Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film

Courage of Lassie (1946), with Elizabeth Taylor. EVERETT COLLECTION. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION.
1994 remake (under the horsemaster Vic Armstrong and
the trainer Rex Peterson) speaks English with Alan
Cumming’s voice; The Black Stallion, played by a horse
named Cass-Ole in the 1979 film, who gamely manages to
survive a shipwreck and being marooned on a desert
island. Other memorable stars of the animal world are
the lovable killer whale from Free Willy (1993), assisted in
his performance by the effects supervisor Walt Conti; the
sad and noble Skye terrier hero, trained by John Darlys, in
Greyfriars Bobby: The True Story of a Dog (1961), so loyal
to his old master that he persists in sleeping upon the dead
man’s grave; Francis the Talking Mule, who from 1950
through 1955 goes to college, the races, and West Point,
covers the Big Town, and joins the WACs, speaking
believably wherever he goes, thanks to Dave Fleischer’s
timing corrections; Bonzo the athletic chimpanzee in
Bedtime for Bonzo (1951), bravely learning the difference
between right and wrong from Ronald Reagan; Kevin
DiCicco’s Buddy, the golden retriever basketball prodigy
Animal Actors
who stars in Air Bud (1997); the English sheepdog who,
supervised by William R. Koehler, stumbles and bounds
through The Shaggy Dog (1959); the various nonfleshly,
anthropomorphized, puppeted, or painted creatures in the
pantheons of Jim Henson, Walt Disney, and Warner Bros.
cartoons: Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog, Mickey Mouse,
Donald and Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, The
Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Lady, and The Tramp.
Character or bit parts played by animals are legion
and include Cheetah the chimp (played by Cheetah the
chimp) in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932); Asta the wirehaired
terrier (played by Asta the wire-haired terrier),
famous for repeated appearances in the various Thin
Man films (1934–1947) and also for playing George in
Bringing Up Baby (1938), nemesis of the leopard (trained
by Olga Celeste) who is Cary Grant’s nemesis; the shrieking
cockatiel in Citizen Kane (1941); the lethal panther
(trained by Mel Koontz) in Cat People (1942);
Pyewacket, Kim Novak’s Siamese cat familiar in Bell
SCHIRMER ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILM 83