Top 25 Animal Actors
This Is A list Of Films That Are about Man's Best Friends
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Bart the Bear was perhaps one of Hollywood's most remarkable animal stars. The Alaskan brown bear was born in 1977 and was brought in by Utah animal trainer Doug Seus. Bart started to train in acting in 1980 and grew to 9 feet tall, the average for brown bears.
Bart starred in The Great Outdoors (1988), On Deadly Ground (1994) and The Edge (1997). Bart's co-stars included John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Steven Seagal, Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin, all of whom were very impressed with how well a bear could be trained to act, and enjoyed the experience of working with animals. Sadly, Bart died in 2000 of cancer at the age of 23 during filming of Animal Planet's Growing Up Grizzly (2001). His namesake is Little Bart. Little Bart's sister is named Honey Bump. Their mother was killed and Doug and Lynne Seus took them in. Doug and wife Lynne Seus started the Vital Ground Foundation in honor of Bart, who was the organization's 1st ambassador. The organization was begun to set up lands to preserve the great grizzlies and other wildlife.Bart earned more than $6 million- Bart the Bear II is an 8.5-foot tall, 1,110-pound Alaskan brown bear whose impact on wildlife has been even bigger than his body or his acting accomplishments. Also known as Little Bart, Bart II is small only in comparison to his predecessor, Bart the Bear, who stood a foot taller and 400 pounds heavier in his prime. Orphaned as a tiny cub in Alaska, Bart II and his sister, Honey Bump, were rescued and delivered to Doug and Lynne Seus, the Utah-based animal trainers who had turned Bart the Bear into an international celebrity and established The Vital Ground Foundation in 1990 to help protect habitat for Bart's wild grizzly cousins. Little Bart soon got very big, in the flesh and in the film industry. Still going strong as he nears age 20, Bart's acting accomplishments include "Dr. Doolittle 2", "Without a Paddle", "Into the Wild" and more recently an episode of HBO's mega-hit "Game of Thrones" and the upcoming Discovery series, "Man vs. Bear".
- Sadie was born in October 2001 in California, USA. She was an actress, known for Man in the Chair (2007), Fold (2008) and 24 Hours on Craigslist (2005). She died on 11 February 2016 in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Moose was the youngest of a litter of four, yet was also the biggest, hence his name. Hyper and destructive as a pup, he eventually found his way to Birds & Animals Unlimited, where he got his job playing Eddie on 'Frasier', before going on to act in the film My Dog Skip (2000), along with his son, Enzo.eearned a total of $10,000 for each episode
- Max is known for The Mask (1994) and Mr. Accident (2000).
- Buddy was born in 1988. He was an actor, known for Air Bud (1997) and Full House (1987). He died on 11 February 1998.
- Crystal the Monkey is no small bananas. In just five of her movies, she holds a box office gross of over $2.5 Billion. Her film, "Hangover 2" opened at $177.8 Million, the largest opening weekend in history for a comedy. She has worked with some of the biggest directors in Hollywood. She has held her own with Oscar Winners, stole scenes from top comedians and is beloved with the press as she commands Red Carpets. Paired with her extraordinary trainer, Tom Gunderson, she began in the business at the live animal show at Universal Studios. In 1997, she appeared in her first film "George of the Jungle." In 2007, with over 20 features to her name came her big break came in "Night at the Museum" with Ben Stiller. With her naughty character, Dexter, she proved herself as not just a trained animal, but as an actor. In the second installment of"Museum" she reprised her role of Dexter and furthered her range by playing the duel character of Able. In 2011, Crystal solidified herself as an box-office actress. Beginning with "Hangover 2" where she was a tour de force as a drug dealing gangster. Also, starring in "Hangover" was the hilarious actor, Ken Jeong who said ""She's not a monkey, she's an actor. And quite possibly the best actor I've worked with." In the USA Today's review by Brian Alexander he said "one cast member truly stood out: Crystal, a capuchin monkey. Maybe her name should be Hollywood's Hottest Monkey." She went onto play Donald the Monkey "Zookeeper" starring Kevin James with Adam Sandler dubbing her voice. Rounding out the year with Oscar winner, Matt Damon in "We got a Zoo." When the new show "Animal Practice" aired in 2012, with Crystal on their cover, New York Magazine said "NBC's most valuable commodity this fall: an irresistible, virtuoso capuchin monkey." She played the adorable sidekick Dr. Rizzo.was paid a total of $12,000 for each episode, which equates to a total of $264,000 per season
- Actress
Katie is known for The Loop (2006) and Friends: The Stuff You've Never Seen (2001).- Manis was the trained orangutan that played Clyde, Clint Eastwood's sidekick from the 1978 box office hit Every Which Way But Loose. Its 1980 sequel, Any Which Way You Can (1980), did not feature Manis, as he had grown too much between productions. The orangutan that played Clyde the orangutan in the second film was C.J. the Orangutan. This was CJ's first film of a 6 year career.
Manis returned to working with his trainers' act in Las Vegas. - Tory the Sea Lion was born in 1984 in California, USA. He is an actor, known for Andre (1994).
- Without question, the most known dog in movie history. Many dogs tried to eclipse Toto's success, most recently, The Men In Black dog. Most don't know that Toto has an autobiography that's available in most stores. She almost lost her life when she broke her foot in The Wizard of Oz. Toto (Terry) appeared in over 10 Hollywood films. The industry took a big blow when she died.
- Enzo was also used as a stand-in for his father in the popular sitcom Frasier (1993), as the role of Eddie Crane. Enzo was one of a few puppies bred specifically as possible replacements for Moose, as it became clear that Frasier was a hit and would enjoy a long run. A daughter, Miko, was considered but never grew large enough (she was given to a technician); a son, Moosie, lived with Peri Gilpin, the actress who played Roz Doyle. Enzo, born to mother Chelsea Marvin (also a Jack Russell) was a closer match and turned out to have unusually similar facial markings to his father; later in the series, he was used as a stunt double to perform the more physically challenging tricks for his aging father. Enzo and Moose took turns playing the role after the eighth season. Enzo was also used as one of the puppies that "Eddie" had fathered during the show. Off the set, trainer Mathilde de Cagny has stated that Moose and Enzo's relationship was so bad that the two "could not stand to be in the same room together."
- Flipper was played by five female dolphins; Susie, Patty, Squirt, Scotty and Kathy. The five dolphins performed all of Flipper's scenes except the famous tail walk, a trick they were unable to master completely. A male dolphin named Clown was brought in for scenes involving the tail walk. The famous "voice" of Flipper was actually the doctored song of a kookaburra.
- Keiko, a Genus Orca whale, was born in 1976 and captured off the coast of Iceland in 1979. He was sold to the marine park industry, and in 1985 he arrived to Reino Aventura in Mexico City where and lived a normal life for a captive whale until 1993. In that year, he was cast as "Willy" in the movie "Free Willy," capturing the hearts of millions of children and adults worldwide. Afterwards, Life magazine made an article where it showed of the horrible conditions in in which he lived in Reino Aventura so an international pledge was started, and enough money was raised to have him sent to the Oregon Coast Aquarium; before being airlifted back to Iceland in 1998 to prepare him for a return to the wild.
He was trained to survive in the wild and released in July of 2002, but he longed for human contact. He swam 870 miles; eventually ending up in Helsa, Norway in September of 2002, where local residents played with him often; so much so that animal protection authorities banned anyone from approaching him. He was looked after by whale keepers for the last year of life, suddenly coming down with pneumonia on December 10, 2003. He died a day later.This is the staring player in the Free Willy movies earned over $36 million - Pal the dog (a Rough Collie) was born on June 8, 1940 in North Hollywood, California, USA. He is best known and remembered for Lassie Come Home (1943) and Courage of Lassie (1946), The Painted Hills (1951). Though he was a male, he received notoriety for playing the famous character Lassie. He was retired from acting in 1954, and died in 1958. His life and memories of him live on in his movies and T.V. appearances.earned up to $4,000 every week
- Bonny was born in 2010. She is an actress, known for Seven Psychopaths (2012) and Cold Wallet (2024).
- Though she was best known as Francis the Talking Mule, her real name was Molly. Molly was known for Francis Goes to the Races (1951), Francis (1950) and Francis Goes to West Point (1952). Molly won a prestigious award In 1951, when she became the very first animal to win the coveted Picture Animal Star of the Year from the American Humane Association.
- Orangey the Cat is the only feline double-winner of the Patsy Award, the animal kingdom's equivalent of the Oscar. The Patsy Award is given out by the American Humane Association's Hollywood branch and stands for Picture Animal Top Star of the Year. Orangey won his first Patsy for his cinema debut in Rhubarb (1951), playing the eponymous baseball team-owning cat in the 1951 film. Ten years later, he won his second Patsy, playing "Cat" in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), a homeless feline described as a "poor slob without a name" by Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn), whom he visits.
Orangey, who sometimes was billed as Rhubarb the Cat, was an orange-colored tabby trained by the famous animal trainer Frank Inn, known for such famous critter thespians as the pig who played Arnold Ziffel on Green Acres (1965) and Higgins the Dog, who appeared in the TV series Petticoat Junction (1963), originated the role of Benji in the movies. Both Arnold and Higgins were Patsy winners. Frank Inn's critters won a total of 40 Patsy Awards during his career.
Orangey's longest gig was a recurring role as Minerva the Cat in the TV series Our Miss Brooks (1952) from 1952 through 1958. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Trigger, Roy Rogers' beautiful Golden Palomino stallion, and co-star with Roy in many of his movies and Roy's TV show, was often billed as "the smartest horse in the movies".
The two of them appeared in dozens of westerns in the 1930s and 40s, always chasing and thwarting the bad guys, and working to serve peace and justice.
Trigger even shared the movie title with Roy on two occasions: My Pal Trigger (1946) and Trigger, Jr. (1950).
Trigger started life out as Golden Cloud (1934). His sire was a thoroughbred horse that had raced at Caliente Track, and his dam was a cold-blooded palomino. Trigger was foaled on a small ranch in the San Diego area which was partly owned by Bing Crosby. The manager of that ranch was Roy Cloud, a breeder originally from Noblesville, Indiana. At around 3 years of age, Golden Cloud was sold to the Hudkins Stables, which rented horses to the movie industry. Golden Cloud's first major appearance was in the movie, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) where he was ridden by Olivia de Havilland. When Gene Autry failed to report for work at Republic Pictures, Roy Rogers found himself cast in the lead role for Under Western Stars (1938). Before filming began on Under Western Stars (1938), Hudkins Stables brought their best lead horses to the studio so Roy could select a mount. As Roy recalled it, the third horse he got on was a beautiful golden palomino who handled smoothly and reacted quickly to whatever he asked it to do.
Roy said of Golden Cloud "He could turn on a dime and give you some change".
Smiley Burnette, who played Roy's sidekick in his first two films, was watching and mentioned how quick on the trigger this horse was. Roy agreed and decided that Trigger was the perfect name for the horse. Roy purchased the horse for $2,500 and eventually outfitted it with a $5,000 gold/silver saddle.
Roy was proud of the fact that throughout his more than 80 films, the 101 episodes of his television series, and countless personal appearances, Trigger never fell.
Roy once said that "he felt that Trigger seemed to know when people were watching him and that he recognized applause and just ate it up like a ham!"
Trigger won a Patsy award for the role in Son of Paleface (1952) & the 1958 Craven award winner. He was so popular that at one time, he even had his own fan club with members from all over the world. On July 3, 1965, at the Rogers ranch in Hidden Valley, California, Trigger, at age 30, passed away. Roy was reluctant to "put him in the ground", so Rogers had the horse mounted in a rearing position by Bishoff's Taxidermy of California. The rest of his remains are buried in Thousand Oaks, California on one of Roy's former ranches.- Howard is known for Lassie (1997) and Lassie Unleashed: 280 Dog Years in TV (1994).
- Mason is known for Cable Beach (2004).
- Contrary to popular belief, Lassie was actually a laddie. The female collie originally cast as the lovable canine was replaced due to her excessive shedding of fur during production of Lassie Come Home (1943) and replaced with a more impressive looking male animal named Pal. Pal, born in 1940, was owned by the renowned animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax. He performed so well as a stunt dog that he was given an MGM contract (1943-50) and all future incarnations of Lassie (in fact, Pal's descendants) would thereafter be cast from male animals. This did not, however, deter writers or producers from having Pal play both mother and son in Son of Lassie (1945), or Pal's offspring giving birth to a litter of pups in an episode of the television series.
Pal first played "Lassie" in the above-mentioned Lassie Come Home, based on a 1938 short story, which was later expanded into a novel by English author Eric Knight. He appeared in six more sequels and the two initial pilots for the CBS television series, commencing in 1954 and ending in 1973 after an incredible 591 episodes. While the dog remained the show's main consistent factor, the cast of his owners changed frequently. According to former boy actor Jon Provost who played the character of Timmy Martin in the series "All the actors made more mistakes than the dog."
Pal died in June 1958, aged 18, and was buried on Rudd's ranch. The baton had already been passed to his son, Lassie Jr (1954-1959), who was, in turn, succeeded by his sons, Spook (1960), Baby (1960-66), Mire (1966-71) and Hey Hey (1971-73). All these animals were of Pal's bloodline and trained by Rudd Weatherwax. "Lassie" was also adapted for radio, broadcast as The Lassie Show from 1947-50, on ABC and NBC. The franchise also spawned two animated series for children, Lassie's Rescue Rangers (1973) and The New Adventures of Lassie (2014). There was also a 1994 motion picture and a 1997 Canadian iteration of Lassie (1997) in which the dog was played by the Weatherwax-trained collie Howard (an eight generation Pal descendant) and by Pal grandson Hey Hey. - Buck was the name of the original family dog in the hit sitcom "Married... with Children" (1987-1997). It was played by the dog actor Michael, trained by Steven Ritt. Several episodes included voice-overs which revealed Buck's thoughts. The dog was a Briard, a French breed of large shepherd dogs. The breed was first introduced in dog shows during 1863, and is thought to originate from the historic region of Brie.
Michael remained in the series from 1987 to 1995, but developed age-related health problems by the show's final years. In 1995, it was decided that Michael should retire and that the character Buck should die. The character died in the 10th season episode "Requiem for a Dead Briard" (broadcast on October 1, 1995). The show then introduced the new family dog Lucky, as Buck's reincarnation.
Michael lived in retirement until his death in May 1996. He was 13-years-old at the time of his death, while the average life span for a Briard is about 10 years. "Married... with Children" has retained a cult following since its production ended, and Buck has remained a fan-favorite character. Ensuring enduring fame for Michael. - The first 'Rin Tin Tin', who along with his heirs starred in numerous films and television series, was discovered during World War I, September 15, 1918, by US Air Corporal Lee Duncan and his battalion in Lorraine, France. At a bombed out dog kennel, Duncan found a mother Shepherd Dog and her scrawny litter of five pups. Duncan chose two of the dogs, a male and female, while members of his group took the mother and the others back to camp. The only survivors over the next few months were the two pups Duncan had claimed, naming them 'Rin Tin Tin' and 'Nannette' after tiny French puppets the French children would give to the American soldiers for good luck. When the war ended, Duncan made special arrangements to take his pups back to his home in Los Angeles, but during the Atlantic crossing, Nannette became ill and died, shortly after arriving in America. In 1922, Duncan and Rin Tin Tin attended an LA dog show, with 'Rinty' performing for the crowd by jumping 13 ½ feet. Following the show, producer Darryl Zanuck asked Duncan if he could try out his new 'moving pictures' camera on the dog and paid $350 to film Rinty in action. Contacting every studio in Hollywood with a Rin Tin Tin -starring script "Where The North Begins", Duncan unexpectedly stumbled onto a low-budget, Warner Bros (Vitaphone) film crew having difficulty shooting an exterior scene with a wolf. Duncan quickly approached the director and told them that Rinty could do the scene in one take. True to his word, Duncan's 'wonder' dog did the scene in one take and both were hired for the entire shoot of "Man From Hells River". The film was a hit and Rin Tin Tin was a sensation, making 26 pictures for Warners while starring in his own live 1930s radio show "The Wonder Dog". At the peak of his popularity, Warners maintained 18 trained stand-ins to reduce any stress on their dog star, while providing Rinty with a private chef who prepared daily lunches of tenderloin steak (consumed as live classical music was played to help ease the dog's digestion.) Rin Tin Tin died in 1932 at the age of 14, returned to his birthplace in France, and interred in "The Cimetière des Chiens (et Autres Animaux Exotiques)" in the suburb of Asnieres. Today, Rin Tin Tin's continuous bloodline carries on at a Texas kennel, where a litter of 8-11 pups are born each year.Rin Tin Tin held the starring role in 26 movies for the Warner Brothers Studios and received a total of $6,000 per week
- The canine that began the world's love affair with the collie breed was named Pal. Pal's lineage could be traced back to 'Old Cockie' (born 1868), England's first celebrated Rough Collie. A male, Pal was born at the Glamis Kennels in North Hollywood in June 1940. His initial owner passed the dog on to animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax, who, with his brother Frank, proceeded to train the animal. After learning of Eric Knight's novel Lassie Come Home (1943), Rudd took Pal to MGM as one of 1500 contestants for the lead role in what was to become an A-Grade technicolor release, starring a very young beauty named Elizabeth Taylor. Pal was first signed on as a stunt dog but quickly replaced the female collie originally cast as Lassie when the latter began shedding fur excessively. As a male, Pal was also deemed to be more impressive-looking in size. Signed up by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Pal remained under contract from 1943 to 1950, appearing in six sequels, including Son of Lassie (1945) and Courage of Lassie (1946). The storylines rarely varied, the lovable pooch saving the day by rescuing the injured and/or imperiled, or by raising alarm to warn of impending danger. By 1951, the franchise had run out of ideas and Pal's contract with MGM lapsed. In lieu of back pay owed him by the studio, Weatherwax retained full rights to the Lassie trademark.
Robert Maxwell and Jack Wrather at CBS took up the option and brought Lassie into the realm of the small screen. The ensuing television series ran from 1954 to 1973, totaling 591 episodes. Pal appeared only in the two original pilots before retiring. He died at the age of 18 and was buried on his grieving owner's ranch. Over the ensuing years, Pal's descendants, all products of Weatherwax training (beginning with Lassie Junior) took up the baton.