Hollywood Dogs
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By Amy Fernandez
It was major network news when the world learned that Uggie the beloved Jack Russell Terrier had succumbed to advanced cancer on Wednesday August 7. His banner headline came via the role of Jack the Dog in the acclaimed 2012 silent film The Artist, which won five Oscars including Best Picture. Countless rave reviews acknowledged Uggie as the anchor point of the film’s success.
It was a notable accomplishment. On the other hand, dogs have been stealing scenes ever since movies were invented. The first canine movie star, a British Collie named Blair, made her debut in 1905. Over the next decade this new media format launched the careers of countless canine stars like Luke and Petey the Pit Bulls, and Jean, a Border Collie better known as The Vitagraph Dog. In 1925 Strongheart became the first in a long line of German Shepherd superstars with his breakout role in the film adaptation of Jack London’s White Fang.
Successful Hollywood dogs are legion, however Uggie’s status as an A-list Hollywood star was verified in the realest sense on June 25, 2012 when he became the first dog to have its pawprints immortalized on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater. That ceremony marked his show biz retirement and the release of his official biography Uggie – My Story in October 2012.
He was a singular talent in this industry. His trainers, Sarah Clifford and Omar Muller, confirm that Uggie rarely used stand-ins or stunt doubles, performing almost all his scenes himself. Starting in 2005, small parts led up to his first big break as Queenie in Water for Elephants. In 2010 he became a hit on The Incredible Dog Show showcasing his impressive skateboard skills. The following year he landed a product endorsement contract for Nintendo and he took his last curtain call in The Campaign in February 2012.
In late 2011 the Consider Uggie Facebook page was launched to promote him as an Oscar contender. That coveted award has been restricted to human recipients since 1929 when Rin Tin Tin unexpectedly received the most votes for Best Actor. No Oscar, but Uggie’s trophy shelf featured baubles from the Cannes Film Festival, the Prix Lumiere Awards, the American Humane Association’s Pawscar award, and the first Golden Collar Award, one of several prizes created in response to his growing stardom. Uggie was great, but let’s face it; he was very heavily promoted in every media outlet. Even so, exploitative marketing goes hand in hand with Hollywood, along with a loose interpretation of facts. Both seem to be true in this case.
In that respect, nothing surpasses his PETA campaign. That group never misses a chance to latch onto media opportunities. And the celebrated Uggie was recruited as their official poster dog to encourage adoption of shelter dogs. There is nothing wrong with that message, but it is truly ironic considering the organization’s staunch condemnation all forms of “animal enslavement” – which by their interpretation, includes guide dogs, service dogs, pets, and yes, animal actors for sure.
More paradoxical was the fact that, contrary to PETA’s portrayal of Uggie as a stray/rescue/ shelter dog, he was nothing of the kind. In reality Uggie wasn’t swept out of a kill shelter. He was one of millions of Jack Russells acquired as a housepet that subsequently proved too hot to handle. Whelped February 14, 2002 his owner/trainer Omar Von Muller acquired him after his second owners couldn’t cope with his rambunctious nature. It wasn’t mere luck. Professional animal trainers have been perpetually on the lookout for Terrier talent since the cameras started rolling more than a century ago.
Among the most prominent trainers of Hollywood’s golden era was Henry East. Along with his actress/wife Gale he founded a two acre training kennel on the outskirts of Los Angeles in 1923. They prepped and presented some of the most celebrated canine stars in film history. He is best remembered for Skippy (aka Asta) the irrepressible Fox Terrier who rose to fame in the 1934 blockbuster The Thin Man. During his career, Skippy starred alongside legendary names like Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn.
In his 1933 book How to Train Dogs for Stage, Screen, and Home, East emphasized that it’s not as easy as it looks, “The dog’s action must be plausible and convincing.” Elaborating on this requirement he explained, “To teach a dog to do the simplest things he does naturally at the moment you desire it is one of the most necessary aspects of dog training if you want him to become a successful screen actor…people in general don’t realizie that teaching a dog to act like a dog when you command him requires more patience than teaching him the most complicated tricks. It is much more than learning a routine and repeating it. A motion picture dog must do different actions in practically every scene… Moving picture work taxes a dog’s capabilities to the greatest extent.” Like the legions of wannabe actors waiting tables in Los Angeles, very few dogs have what it takes to succeed in this business. However, Terriers seem to have an edge.
Equally famous during Skippy’s era was the Cairn who played Toto. Owned and trained by Carl Spitz, she worked in dozens of films for a decade prior to landing that defining role. Her look-alike daughter took over and continued their Cairn legacy when she retired in 1942.
Among other things, the Terrier’s visual appeal has consigned them to the dreaded but lucrative fate of typecasting. These spunky, mischievous, ragamuffin scene stealers never seem to lose their box office charm. Their innate resilience, stamina, drive, agility, reactivity, and incredible energy and focus frequently make them tricky housepets. Nevertheless, those traits are ideally suited to intense, complex training and 14 hour days on the set. Almost every Terrier breed has made its mark in Hollywood and Uggie wasn’t the first Jack Russell.
All modern incarnations of the breed trace back to a renowned Fox Terrier pack developed in the 1800s. The breed has never lost the traits that stamped it as the ultimate working hunt Terrier. They are equipped with the tenacity, confidence, determination, and curiosity to get into all sorts of trouble without proper outlets for their prodigious mental and physical energy. Moose confirmed that long before Uggie stepped in front of a camera. Starring as Eddie, he undeniably dominated the long running hit series Frasier.
Whelped December 24, 1990, his original owners finally gave up trying to turn him into a housepet and placed him with an animal talent agency. At 2½ years old he was shipped to L.A.-based trainer, Mathilda DeCagny, and a star was born. Like Lassie, his brand image was perpetuated in a breeding program. After his 2006 death at age 15, a string of similarly talented offspring kept the Jack Russell banner flying in La La Land. His look-alike son, Enzo, whelped July 1995, eventually replaced Moose in the long running series, dying in 2010 at age 14.
Moose and Enzo set the bar pretty high for Jack Russell talent. And some critics contend that Uggie’s success was partly luck since he had the advantage of starring in a silent film. During filming, he could rely on the canine version of cue cards/verbal commands.
Talkies revised the rules for canine actors and those changes were not limited to replacing verbal cues with a hand signal. Admittedly, then and now, there are tricks of the trade. But regardless of the breed or background, this profession requires a very specialized skillset. Undocumented mixed breeds have certainly earned their place in the Hollywood limelight. Most prominent among them was Benji, a cocker mix discovered in a Burbank animal shelter by legendary trainer Frank Inn.
However, Uggie was a documented purebred, not an anonymous stray. Perhaps the Jack Russell isn’t the breed for everyone, but there is no question that Uggie’s breeding and background contributed significantly to his success. His career qualifies as another crown jewel for his breed and Terriers in general. Let’s not subvert that message.
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Posted by ralbee
on Sep 14 2015. Filed under Current Articles, Editorial, Featured.
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