35 Nearly-Domesticated, Expertly-Wrangled Bits of Trivia About Your Favorite Animal Actors

Getting these facts to behave was a lot easier than we thought. They all deserve a treat!
35 Nearly-Domesticated, Expertly-Wrangled Bits of Trivia About Your Favorite Animal Actors

We gotta hand it to these fact handlers. They trained some pretty professional (and hilarious) facts. You never know what you’re going to get, so it’s always a nice surprise when animal actor facts come in, do their job, elicit an audible “awww” and manage to not rip off anyone’s face. 

As you may have seen in our many celebrity freakout lists, that’s more than we can say for a lot of human actor facts out there.

Austin Powers

The real name of the cat who played Mr. Bigglesworth in Austin Powers? Ted Nudegent NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Rin Tin Tin

Rin Tin Tin was found by an American solider in France during WWI The puppy was one of only a few dogs to survive the shelling of a kennel. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Crystal the Monkey

You might recognize Crystal the Monkey from George of the Jungle, Night at the Museum, or The Hangover Part II. The monkey reportedly earned $12,000 per episode of Animal Practice. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Shadowfax

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO... Shadowfax LOTR CRACKED.COM Blanco the horse was purchased by his trainer, Cynthia Royal, who called him her soul mate in a fur suit. That's sweet! ...right? Not weird? Sound off in the comments.

Orangey the Cat

Orangey the Cat had over a decade of acting experience before he was in Breakfast at Tiffany's. The cat was in demand for his ability to sit still. However one executive called him the world's meanest cat, known for attacking human costars. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Jimmy the Raven

Jimmy the Raven was in many famous movies, from The Wizard of Oz to It's a Wonderful Life. DEPUTIVE Any actor would be jealous of his prolific career spanning almost twenty years, sharing the screen with Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Dean Martin, and Jerry Lewis. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Toto

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO... Toto THE WIZARD OF OZ CRACKED.COM Terry the Terrier already had a prolific film career before she was cast in The Wizard of Oz - - where they renamed her Toto. Hollywood used to be brutal, man. She's been memorialized in LA's prestigious Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Free Willy

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO... Willy FREE WILLY CRACKED.COM Keiko the whale was rescued from a dumpy aquatic park when he was cast in the film. A prompt at the end of the film actually raised enough funds to free Keiko, and he was released back into the wild. But he never quite got the hang of socializing with other whales, so he didn't exactly thrive in the last few years of his life.

The Lord of the Rings

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO... Aragorn's horse LOTR CRACKED.COM Viggo Mortensen bought Brego, and two other horses that were ridden in the films. One was a gift for a stuntwoman who had grown fond of her equine colleague.

Pal the Wonder Dog

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO... Petey THE LITTLE RASCALS CRACKED.COM Pal the Wonder Dog was paid $125 per week - - the second-highest salary in the whole cast. Bizarrely, Pal was poisoned by an unknown piece of human trash in 1930, and his son Pete took over the role.

The Taco Bell Chihuahua

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO... The Taco Bell Chihuahua CRACKED.COM Gidget the dog went on star in Legally Blonde 2, among other TV and movie spots. She even opened the New York Stock Exchange, a career highlight for any thespian.

Dunston Checks In

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO... Dunston DUNSTON CHECKS IN He's obect CRACKED.COM Sam the orangutan also appeared in Planet of the Apes, The Flintstones, even Baywatch. When he got too physically large to work (orangutans are fuzzy killing machines, after all), he retired to Florida and had a baby with his lifelong companion, Geri.

Flipper

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO... Flipper CRACKED.COM Kathy was the most famous of the 5 dolphins to play Flipper. Sadly, trainer Richard O'Barry says that she died in his arms a little while after retiring. She was placed in a tank that was way too goddamn small for her, and she reportedly swam up to him and voluntarily stopped breathing, which is something dolphins can apparently do.

Lassie

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO... Lassie CRACKED.COM Lots of Collies played the part, but Pal was the first to really embody the fearlessness of the character. After he retired, five of his puppies went on to play the role.

Full House

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO... Comet FULL HOUSE CRACKED.COM Buddy the golden retriever was discovered on America's Funniest Home Videos, playing football, basketball, and other traditionally human-dominated sports. That all tracks, since he went on to get his own franchise: Air Bud.

Frasier

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO... Eddie FRASIER CRACKED.COM Moose the Jack Russell Terrier kind of petered out the last few seasons, and his son, Enzo, fully took over the role in the final season. At his peak, though, Moose was reportedly getting more fan mail than any other cast member.

Mister Ed

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO... Mister Ed CRACKED.COM Alan Young went into the series straight-up scared of horses, but Bamboo Harvester won him over. Young would routinely go and hang out with the horse when they weren't filming, and visited him after the show wrapped.

Turner & Hooch

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO... Hooch TURNER & HOOCH CRACKED.COM Beasley the French Mastiff lived to the age of 14 --t twice the average lifespan of the breed. Henry Winkler, who was originally slated to direct the film, once said he left the project because he got along better with Hooch than I did with Turner.

Game of Thrones

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO... Lady GAME OF THRONES CRACKED.COM Sophie Turner says her parents never let her have a dog growing up, but they changed their tune after falling in love with Zunni on set: We knew they wanted to re-home her. My mum persuaded them to let us adopt her.

Night at the Museum

Crystal the monkey NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM CRACKED.COM Ben Stiller said Crystal, and specifically her insistence on being constantly fed, gummed up the works on set, because everybody stops for the monkey... it all becomes about this monkey paste.

Pet Semetary

Eight different Maine Coons PET SEMATARY (2019) CRACKED.COM Director Kevin Kölsch wanted his spooky cat to mimic the cover of the original Stephen King novel, but Maine Coons can pretty much only learn one trick each. For each action, they had to bring in a new cat and let it sniff around and get acclimated: They were like this pack of divas on set.

Brokeback Mountain

A herd of sheep BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN CRACKED.COM Director Ang Lee said the groundbreaking sex scenes were nothing compared to the shepherding scenes: No more sheeps. Never again sheeps.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Jack the monkey PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN CRACKED.COM After shipping him down to Australia, they had to keep him quarantined for 30 days, after which time he went ahead and bit a makeup artist's ear.

Roar

Untrained lions ROAR CRACKED.COM Hollywood power couple Tippi Hedren and Neil Marshall decided to use their own pet lions for the film, which went about as well as you might expect. Melanie Griffith was mauled on set, and needed reconstructive face surgery.

Indiana Jones

A hungry elephant INDIANA JONES CRACKED.COM After filming the scene where Kate Capshaw and Harrison Ford ride elephants into the jungle in Temple of Doom, one of the elephants straight-up ate Capshaw's dress. They actually had to make the dubious claim of eaten by elephant on an insurance form.

Bart the Bear Jr.

Bart the Bear... Jr? GAME OF THRONES CRACKED.COM Apparently not related to the original Bart, but definitely named after him, this Bart was a real dud. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau said he required a round of applause just to leave his trailer: The whole crew had to applaud and go, 'Yeaaaaaah, Bart! Come on, Bart! You're the best!

Marcel the Monkey

Marcel the monkey FRIENDS CRACKED.COM Katie the monkey was supposed to be a series regular, but blew her shot by pooping, puking, and eating worms at every opportunity. David Schwimmer famously hated his scene partner: I wish it were dead.

Bedtime for Bonzo

Peggy the chimp BEDTIME FOR BONZO GRACKED.COM If it weren't for... his entire political legacy, this film would be Ronald Reagan's most embarrassing professional moment. It was said that he was the first president in history to be out-acted by a chimp. Peggy once even choked him out by yanking on his tie until a crewmember came and cut it off his neck.

Bart the Bear

Bart the Bear THE OSCARS CRACKED.COM Bart was Hollywood's go-to bear for much of the 80's, and there was even a campaign to get him nom'd for an Oscar. The campaign failed, but he did make it to The Oscars stage as a presenter in 1988, to the abject horror of the crew: they had all sorts of people off to the side waiting in case something went wrong.

Animals Were Harmed

NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN THAT NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED. Animals were harmed, or even died, while filming movies such as Life of

The Penguin and the Monkey

CRACKED.COM Batman Returns Danny Devito got bitten by a monkey. The monkey was trained to deliver a letter to the Penguin, but instead leapt at him and bit him on the crotch. Fortunately for DeVito, the Penguin costume had extra padding in the area.

Source: Mashable

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