5 of the Most Impressive Animal Actors
Animals can be a big hassle on a movie or TV set, ruining shots, not understanding English, pooping everywhere, etc. But some animals are more professional than the most seasoned actors — and more talented, too.
Jed the Dog
In 1982’s The Thing, Jed the Dog’s job was a tall order: to act like a dog that’s not a dog. But one of the scariest parts of the movie is how good he was at it. As Twitter user John Frankensteiner pointed out, “The only time Kurt Russell and John Carpenter are serious during The Thing commentary is to talk about the acting of Jed the Dog,” when Carpenter says, about a scene of the dog stalking the facility, “This is quite an amazing shot when you realize he’s doing this all by himself. The dog hesitates at the door. He’s not looking at the camera. He looks in, he stops, he checks out somebody in another room, he pauses, then moves. Doesn’t look at us as we pull back. Then he stops and stares, waits, and here he goes. Amazing work for an animal.”
Uggie
As good as Jed was, nobody was suggesting that he should win an Oscar, which was exactly what Movieline editor S.T. VanAirsdale demanded for Uggie, the star of 2011’s The Artist. New York Post film critic Lou Lumenick likewise lobbied for a nomination by the New York Film Critics Circle, calling Uggie’s performance “the best performance, human or animal, in any film I’ve seen this year,” and an entire “Consider Uggie” movement swept the internet back when that was a hard thing to sweep. The campaign was so strong that there was even backlash from critics who declared Uggie overrated. That’s how you know you’ve made it.
Jimmy the Raven
Jimmy the Raven was such a diva that he upstaged Jimmy Stewart, swooping in every time director Frank Capra called for “Jimmy” on the set of It’s a Wonderful Life and forcing Stewart to cede the nickname, but he had the skills to back it up. Not only did he star in the Christmas classic as well as The Wizard of Oz, he could understand about 200 words, use a typewriter and ride a tiny bicycle. There are humans today who can’t do that.
Buddy the Dog
Those were no camera tricks: Buddy, the dog in Air Bud, really was that good at basketball. The movie was kind of a true story: Buddy’s owner found him as a stray “in the wilds of northern California” and discovered that he was the Steph Curry of dogs, quite literally shooting to stardom. That might be more of an athletic achievement than an artistic one, but he later went on to star in Full House, so you can’t say he didn’t have the comedy chops.
Max the Dog
The dog who plays Milo in 1994’s The Mask appears to just be really well-trained, getting Jim Carrey out of (and occasionally into) multiple jams, but not all of it was even scripted. In one scene in particular, “while Carrey frantically stuffed money into a closet with a Frisbee, Max grabbed the Frisbee and sent the star sprawling into one of his characteristic pratfalls,” resulting in a tug-of-war that’s one of the best gags in a movie packed with them. It turns out there’s only one actor that could go toe-to-toe with Carrey in improv, and that actor was a dog.
