Who Was Rin Tin Tin?
Rin Tin Tin was a German Shepherd who became one of the most famous animal performers of early Hollywood. As the story goes, an American serviceman found a litter of shepherd puppies in a bombed kennel in France during the First World War and brought a pair of them home to California, naming one of the pups Rin Tin Tin after small good-luck charms popular with soldiers at the time.
Once in the United States, the dog was trained to perform increasingly athletic stunts and was soon signed to appear in silent films. Through the 1920s he starred in a long run of adventure pictures, reportedly drawing such large audiences that his films are sometimes credited with helping keep a young Warner Bros. studio financially afloat during its early years.
A Lasting Legacy
The original dog's popularity was so enduring that the name was passed on to later German Shepherds who continued performing and touring under the same stage name, and the character went on to headline radio programs and a television series in the decades that followed. Nearly a century later, "Rin Tin Tin" remains shorthand for the archetype of the loyal, heroic movie dog.