Rudd weatherwax cause of death

Robert weatherwax
Leslie movie dog
Lassie filming locations

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Rudd Weatherwax facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Rudd Weatherwax
Weatherwax and Lassie, 1955
Born	Ruddell Bird Weatherwax (1907-09-23)September 23, 1907 Engle, New Mexico Territory
Died	February 25, 1985(1985-02-25) (aged 77)
Other names	Ruddel Weatherwax

Ruddell Bird "Rudd" Weatherwax (September 23, 1907 – February 25, 1985) was an American actor, animal trainer, and breeder. He and his brother Frank are best remembered for training dogs for motion pictures and television. Their collie, Pal, became the original Lassie, handled by Rudd for the 1943 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Lassie Come Home. He also handled the dogs for the Lassie television series which ran from 1954 to 1974, and trained Spike for the 1957 feature film Old Yeller. After his death, his son, Robert, took over the training of the animals.

Weatherwax was also responsible for training the official New York Mets’ team mascot in the 1960s, a beagle named Homer.

Biography

Weatherwax was born in Engle, New Mexico Territory, the son of Anna Elisa (née Wallis) and Walter Smiley Wea

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Rudd Weatherwax, Man Who Taught ‘Lassie,’ Dies

Rudd Weatherwax, who trained the dogs used in the “Lassie” motion picture and television series, died Monday afternoon of a respiratory ailment.

Weatherwax, 77, who lived in the Canyon Country area, died at Holy Cross Hospital, his daughter-in-law, Linda Weatherwax, said.

Born in Silver City, N.M., Weatherwax owned and trained the orginal Lassie and continued to train dogs up to his death.

The first of seven Lassie movies was made in 1942. The show began on televison in Sept. 12, 1954, and ran 17 years to the day. It is still in syndication.

The cast and the dogs changed, but the one constant was Lassie, a brave, loyal and heroically intelligent collie.

Most of the plots, in fact, featured the collie helping her masters out of impending disasters. Despite Lassie’s gender on screen, all the dogs who appeared in the series and the movies were males.

In 1953, Tommy Rettig tested with a dozen other young actors for the key role of Lassie’s young master.

“It was narrowed down to three of us,” he said in 1979. “Each spent a week at

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Rudd Weatherwax

Rudd Weatherwax
Weatherwax and Lassie, 1955
Born	Ruddell Bird Weatherwax (1907-09-23)September 23, 1907 Engle, New Mexico Territory
Died	February 25, 1985(1985-02-25) (aged 77)
Occupation	Animal trainer

Ruddell Bird "Rudd" Weatherwax (September 23, 1907 – February 25, 1985) was an animal trainer. He trained dogs for movies and television. He trained a collie named Pal for the 1943 MGM movie Lassie Come Home. Pal appeared in six other MGM "Lassie" movies. He also trained Pal and his male descendants for the Lassietelevision series (1954-1974). He trained Spike for the 1957 Disney movie Old Yeller. He also trained Homer, the unofficial New York Mets team mascot in the 1960s.