Rin Tin Tin
Rin Tin Tin (c. September 5, 1918 – August 10, 1932) was a canine actor.
Rin Tin Tin was a shell-shocked German Shepherd pup found by American serviceman Lee Duncan in a bombed-out dog kennel in Lorraine, France less than two months before the end of World War I. Named for a puppet called Rintintin that French children gave to the American soldiers for good luck, at war's end Duncan took the dog back to his home in Los Angeles, California.
Nicknamed "Rinty" by his owner, the dog was taught tricks and could leap more than 13 feet. He was seen performing at a dog show by film producer Darryl F. Zanuck, who paid Lee Duncan to film him. The encounter spawned the idea of using the dog in film and from there Lee Duncan's German Shepherd went on to fame and fortune in the Hollywood motion picture industry. Beginning with secondary or minor dog roles in 1922, Rin Tin Tin became a major Warner Brothers star, appearing in 29 motion pictures, starting in 1923 with Man From Hell's River and including Shadows of the North (1923), A Dog of the Regiment (1927), Tiger Rose (1929), and The Lightning Warrior (1931). The dog also had his own radio show in 1930 called The Wonder Dog, on which he did his own sound effects.
True to his French birthright, to the sounds of Classical music being played, the dog dined each day on a choice cut of tenderloin steak specially prepared by a private chef. It is unknown whether he washed it down with a bowl of red wine.
Following Rin Tin Tin's death in 1932 in Los Angeles, California, his owner arranged to have the dog returned to his country of birth for burial in the Cimetière des Chiens, the renowned pet cemetery in the Parisian suburb of Asnières-sur-Seine.
Rin Tin Tin was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1623 Vine Street. His bloodline continues through breeding of his offspring at a kennel in Latexo, Texas. His great grandson starred in The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, an ABC television series that ran between October of 1954 and May of 1959.