Famous German shepherds: Rin Tin Tin, Strongheart, and their legacy

Part 1

Rin Tin Tin: the dog who built a film career

On September 15, 1918, Corporal Lee Duncan found a bombed-out kennel near Flirey, France, that had once supplied German shepherd dogs to the German army. Inside he found a starving mother dog and a litter of five puppies whose eyes had not yet opened. Duncan kept one male and one female puppy and named them Rin Tin Tin and Nanette, after good-luck charm dolls that French children gave to American soldiers. Nanette died before the dogs reached California, but Rin Tin Tin traveled on with Duncan to Los Angeles.

In 1922, Rin Tin Tin filled in for an uncooperative wolf in a Warner Bros production called The Man from Hell's River, and the studio kept him on. A year later, he starred in Where the North Begins, a film that cost $100,000 to make and earned $352,000. He went on to appear in 27 films, and by 1927 he was Warner Bros' most bankable star. The profits from his films are credited with helping keep Warner Bros solvent and with advancing the career of screenwriter Darryl F. Zanuck, who became a studio executive. New York's Mayor Jimmy Walker gave him a key to the city, and fans sent so many letters that the studio mailed back photographs signed with a paw print.

Rin Tin Tin died in Los Angeles in 1932, and his death was announced on the radio and covered in newspapers across the country. He was later reburied in a pet cemetery near Paris. In 1960, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

A few numbers show how big his career became.

• Rin Tin Tin appeared in 27 films.
• He earned $1,000 a week at his peak, more than many human actors of the era.
• By some accounts, each of his ears was insured separately for $1,000.

Part 2

Strongheart: Hollywood's first canine star

Before he was Strongheart, he was Etzel von Oeringen, a German shepherd trained as a police dog in Berlin who served with the German Red Cross during the First World War. He was brought to the United States around 1920, when director Laurence Trimble and screenwriter Jane Murfin cast him in adventure films. Strongheart's first film, The Silent Call, was released in 1921 and became a major box-office hit. He preceded Rin Tin Tin's fame by about two years and is described as the first major canine film star.

Because of his military training, Strongheart did not know how to play at first; he had been taught to wait for a command rather than act on his own. If your own German shepherd waits for your cue before doing something, you are seeing the same instinct that a trainer had to coax out of Strongheart on set. Strongheart went on to star in six films and appeared alongside his mate, a fellow German shepherd named Lady Julie. He died in 1929 after an accident with a hot studio light on set, and he later received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Part 3

How military and police training shaped their fame

Strongheart had already been trained as a police dog and served with the German Red Cross before he ever stood in front of a camera. Rin Tin Tin was born in a kennel that had supplied German shepherds to the German army, though he was rescued as a newborn puppy rather than trained for service himself. That training helped Strongheart pick up nuanced commands quickly once he reached Hollywood.

Part 4

German shepherds in film, TV, and pop culture

After Rin Tin Tin died, his name lived on through fictional stories on film, radio, and later the 1950s television series The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. The franchise continued for decades, including the 1988 to 1993 series Katts and Dog, released in the United States as Rin Tin Tin: K-9 Cop. Strongheart preceded Rin Tin Tin on screen and served as a predecessor to later canine stars like Benji. Both dogs share the same Hollywood Walk of Fame induction date, February 8, 1960.

Part 5

Why German shepherds became so famous

Strongheart was agile and bright and picked up nuanced commands quickly, qualities that made him suited to acting. Rin Tin Tin proved remarkably athletic, winning jumping contests and clearing an eleven-foot, nine-inch wall before he ever appeared on screen. At the height of Strongheart's fame, in 1925, German shepherds became the most popular dog breed in America. Along with Rin Tin Tin, Strongheart is credited with greatly increasing the popularity of German shepherds as family pets in the United States. Dog food companies also used his name and photograph, and one Strongheart-branded product was still being made decades later.

That same eagerness to learn and work is likely something you recognize in your own German shepherd.