Lassie

Jimmy Dean, Rowlf and Lassie.

Lassie's picture on The Muppet Show

Lassie, "the world's most famous dog," is a fictional character who has been the subject of many movies, TV shows, and books over the years.

The character of Lassie is a Rough Collie created by British-American author Eric Knight in Lassie Come-Home, which was published as a short story in The Saturday Evening Post in 1938 and as a novel in 1940. In 1943, the book was made into what would become the first Lassie movie, also titled Lassie Come Home. The television series Lassie aired from 1954 to 1974. The character has proven to be so popular that it is one of only three dogs awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the others being Rin Tin Tin and Strongheart.

The first dog to play the role of Lassie was Pal, who was owned by animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax and his brother Frank Weatherwax. Before Pal's death, he was bred with a number of bitches, resulting in hundreds of offspring, several of which have performed under the name Lassie. Most have been male, because their coats are usually fuller and more impressive than the females'. Because the males tend to be larger, they are considered more physically suitable to perform many of Lassie's stunts. The character of Lassie, however, is female and often referred to as "girl." As is usually the case with canine film stars, several uncredited doubles have been employed in the films and TV shows. Currently, the "official" Lassie is used mainly for "celebrity appearances" at dog shows.

Appearances

• Lassie appeared as a guest on The Jimmy Dean Show, and a lovestruck Rowlf acted in a scene with her.

References

• In The Muppet Show episode 116, Rowlf serenades a portrait of Lassie with the song "May You Always."

Quotes

“Actually, the [number of copies] of a character is something I don't particularly like to talk about in articles, but just for your information, most characters there's only one. Somebody like a Piggy or a Kermit, there needs to be several versions, and so there will be several of them. I'm not even sure how many, because often we'll also have a photocopy –- a character that's made that we use just for posing for photographs. It would be armatured, that sort of thing, but I don't think it's good to talk about that particularly. I remember hearing that there were several Lassies, and I never liked knowing that sort of thing... and besides that Lassie was always male, which was another one of those disillusioning pieces of information you don't want to know.”

-- Jim Henson, in a 1982 Interview