Images of Famous Dogs

NAME: Ace the Wonder Dog

Dog actor in the movie The Adventures of Rusty and many others from 1938-1946 including the 1943 serial The Phantom. (More about Ace.)

BREED: German Shepherd

YEARS: Dog: 1937-1947.

Movies: 1938-1946.

NAME: Asta

The Charles' dog in the book and several films such as the movie The Thin Man; about a murder solving couple; their dog played by Skippy; starring William Powell and Myrna Loy; the book by Dashiell Hammett.

BREED: Wire Fox Terrier

(Book dog was a Schnauzer)

YEARS: Book: 1934.

Movies: 1934 and 5 sequels.

Dog: 1931-1940.

NAME: Atlas

Marion Kirby's dog in the movie Topper Takes a Trip; about a ghost and her dog who get Cosmo Topper and his wife back together; starring Constance Bennett and Skippy, the dog famously known as Asta.

BREED: Wire Fox Terrier

YEARS: Movie: 1938.

NAME: Betty

Professor Janet Griswald's dog in the movie Under Cover of Night; a professor is about to announce a great discovery in physics when her jealous husband, who collaborated with her, causes her to have a heart attack by throwing her dog out a window. When he can't find her notebook containing the discovery details, he ends up killing several other people; starring Henry Daniell, et. al.

BREED: Terrier mix

YEARS: Movie: 1937.

NAME: Blitzen

Torchy's rented dog who tracks notorious counterfeiters and later leads rescuers to save her in the movie Torchy Gets Her Man; one of nine in the series of Torchy Blane movies. The fast-talking reporter was the inspiration for the Lois Lane character in Superman stories.

BREED: German Shepherd

YEARS: Movie: 1938.

NAME: Brutus

Mark's dog in the movie The Ugly Dachshund; about a large dog who grows up with dachshund puppies thinking he is one of them; starring Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette; based on a novel by Gladys Bronwyn Stern. (Also in the movie are dogs Danke, Norma, and Pesky.)

BREED: Great Dane

YEARS: Book: 1938.

Movie: 1966.

NAME: Bugle Ann

Spring Davis' dog in the book and the movie The Voice of Bugle Ann; about a farmer's love for his hunting dog and the feud it sparks in the county; in the movie starring Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan; the book written by MacKinlay Kantor.

BREED: Foxhound American

YEARS: Book: 1935.

Movie: 1936.

NAME: Captain McTavish

Philo Vance's dog in the movie The Kennel Murder Case; about a detective who investigates the locked-room murder of a prominent and hated collector whose broken Chinese vase provides an important cluestarring; William Powell and Mary Astor.

BREED: Scottish Terrier

YEARS: Movie: 1933.

NAME: Daisy

The family dog in the comic strip and the movie Blondie; about the Bumsteads, Dagwood and Blondie and their two children; created by Chic Young.

BREED: Generic

YEARS: Comic strip: 1930- now.

Movies: 1938-1950.

NAME: Devil

The Phantom's dog in the comic strip and the movie serial The Phantom; about a masked crimefighter based upon the comics; created by Lee Falk. In the series the dog is played by Ace the Wonder Dog.

BREED: German Shepherd

YEARS: Comics: 1936- now.

Movie serial: 1943.

NAME: Dougal

The Earl of Dorincourt's pet and Ceddie's new friend in the movie Little Lord Fauntleroy about an English earl who's life changes when he takes in the heir to his estate; starring Freddie Bartholomew and C. Aubrey Smith.

BREED: Great Dane

YEARS: Movie: 1936.

NAME: Duke

Penrod's dog in the movie Penrod's Double Trouble; about a boy who is replaced by a look-alike by men who are after a reward; featuring the Mauch Twins based upon the books of Booth Tarkington.

BREED: Mixed breed

YEARS: Book: 1914.

Movie: 1938.

NAME: Eddie

Lorri's dog in the movie Four's a Crowd; about a newspaper reporter who believes the paper's former editor-in-chief can convince the owner not to shut it down and to resurrect it; starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland.

BREED: Mixed breed

YEARS: Movie: 1938.

NAME: Fido (Fatty's real-life dog, Luke)

Fatty's dog in the short comedy silent movie Fatty's Faithful Dog; a confrontatial setting with many fights; starring Fatty Arbuckle.

BREED: Pitbull

YEARS: Movie: 1915.

NAME: Flush

Elizabeth's dog in the movie The Barretts of Wimpole Street; about the real-life romance between poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning; starring Norman Shearer and Fredrick March. Also an imaginative biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's cocker spaniel by Virginia Woolf. (More about Flush).)

BREED: Cocker Spaniel

YEARS: Movie: 1934.

Book: 1933.

NAME: Genevieve

Madeline's dog in the children's book series, in the movie, and animated TV series for children Madeline; about a girl who lives in Paris and attends a boarding school; written by Ludwig Bemelmans.

BREED: Generic

YEARS: Books: 1939-1967.

TV series: 1991-2007.

Movie: 1998.

NAME: George

Willy's dog in the movie The Devil to Pay; about a free-spirited but lovable man who returns home penniless and falls in love; starring Ronald Colman and Loretta Young.

BREED: Wire Fox Terrier

YEARS: Movie: 1930.

NAME: George

Susan's dog in the movie Bringing Up Baby; about a paleontologist pursued by a flighty heiress and her pet leopard; starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn.

BREED: Wire Fox Terrier

YEARS: Movie: 1938.

NAME: Greyfriars Bobby

Auld Jock's loyal dog in the book and the movie Greyfriars Bobby; about a dog who follows a farm worker who ultimately dies in poverty and is buried in Greyfriar's Kirkyard. Bobby returns to his grave every night; based on the book by Eleanor Atkinson.

BREED: Skye Terrier

YEARS: Book: 1912.

Movies: 1961, 2005.

NAME: Hachiko (Also known as Hachi)

A Japanese dog remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner and in the children's book Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog; written by Pamela S. Turner; and in the movie (2009). (More about Hachiko.)

BREED: Akita

YEARS: Dog: 1923-1935.

Book: 2004.

Movies: 1987, 2009.

NAME: Jake

Michael Grant's dog in the movie Theodora Goes Wild; about a small-town woman who is the anonymous author of a scandalous novel and, after falling in love with her pursuer, ends up revealing the secret: starring Irene Dunne, and Melvyn Douglas.

BREED: Wire_Fox_Terrier

YEARS: Movie: 1936.

NAME: Jane (Jane of Aylesbury)

A pet given to old lady Fortune in the movie The Young in Heart; a family of con artists who are befriended by a rich old woman and from whom they hope to be inherit riches; starring Janet Gaynor and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

BREED: Fluffy puppy

YEARS: Movie: 1938.

NAME: Jasper

Maxim de Winter's dog in the movie Rebecca; about a self-conscious bride who is tormented by the memory of her husband's dead first wife; starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and based on the book by Daphne du Maurier. Also a 2020 movie starring Lily James.

BREED: Cocker Spaniel

YEARS: Book: 1938.

Movie: 1940, 2020.

NAME: Jip

Dog of David's first wife, Dora, in the movies and TV series based on the book David Copperfield; about the life of English chap in the early 19th century; written by Charles Dickens.

BREED: Unkown

(Spaniel in the book)

YEARS: Book: 1850.

Movies: 1911, 1913, 1922, 1935, 1969, 1993, 2000.

TV series: 1966, 1974, 1986.

NAME: Josef

Heidi's dog in the children's book Heidi, about the life of a young girl in her paternal grandfather's care in the Swiss Alps; written by Swiss author Johanna Spyri. The story has been adapted in many media, but the dog is rarely feature (one exception is the 1974 Japanese anime series).

BREED: Saint Bernard

YEARS: Book: 1881.

Animation: 1974.

NAME: Kazan

Witness to murder in the movie Jaws of Justice; where Sgt. Kincaid of the Mounties comes to the aid of the murdered man's daughter and her mute friend Kickabout; starring Jack Perrin. Kazan starred in several other movies.

BREED: German Shepherd

YEARS: Movie: 1933-1938.

NAME: Lad

The author's dog in the movie Lad: A Dog; starring Peter Breck; based on a series of short stories by Albert Terhune about his real-life Rough Collie.

BREED: Rough Collie

YEARS: Dog: 1902-1918.

Book: 1919.

Movie: 1962.

NAME: Laughing Gravy

Laurel and Stan's dog in the movie Laughing Gravy; about two men who try to hide their pet dog from their mean-tempered landlord; starring Laurel and Hardy.

BREED: Mixed breed

YEARS: Movie: 1931.

NAME: Lightning

Companion of horse Warrior in the movie Two in Revolt; about a horse and dog who were born on the same farm the same day, then months later, escape trouble going into the wild where they become close friends.

BREED: German Shepherd

YEARS: Movie: 1936.

NAME: Lobo (the Marvel Dog)

Bobby's dog in the movie Thunderbolt about a man, his son and dog who set out to prove a cowboy innocent of murder.

BREED: German Shepherd

YEARS: Moive: 1935.

NAME: McDuff

Betty's dog in the movie Too Many Wives; about a desperate dog walker who lies about being married with children ending in confusion; starring Anne Shirley

BREED: Mixed breed

YEARS: Movie: 1937.

NAME: McTavish

Philo Vance's dog in the book and the movie The Kennel Murder Case; about a private detective who solves a mysterious murder; starring William Powell and based on the 1933 novel by S. S. Van Dine. The remake of the movie in 1940 titled Calling Philo Vance starred James Stephenson.

BREED: Scottish Terrier

YEARS: Book: 1933.

Movies: 1933, 1940.

NAME: Miss Skippy

The gift Vance gives Abigail (Old Doll) in the movie Midnight Alibi; about a gambler who befriends an old lady who later supplies him with an alibi; adapt from Damon Runyon's 1933 short story The Old Doll's House.

BREED: Wire-Hair Terrier

YEARS: Movie: 1934.

NAME: Moreover (Named Faith in the early movie version)

In the movie The Biscuit Eater; about a dog who has a strong relationship with two twelve-year-old boys; a remake of a 1940 film and based upon the book by James H. Street.

BREED: German Wirehaired Pointer

YEARS: Book: 1939.

Movie: 1940, 1972.

NAME: Mr. Jones

Phyllis's dog in the movie Murder on a Honeymoon; about a school-teacher/amateur-sleuth who suspects foul play when a fellow passenger on a sea-plane gets sick and dies; starring Edna May Oliver.

BREED: Unknown

YEARS: Movie: 1935.

NAME: Mr. Smith

Lucy's dog in the movie The Awful Truth; about a married couple dealing with unfounded suspicions and each other's attempts to find new romance; starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. The dog is played by Skippy aka Asta.

BREED: Wire Fox Terrier

YEARS: Movie: 1937.

NAME: My Little Darling (Watch the musical clip of Walking the Dog)

Linda's dog in the movie Shall We Dance; about a ballet dancer who chases after a tap dancer; starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The movie is famous for its Walking the Dog piece by George Gershwin.

BREED: Cairn Terrier

mix

YEARS: Movie: 1937.

NAME: Patrasche

Nello's companion in the Japanese animated TV series A Dog of Flanders and the movie version made in 1999, and earlier films; about a Flemish boy and his dog; based on the book by Marie Louise de la Ramée under the Japanese pseudonym Ouida.

BREED: Bouvier des Flandres

YEARS: Book: 1872.

TV series: 1975-1992.

Movies: 1935, 1960, 1997, 1999.

NAME: Patsy

Mrs. Hegarty's dog in the movie Storm in a Teacup; about a politician whose disregard for a dog is publicized by a reporter; starring Vivian Leigh and Rex Harrison.

BREED: English Sheepdog

YEARS: Movie: 1937.

NAME: Peewee

Mr. Blair's dog in the movie Breakfast for Two,about a Texas debutante who tries to reform a bankrupt playboy; starring Barbara Stanwyck.

BREED: Great Dane

YEARS: Movie: 1937.

NAME: Penny

Sooky's dog in the movie Skippy; about two boys who try to raise money to buy a dog license; starring Jackie Cooper. Skippy the character was based on Percy Crosby's Skippy comic strip.

BREED: Mixed breed

YEARS: Movie: 1931.

NAME: Petey (Also known as Pete the Pup)

The kids' dog in the movies Our Gang; a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures; also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals.

BREED: Pit Bull

YEARS: Movies: 1922-1938.

NAME: Pilot

Mr. Rochester's dog in the TV series (British) Jane Eyre; about a young governess who falls in love with her brooding and complex master; based upon the book by Charlotte Bronte. In the book the dog is a Newfoundland; in other films other kinds of dogs.

BREED: Landseer Newfoundland

(Irish Wolfhound in some portrayals)

YEARS: Book: 1847.

TV series: 2006.

Movies: 1914-2011.

NAME: Prince

Clinton Foley's dog in the movie The Case of the Howling Dog; about lawyer Perry Mason who is hired to make a will but ends up solving a murder; starring Warren William and Mary Astor.

BREED: German Shepherd

YEARS: Movie: 1934.

NAME: Prince Dansker

The champion in the movie Death of a Champion; about a pitchman who fancies himself as an amateur detective and starts nosing around into the mystery of dog deaths.

BREED: Great Dane

YEARS: Movie: 1939.

NAME: Ragsy

Val's dog in the movie Fog Over Frisco; about two half-sisters from a respected San Francisco family whose life styles diverge as one of them takes up with criminals. (Great shots of San Francisco in 1934.)

BREED: Terrier mix

YEARS: Movie: 1934.

NAME: Rin Tin Tin

In the movies and the TV series The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin; about a orphan boy and his dog being raised by the soldiers at a U.S. Cavalry post.

BREED: German Shepherd

YEARS: Movies: 1922-1931.

TV series: 1954-1959.

NAME: Rover

The dog who leads its master to his kidnapped baby in the movie Rescued by Rover; a British silent short; directed by Hepworth who had his family dog Blair in the starring role. As a result, the name became a household name and Blair is considered the first dog film star.

BREED: Collie

YEARS: Movie: 1905.

NAME: Sandy

Annie's dog in comics Little Orphan Annie on radio, in the Broadway musical Annie, and in the movies (1982, 1999 and 2014); created by Harold Gray.

BREED: Airedale

mix

YEARS: Radio: 1925-1942.

Comics: 1925- 2010.

Broadway stage: 1977-1983.

Movies: 1982, 1999, 2014.

NAME: Scraps

Charlie's dog in the movie (silent) A Dog's Life; about a dog who helps a tramp and a dance hall singer survive in the city; starring, written by, produced and directed by Charlie Chaplin.

BREED: Mixed breed

YEARS: Movie: 1918.

NAME: Sheba

The Haines family dog in the movie The Women; about several women and their marital problems. The movie in notable in the it has no male players and stars many known female actors of the time, including Norma Shearer.

BREED: Mixed breed

YEARS: Movie: 1939.

NAME: Shelly

The family dog in the movie Wiener Dog Nationals; a family who adopts a runt of a dachshund from a shelter enters it in the nation's greatest wiener dog race.

BREED: Dachshund

YEARS: Movie: 2103.

NAME: Strongheart (Born as Etzel von Oeringen)

Dog actor in the movies such as White Fang in 1925. (More about Strongheart.)

BREED: German Shepherd

YEARS: Dog: 1917-1929.

Movies: 1921-1927.

NAME: Sucker

Frankie's companion in the movie They Shall Have Music; about a run-away boy who ends up at a music school for poor children where he meets famous violinist Jascha Heifetz. Sucker is played by Zero, one of the first movie dogs.

BREED: Mixed breed

YEARS: Movie: 1939.

NAME: Teddy

Sue's dog in the movie The Extra Girl; about a small town girl who goes to Hollywood to escape marriage expecting to greeted with open arms but finds disappointment; starring Mabel Normand.

BREED: Great Dane

YEARS: Movie: 1923.

NAME: Toto

Dorothy's dog in the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; about a girl from Kansas and her dog who are off to see the wizard; written by L. Frank Baum; and in the movie The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

BREED: Cairn Terrier

YEARS: Book: 1900.

Movie: 1939.

NAME: White Fang

A wolf-dog during the Klondike Gold Rush at the end of the 19th century in the book, the movie and the animated TV series White Fang; about a wild dog's journey to domestication; original story written by Jack London.

BREED: Wolf-dog Hybrid

YEARS: Book: 1906.

Movies: 1936, 1991, 1993, 1994.

TV series: 1993.

NAME: Whitey

The flippant detective's dog in book, in movies and in the TV series Boston Blackie; about a reformed jewel thief who solves crimes; in the movies starring Chester Morris, and in the TV series Kent Taylor. The characters of the stories were created by author Jack Boyle in the early 1900s.

BREED: Black Terrier

YEARS: Short Stories: 1914-1920.

Movies: 1918-1949.

Radio: 1944-1950.

TV series: 1951-1953.