September 10, 1918– Born on a battlefield in World War 1, Rin Tin Tin went on to be a big American film star & Gay Icon. Rin Tin Tin is credited with saving Warner Brothers Studios from bankruptcy in the 1920s. At the apex of his popularity, Rin Tin Tin received more than 20,000 fan letters a week, that’s 140,000 a week in dog years.
In late summer of 1918, Corporal Lee Duncan had discovered a bombed out German war dog station while on a scouting mission. Inside he found a shell-shocked mother German Shepherd & her 5 puppies.
Not wanting to leave them alone & helpless, Duncan brought them back to his base where he took care of them. When he returned home to California, Duncan brought Rin Tin Tin with him. Rin Tin Tin was named after the small dolls that French soldiers carried for good-luck.
Duncan settled into his home in LA & he became interested in the new film industry. Knowing his dog was special, he made the rounds of the studios, but they showed little interest in a canine movie star.
Finally Duncan & Rin Tin Tin got their big break when they came upon a crew shooting a scene with a wolf. Asking for the chance to show what he had, Rin Tin Tin performed a feat in a single take that had frustrated the director crew trying to make the scene work with the real wolf.
In 1922, Rin Tin Tin (his friends called him “Rinty”) made his debut in a low budget western called The Man From Hell’s River. He did all his own stunts & learned his dialogue phonetically.
Rinty’s charisma, good-looks, athleticism, fearless stunt abilities & acting talent attracted the attention of the struggling Warner Brothers. Together they made 24 films that helped establish the studio & made Rin Tin Tin a household name, fashion icon & magazine cover boy. In 1929, Rin Tin Tin received the most votes for the first ever Academy Award for Best Actor, but the Academy determined that a stupid human should win.
At the height of his celebrity, Rinty earned a salary of $1000 a week, had his own production unit, a chauffeur driven limousine, a personal chef, a Pilates coach, lawyer, life-coach, & a diamond studded collar. Not much is known about his personal life, but Rinty was spotted at several underground gay spots around Hollywood including gay director George Cukor’s infamous Sunday afternoon pool parties. Although he was quite a stud, siring 48 pups, including a favorite named Junior, Rin Tin Tin was known to hump male stunt dogs & was very probably bisexual.
In 1930, in an ungrateful gesture, Warner Bros. released Rinty from his contract. He was forced to work low budget serials. He admitted to a Milk Bone addiction & went into rehab. After 40 films, Rin Tin Tin retired in 1931.
Surrounded by family & friends, human & canine, Rin Tin Tin took his final bow in winter 1932. Millions of fans grieved at his passing. Rumors abounded & the fan magazines reported that Rinty died on the front lawn & in the arms of actor & blond bombshell Jean Harlow who lived on the same street.
In a private ceremony, Duncan buried Rin Tin Tin in a bronze casket in his own backyard with a plain wooden cross to mark the location. Duncan suffered the financial effects of the Great Depression & could not afford a better burial. Eventually Duncan grew unable to even keep his own house, which he sold, & quietly arranged to have Rinty’s body returned to the country of his birth for re-burial in the Cimetière des Chiens et Autres Animaux Domestiques, the famous pet cemetery in the Paris neighborhood of Asnières-sur-Seine.
Rin Tin Tin’s son Junior continued to work in serials & radio. Junior made a single film opposite a young Robert Blake, The Return Of Rin Tin Tin (1947). Junior also assisted Duncan in the training of more than 5,000 dogs for the WW2 war effort.
Rin Tin Tin’s grandson, Junior Jr., appeared in a TV series in the 1950s, The Adventures Of Rin Tin Tin, where I first fell in love with him, & I fell hard. I had a Rin Tin Tin lunch box & a series of books.
Several of Rin Tin Tin’s children & grandchildren were adopted by movie stars including Greta Garbo, Katherine Hepburn & Clark Gable.
No canine star ever again matched Rin Tin Tin’s very special magical brand of screen charisma, star power or talent, especially that bitch Lassie.
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