless and did all her own stunts. She was seriously injured during filming of The Wizard of Oz when one of the actors accidentally stepped on, and broke her foot. Terry spent two weeks recovering at Judy Garland's house, where she became very close to the star.
Garland pleaded to adopt her, but Spitz refused. I'm sure he loved Terry, but the fact that she was bringing in $125 a week - more than most of the human actors at MGM, surely factored into his decision.
Furthermore, Terry/Toto had a knack for producing talented offspring. Her son, Rommy, appeared in films as well, including 1942's Reap the Wild Wind.
2. Rin Tin Tin
Would you go nuts over a signed photo of a dog? You would, if you were a moviegoer in the 1920s, and the dog was German Shepherd superstar, Rin Tin Tin. In full disclosure, the above photo was signed by his owner Lee Duncan. Rinty (Duncan's nickname for him) was smart, but not that smart.
Rin Tin Tin was an international motion picture star who went onto appear in 27 Hollywood films. What's especially touching about his story is that he was a rescue, found by Duncan during World War II.
In the French village of Flirey, Duncan came across a kennel that once supplied German Shepherds for the German Imperial Army. The only surviving dogs were a near-dead female Shepherd and her litter of puppies. Duncan took the dogs back to his unit and found homes for all of them, except a male and female that he kept.
Believing they were symbols of good luck, he named that Rin Tin Tin and Nanette. He managed to smuggle them into the U.S., but Nanette ended up dying from pnuemonia shortly after their arrival.
With Rin and another female dog (Nanette II), the trio relocated to Los Angeles. Rin started entering dog shows, but Duncan felt he could be the next canine superstar, just like Strongheart - a German Shepherd film star who was rich and famous enough to live in his own bungalow with full time staff.
Rin eventually scored some small parts in silent films, but quickly rose to fame because he was so easy to work with. His films were so profitable that he was credited with saving Warner Brothers from bankruptcy. He was even considered for an Oscar in 1929, but the Academy ultimately decided to limit nominations to humans.
Regardless of the Academy's snub, Rin Tin Tin was so immensely popular that his death on August 10, 1932 interrupted regularly scheduled programming. In 1960, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
3. Pal
Pal, the original Lassie in 1942
Lassie is possibly the world's most famous dog, but the very first Lassie was a male Rough Collie named Pal. Born in 1940, Pal descended from a long line of show dogs, but he was sold as a pet because of his coloring and the size of his eyes, which were deemed too large for show standards.
Pal's owner Howard Peck brought him to Hollywood dog trainer Rudd Weatherwax, hoping to cure him of his constant barking and chasing of motorcycles. The barking was resolved, but Pal kept running after motorcyles, so Peck gave the dog to Weatherwax.
He regretted that decision when Pal was eventually chosen to play Lassie in the film adaptation of the novel, Lassie Come-Home. Peck actually sued to reclaim Pal, but the court upheld Weatherwax's ownership of the dog. Pal went onto make 6 more Lassie films until MGM felt that Lassie mania had run its course.
Weatherwax, however, was a lot smarter and sought to protect the Lassie name and image. In exchange for the $40,000 the studio owed him for breaking the contract, he negotiated the ownership of the Lassie name and trademark.
This was a brilliant decision, because Lassie was revived as a television series just a few years later. Pal retired quickly after the show started, but at that point, Weatherwax had a backup in the form of Lassie Jr. As for Pal, he died of natural causes in June 1958.
Weatherwax's son, Robert, recalled him father's heartbreak, and his inability to ever watch a Lassie movie again. According to Robert, "He just couldn't bear to see Pal. He didn't want to have to be reminded of just how much he loved that dog."
4. Pete
Pete Jr. with "Our Gang's" Matthew Beard (L) and Bobby Hutchins (R)
The Our Gang comedies (also known as The Little Rascals) were a huge hit throughout the 1920s and early 40s with their cast of adorable child characters such as Stymie and Farina. The kids were often joined by "Pete the Pup", shown in the above photo.
That dog, however, was not the original Pete. The very first Pete was his father, an American Pit Bull Terrier owned by Lt. Harry Lucenay. Prior to his work on the Our Gang series, he had appeared in The Freshaman (1925) and the Buster Brown series as "Tige".
His role as Pete made him famous, thanks to the ring around his right eye that was created by Hollywood makeup artist, Max Factor. Sadly, Pete Sr. died as a result of poisoning in 1930. His son, formally named Lucenay's Peter, was the natural replacement.
The producers came up with a clever gimmick to introduce him as a puppy on the Our Gang installment "Pups is Pups". The ring around the eye, however, was on the left side so that he was a mirror image of his father. In the above image on the set of "School's Out", he's almost full-grown.
As adorable as he was, he was fired from the Our Gang series in 1932, for reasons I suspect had more to do with Lucenay than Pete. He was retired to Atlantic City, where he lived a relatively peaceful life with occasional photo ops at the Steel Pier.
Pete died on January 28, 1946, in Los Angeles at the age of 16. He was laid to rest at the Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park at Calabasas.
5. Jean
Jean with Florence Foley in 1912's "Playmates"
Jean the Border Collie was the very first dog to have a leading role in motion pictures. She was employed with Vitgraph Studios from 1909 to 1913, and was widely known as The Vitagraph Dog.
Her fame was a happy accident resulting from her owner's visit to Vitagraph Studios as a writer doing research on the movie making process. During his visit, he learned that the studio was looking for a dog who could "act", meaning show expression and display certain behaviors on command.
Her owner, Laurence Trimble looked over the script and said he could train any dog to do what it required. He proved it by training a stray dog that was hiding in the studio garage. When producer Albert Smith remarked that the dog was too small, Trimble said he would bring his own dog, Jean the next day.
The highly intelligent, even-tempered Jean soon became as popular as the human actors at Vitagraph. By 1910, she was starring in her own films, including Jean the Match Maker and Jean and the Calico Doll.
After Jean died in 1916 at the age of 14, Trimble went on to discover and work with Strongheart, another famous canine star of the silent film era.