Many have been the animal stars of the cinema or the small screen. Some very striking ones, however, had a particularly tragic post-career.
Dolphins, monkeys, dogs… Among this bestiary listing, some specimens have simply become TV stars. Whether for their cult roles in films or in series, these furry animals have marked our minds. Flipper, Beethoven or Marcel , these are well-known names that have, alas, not always ended well .
In the 1960s, viewers around the world found themselves amazed by a small cetacean with incredible talents:Flipper. If the series has been a huge success, the different interpreters of Flipper have not all had the same luck. Indeed, as our colleagues from 20 Minutes report, Cassie, the dolphin who most embodied Flipper had a tragic end to his career. According to her master, she committed suicide by stopping breathing because she could no longer bear captivity.
Fans of Friends will have recognized its evocative name. Marcel, the little monkey who often rested on Ross' shoulder. Except that behind the scenes, the little simian being made life difficult for the actors. Called Katie, the monkey did not last long on screen and ended up being "fired" from the series.
Very old film but one of Charlie Chaplin's most memorable:A Dog's Life (1918). For the needs of the studio, the director needed a small fox terrier named Mut. His name in the movie, Scraps, will bring back memories for the oldest of you. While the animal was drunk on the set to make it more docile, it became attached to Chaplin . The love between the two, although reciprocal, did not last long. The actor having to go back to filming, abandoned the animal who died of "sadness" some time later.
Arguably the best known cetacean, Willy from the Save Willy movies will have marked an entire generation in the 1990s. Touching, moving and terribly tearful, the life of the orca is still one of the most accomplished in terms of bestiary cinema. Keiko , the interpreter of Willy, will regain his freedom thereafter but will die at the age of 27 following probable pneumonia in the Norwegian fjord of Arasvik.
Known for his big role in the movie The Artist , Uggie is one of the rare dogs to have had an award at Cannes in 2011:the Dog palm . The little Jack Russel Terrier will nevertheless have a tragic after career. He died at the age of 13 from prostate cancer.
The most famous dog of the 1990s is a large Saint Bernard. Chris was Beethoven in the sage of the same name and will popularize his breed all over the planet. If his fate is not really tragic, he will die in 2007 of natural death.
If you are asked to name a famous pig's name, his will inevitably come up very often. Babe, the pig turned Shepherd , is one of the most famous children's films of the 1990s. However, many are unaware of the reality behind the film. There was not one performer pig, nor two and even less three… In total, there are nearly 48 pigs who played the famous role to the delight of the children. And we don't know what happened to them afterwards.
