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| Uggie was the Oscar star of the award-winning The Artist |
CLAIR WOODWARD looks at the life of the canine ‘actor’ in modern silent film The Artist and other dogs who have hit the big time
And so, Uggie the Jack Russell terrier has gone to live in the great kennel in the sky.
However, he was turned down for a British acting award, with the committee saying: “Regretfully, we must advise that as he is not a human being and as his unique motivation as an actor was sausages, Uggie is not qualified to compete for the Bafta.”
Uggie also appeared in other movies, “wrote” his autobiography, and later in life, was also a spokesdog for Nintendo and animal charity Peta.
Not bad for a dog rejected by two owners for being too wild, and was saved from being sent to a pound by trainer Omar von Muller, who knew star quality when he saw it.
Uggie was the latest in the line of celebrity dogs (no jokes about reality television stars, please) to have warmed the cockles of our hearts.
By comparison, the actors who played the characters, the Munchkins, got between $50 to $125. Back in Britain, dogs have also been given the star treatment. In the fi lm Digby, The Biggest Dog In The World, the main character was a super-sized Old English Sheepdog.
And last year a fi lm was released, called Pudsey The Dog: The Movie, about the adventures of the popular 2012 Britain’s Got Talent winner Pudsey, a Border Collie.
BBC TV’s former Blue Peter editor Biddy Baxter also had the great idea to have pets on the show so that children who didn’t have any could enjoy them.
The main canine star was Shep, John Noakes’ Border Collie, who had a long and happy life. Unlike the show’s first dog, a mongrel puppy who appeared on Blue Peter in 1962.
Sadly, the unnamed sickly pup died but instead of telling the children, a lookalike was chosen. It was named Petra by the young viewers, who never knew they’d been duped. SOAPS provide plenty of roles to our canine pals.
The Great Dane Schmeichel was a big star of Coronation Street for seven years before he was put down in 2011.
Bouncer the Labrador appeared in Aussie soap Neighbours in the 1980s, and like Toto, was rumoured to be earning more than some of the show’s actors.
There is a much bigger roll-call of dogs in EastEnders, though.
Giant Poodle Roly lived with the Watts family in the Queen Vic pub, while Willy the Pug was Ethel Skinner’s little pal.
Wellard the Belgian Shepherd was Robbie Jackson’s constant companion. Current top dog of the Queen Vic is Lady Di, the Carter’s Bulldog.
Paul O’Grady has made chat show stars of his own pets. Current star of his ITV show is Olga, who he is so close to that he named his television company after the Cairn Terrier.
His previous dog, Buster, a Shih Tsu/ Bichon Frise cross, was also a star of the show, and Paul was inconsolable when he died.
He even dedicated the second volume of his autobiography to Buster, naming him, “the greatest canine star since Lassie”.
Most controversial name for a dog in a British television programme in recent years was Isis, the Earl of Grantham’s Labrador in hit drama Downton Abbey.
But it wasn’t her fault she shared a name with a terrorist organisation.
Sadly, the 13-year-old dog, 91 in canine years, had to be put to sleep after suffering from prostate cancer. There hadn’t been a doggy star with Uggie’s international stardom for many years.
His pivotal appearance in 2011’s silent hit The Artist as Jack, the canine pal of suave French actor George Valentin (played by Jean Dujardin) won him critical plaudits and fans. Unable to win a real Oscar, des
His pivotal appearance in 2011’s silent hit The Artist as Jack, the canine pal of suave French actor George Valentin (played by Jean Dujardin) won him critical plaudits and fans. Unable to win a real Oscar, des
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| Uggie was the biggest canine star in Hollywood for years |
Uggie also appeared in other movies, “wrote” his autobiography, and later in life, was also a spokesdog for Nintendo and animal charity Peta.
Not bad for a dog rejected by two owners for being too wild, and was saved from being sent to a pound by trainer Omar von Muller, who knew star quality when he saw it.
Uggie was the latest in the line of celebrity dogs (no jokes about reality television stars, please) to have warmed the cockles of our hearts.
Jean, the Vitagraph Dog, was a Border Collie who appeared in silent movies at the turn of the last century. However, the fi rst major star was a German Shepherd called Rin Tin Tin.
The dog was rescued by US Corporal Lee Duncan from a bombed-out military dog kennel near Alsace in France in 1918 during the First World War.
Duncan later brought “Rinty” back home to California and soon discovered he had agility skills, but not long after Rinty suffered a setback when a pile of heavy newspapers fell on him and broke his leg. But to Duncan’s surprise, after Rinty recovered, he was somehow able to leap higher than ever.
His delighted owner, realised he had potential to be the next Strongheart – a German Shepherd, who was already a star of several films, and even had a house of his own in Hollywood.
Rin Tin Tin’s fame as a canine star would later overshadow Strongheart’s, who was trained as a police and Red Cross dog in Germany. He starred in 24 fi lms and was credited with saving the struggling Warner Brothers studios from bankruptcy.
No wonder “doggies” mean dollars in Hollywood. Lassie, a lady Collie, who was played by male dog Pal in early fi lms and the pilots of the TV series, became a major fi lm star, as did “Lassie’s” co-star, the late Hollywood actor Roddy McDowell.
They appeared together in the first film, Lassie Come Home, in 1943. The canine stars were well looked after. Terry the Cain Terrier, who played Dorothy’s dog Toto in The Wizard Of Oz, was paid $125 (£80) a week.
The dog was rescued by US Corporal Lee Duncan from a bombed-out military dog kennel near Alsace in France in 1918 during the First World War.
Duncan later brought “Rinty” back home to California and soon discovered he had agility skills, but not long after Rinty suffered a setback when a pile of heavy newspapers fell on him and broke his leg. But to Duncan’s surprise, after Rinty recovered, he was somehow able to leap higher than ever.
His delighted owner, realised he had potential to be the next Strongheart – a German Shepherd, who was already a star of several films, and even had a house of his own in Hollywood.
Rin Tin Tin’s fame as a canine star would later overshadow Strongheart’s, who was trained as a police and Red Cross dog in Germany. He starred in 24 fi lms and was credited with saving the struggling Warner Brothers studios from bankruptcy.
No wonder “doggies” mean dollars in Hollywood. Lassie, a lady Collie, who was played by male dog Pal in early fi lms and the pilots of the TV series, became a major fi lm star, as did “Lassie’s” co-star, the late Hollywood actor Roddy McDowell.
They appeared together in the first film, Lassie Come Home, in 1943. The canine stars were well looked after. Terry the Cain Terrier, who played Dorothy’s dog Toto in The Wizard Of Oz, was paid $125 (£80) a week.
And last year a fi lm was released, called Pudsey The Dog: The Movie, about the adventures of the popular 2012 Britain’s Got Talent winner Pudsey, a Border Collie.
BBC TV’s former Blue Peter editor Biddy Baxter also had the great idea to have pets on the show so that children who didn’t have any could enjoy them.
The main canine star was Shep, John Noakes’ Border Collie, who had a long and happy life. Unlike the show’s first dog, a mongrel puppy who appeared on Blue Peter in 1962.
Sadly, the unnamed sickly pup died but instead of telling the children, a lookalike was chosen. It was named Petra by the young viewers, who never knew they’d been duped. SOAPS provide plenty of roles to our canine pals.
The Great Dane Schmeichel was a big star of Coronation Street for seven years before he was put down in 2011.
Bouncer the Labrador appeared in Aussie soap Neighbours in the 1980s, and like Toto, was rumoured to be earning more than some of the show’s actors.
There is a much bigger roll-call of dogs in EastEnders, though.
Giant Poodle Roly lived with the Watts family in the Queen Vic pub, while Willy the Pug was Ethel Skinner’s little pal.
Wellard the Belgian Shepherd was Robbie Jackson’s constant companion. Current top dog of the Queen Vic is Lady Di, the Carter’s Bulldog.
Paul O’Grady has made chat show stars of his own pets. Current star of his ITV show is Olga, who he is so close to that he named his television company after the Cairn Terrier.
His previous dog, Buster, a Shih Tsu/ Bichon Frise cross, was also a star of the show, and Paul was inconsolable when he died.
He even dedicated the second volume of his autobiography to Buster, naming him, “the greatest canine star since Lassie”.
Most controversial name for a dog in a British television programme in recent years was Isis, the Earl of Grantham’s Labrador in hit drama Downton Abbey.
But it wasn’t her fault she shared a name with a terrorist organisation.
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