The film was the first in a series of seven MGM films starring "Lassie." The original film saw a sequel, Son of Lassie in 1945 with five other films following at intervals through the 1940s. A British remake of the 1943 movie was released in 2005 as Lassie to moderate success.
According to the original story, Lassie is a female Rough Collie dog, but not everybody knows that Lassie was never played by a female dog. From MGM's first film in 1943 to the last episode of the famous TV series, nine different dogs played Lassie, and they were all male.
While the dog remained the show's main consistent factor, the cast of his owners changed frequently. According to former boy actor Jon Provost who played the character of Timmy Martin in the series "All the actors made more mistakes than the dog." Pal died in June 1958, aged 18, and was buried on Rudd's ranch.
Season 17 - the final CBS season - saw Lassie on her own, getting into different adventures each week. In seasons 18 and 19 (with the series airing in syndication), Lassie settled in at the Holden Ranch to close out the show's run.
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Why was Lassie cancelled?
Lassie had been shown for nineteen years in the 7 pm time slot. Producers felt that this move would not work for the show's child audience. The show was cancelled. Since the cancellation, Lassie has played in reruns and has never been off the air.
LOS ANGELES -- Tommy Rettig, 54, the first boy who tagged after Lassie during the famous collie's 20 years on the CBS television network, was found dead Feb. 15 at his home in Marina del Rey, Calif. A spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coroner's office attributed the death to "natural causes."
Lassie is a fictional female Rough Collie dog and is featured in a 1938 short story by Eric Knight that was later expanded to a 1940 full-length novel, Lassie Come-Home.
While numerous dogs portrayed Lassie in later movie sequels, television and radio shows, a collie named Pal played the title role in the first seven films. When the collie died in 1958 at age 18, trainer Rudd Weatherwax buried Pal/Lassie on his ranch in Canyon Country, California.
This leads to the pair having quickie sex in the room, as Honeywell begins loudly howling like a dog, thus revealing why she is called Lassie. Her orgasmic howls are heard throughout the entire school, much to the students' and Coach Warren's amusement, but not to Balbricker and head coach Goodenough.
In the end, Provost said, he was the one who pulled the plug on his life as Timmy. “I quit Lassie - a lot of people don't know that,” he said. “I had a seven-year contract. The sponsor and producer said [they wanted] to go more.
The collie that played Lassie the longest was named Baby. Baby was the grandson of Pal, the original Lassie. Baby played the role for six years until he suddenly died at the age of eight. He is the only Lassie not to live to the age of seventeen.
Clayton quit the production as well at that time. "My home life was being absolutely wrecked," she explained. "I had four children and a husband, and I was always working". Clayton appeared in only one more Lassie episode after those cast changes.
According to an article on “The Richest” web site, the original Lassie, a male collie named “Pal”, earned up to $4,000 per week (early to mid 1950's). The article states that would be equivalent to roughly $50,000 per week today. Starting in 1943 in the film “Lassie Come Home”, Pal played Lassie for about 11 years.
Jon Provost is a former child actor of film and television. He is best known for his role as young Timmy Martin in the CBS series, Lassie. At the age of four, Provost was cast in the film The Country Girl, starring Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly.
Todd Ferrell (Ralph "Boomer" Bates): No acting credits since the 1950s. Per a correspondent, he lives in Oregon and owns his own business. Andy Clyde (Cully Wilson): Died May 18, 1967.
Sure, the pampering and star treatment was great, but according to Lassie, there was also a lot of hard work – and blow drying. Take for instance, her swim across Loch Ness.
At the end, when Joe has given up hope of ever seeing his dog again, the weary Lassie returns to her favorite resting place in the schoolyard at home. There, Lassie is joyfully reunited with the boy she loves.
The show ran for 17 seasons from 1954 to 1971 before a strange quirk caused by a new Federal Communications Commission rule resulted in Lassie moving into a new territory, that of first-run syndication, for two more seasons.
Weatherwax continued to use male collies in the role for a good reason: both sexes shed in the summer (when most movies and television shows traditionally film most of their episodes), an event called "blowing coat," but since the male has thicker fur, he wouldn't look so scrawny during filming.
