Rin Tin Tin (September 1918 – August 10, 1932) was a male German Shepherd Dog rescued from a World War I battlefield by an American soldier, Lee Duncan, who nicknamed him "Rinty". Duncan trained Rin Tin Tin (often hyphenated as Rin-Tin-Tin) and obtained silent film work for the dog. Rin Tin Tin was an immediate box office success and went on to appear in 27 Hollywood films, gaining worldwide fame. Along with the earlier canine film star Strongheart, Rin Tin Tin was responsible for greatly increasing the popularity of German Shepherd Dogs as family pets. The immense profitability of his films made Warner Bros. studios a success and helped advance the career of Darryl F. Zanuck. In 1929, Rin Tin Tin may have received the most votes for the first Academy Award for Best Actor, but the Academy determined that a human should win.After Rin Tin Tin died in 1932, the name was given to several related German Shepherd Dogs featured in fictional stories on film, radio, and television. Rin Tin Tin, Jr. appeared in some serialized films but was not as talented as his father. Rin Tin Tin III, said to be Rin Tin Tin's grandson but probably only distantly related, helped promote the military use of dogs during World War II. Rin Tin Tin III also appeared in a film with child actor Robert Blake in 1947.Duncan groomed Rin Tin Tin IV for the 1950s television series The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, but the dog performed poorly in a screen test and was replaced in the TV show by trainer Frank Barnes's dogs, primarily one named Flame, Jr., called JR, with the public led to believe otherwise. Instead of shooting episodes, Rin Tin Tin IV stayed at home in Riverside. The TV show Rin Tin Tin was nominated for a PATSY Award in 1958 and in 1959 but did not win.After Duncan died in 1960 the screen property of Rin Tin Tin passed to TV producer Herbert B. "Bert" Leonard who worked on further adaptations such as the 1988–1993 Canadian-made TV show Katts and Dog which was called Rin Tin Tin: K-9 Cop in the US and Rintintin Junior in France. After Leonard died in 2006 Leonard's lawyer James Tierney made the 2007 film Finding Rin Tin Tin; an American–Bulgarian production based on Duncan's discovery of the dog in France. Meanwhile, a Rin Tin Tin memorabilia collection was being amassed by Texas resident Jannettia Propps Brodsgaard who had purchased several direct descendant dogs from Duncan beginning with Rinty Tin Tin Brodsgaard in 1957. Brodsgaard bred the dogs to keep the bloodline. Brodsgaard's granddaughter, Daphne Hereford, continued to build on the tradition and bloodline of Rin Tin Tin from 1988 to 2011; she was the first to trademark the name Rin Tin Tin in 1993 (Duncan had never done so) and she bought the domain names rintintin.com and rintintin.net to establish a website. Hereford also opened a short-lived Rin Tin Tin museum in Latexo, Texas. Hereford passed the tradition to her daughter, Dorothy Yanchak in 2011. The current Rin Tin Tin XII dog owned by Yanchak tak
Trainer Lee Duncan, on the first film he made of the dog: "At first the dog did not know he was watching pictures of himself, but when it dawned on him his tail wagged ferociously."
2
Trainer Lee Duncan: "Rintintin has never been whipped and the wonderful things this dog accomplishes on the screen are accomplished through kindness and instruction - but never with the whip. Even in scenes where Rintintin is supposed to be beaten, I never permit a whip to touch the dog."
French names of the puppets: 'Nénette' and 'Rintintin'. Puppets maybe created by painter Francisque Poulbot in 1913.
3
According to legend, in the very first year of voting for the Oscars, Rinty received more votes than any other actor, but to avoid any embarrassment, the Academy eventually decided to award he first Best Actor to a human thespian Emil Jannings.
4
By 1926 was earning $6000 a week.
5
On the day he died in 1932, jut a month shy of 14, Rinty was no longer strong enough to go to his master's side. Jean Harlow, who lived across the street, came over and cradled his head in her lap as he died. Years before Lee Duncan had given her one of Rinty's first puppies.
6
After he became a box-office star, he merited a private chef who prepared his daily lunch of tenderloin steak - which he consumed as an ensemble played classical music to help his digestion.
7
Warner Bros. Pictures, saved from bankruptcy by the success of his films, maintained 18 trained stand-ins in order to reduce the strain on their star.
8
He got his own radio show, "The Wonder Dog," in 1930, doing his own sound effects
9
A dark-coated German Shepherd dog, he made his first film in 1923 and was the world's biggest box-office draw by 1926.
10
On 15 September 1918 US Air Corps Cpl. Lee Duncan discovered a half-starved dog and her five puppies - just 5 days old - in a blasted dug-out on a World War I battlefield in France. Duncan tried to take of of the puppies, whom he named Nanette and Rin Tin Tin, back to the U.S., but only Rinty survived the trip.
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Lightning Warrior
1931
Rinty
Rough Waters
1930
Rinty
The Man Hunter
1930
Rinty
On the Border
1930
Rinty
The Lone Defender
1930
Rinty
Tiger Rose
1929
Scotty
The Show of Shows
1929
Rin-Tin-Tin - Introducing 'An Oriental Fantasy' Number (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
Frozen River
1929
Lobo, a dog
The Million Dollar Collar
1929
Rinty - a Dog
Land of the Silver Fox
1928
Rinty
Rinty of the Desert
1928
Rinty
A Race for Life
1928
Rinty, a dog
A Dog of the Regiment
1927
Rinty
Jaws of Steel
1927
Rinty
Tracked by the Police
1927
Satan
Hills of Kentucky
1927
The Grey Ghost
While London Sleeps
1926
Rinty
A Hero of the Big Snows
1926
Rinty (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
The Night Cry
1926
Rin Tin Tin
Clash of the Wolves
1925
Lobo - Leader of the Wolf Pack (as Rin-tin-tin)
Below the Line
1925
Rin Tin Tin
Tracked in the Snow Country
1925
Rin Tin Tin
The Lighthouse by the Sea
1924
Rin Tin Tin
Find Your Man
1924
Buddy (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
Shadows of the North
1923
King, the dog
Where the North Begins
1923
Rin Tin Tin (as Rin-tin-tin)
My Dad
1922
Rin Tin Tin
The Man from Hell's River
1922
Rin Tin Tin
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Famous Movie Dogs
1940
Short dedicatee - as Rin-Tin-Tin
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Anne Frank Remembered
1995
Documentary
Himself
The Steve Allen Plymouth Show
1956
TV Series
Himself
Rin Tin Tin and his Owner and Friend, Mr. Lee Duncan