The MGM Lion Escaped Death Like 6 Different Times

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The MGM Lion Escaped Death Like 6 Different Times
Jackie was the second of five lions used to film that iconic roar that would preface MGM's films. He was captured live in Sudan, and was trained with affection-based reinforcement, rather than the stool-and-whip charade that was so popular at the time. As such, he became very docile, even affectionate, and famously easy to work with.

He also told Death to go f* itself on at least six separate occasions.

Seriously, it's like Unbreakable if Bruce Willis played a lion, and didn't have a nemesis, because no one would dare mess with Jackie. Here's his story:

Jackie was the first to have his iconic roar recorded. It was played before MGM's first production with sound, making him instantly and outrageously p

He was shipped all over the world for his world tour' and other press events. LEO THE M-G-M LION IS COMING TO TOWN IN PERSON! You've seen him on all

Jackie survived an earthquake, a studio explosion, a sinking ship, two train wrecks, and this plane crash: CRACKED COM

In 1928, The studio wanted to mimic Charles Lindbergh's recent flight across the Atlantic. LEO M.G.M. FLYING LION So they built a cage into a single-e

Five hours into the flight, the plane crash-landed in Arizona. M.G.MLIDN

The pilot left to find help and drum up a search POsSe Jackie survived for almost a week with nothing but some water and a few sandwiches.

It was a publicity stunt gone horribly wrong. M.G.M. LEO FLYING LION But since Jackie survived, and no one cared about animals' rights yet, it was a h

So, Jackie had a tough life. But according to trainer Melvin Koontz, he had a heart of gold. A family of stray cats once took shelter in Jackie's ca

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