Animal Actors Revisited (Jerome A. Holst © 2005)

Back in 2002, I wrote an article that bemoaned the fact that animal actors used in film and TV were not being given credits in TV Research Books and Online Reference Databases. An overview of such sources as the Internet Movie Database, and the well respected reference texts The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows by Brooks and Marsh revealed no assignment of acting credits to animals of any kind. That is, giving the animal's real name for playing the part of a fictional character. But, apparently things have changed over the last few years because a few days ago I started to review my findings, and low and behold, I have found that the animals credits situation has improved.

I used the newest animal on the tube, namely, Backup, the dog on the popular drama VERONICA MARS airing on the UPN network since 2004 as my test subject. I, then, revisited the original sites such as the  IMDB, TV Com (formerly TV.Tome) and Epguides  to make my case.

As I examined the actors credits list in each of these online resources, I discovered that Epguides and TV.Com had not changed. They still only list the names of human characters and excluded the real names of animal actors from their master list. (TV Chronicles was no longer available on line to verify changes)

However, the IMDB now included the real name of the dog (Lefty) who plays Backup on the show. And although, the name of Lefty, does not appear in the general credits, it did appear in the credits for individual episodes. The IMDB also provided "Lefty" with his own BIO page.

In addition, the website called Wikipedia, which is a free online encyclopedia covering a variety of topics, includes both the name of the dog (Backup) as well its real name "Lefty" in the category of ("Minor Recurring Roles").

Print materials haven't improved much, however, The latest edition of the Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Show (2003) still does not include animal actors in their actor credit list; and the first edition of the TV Guide: Guide to TV (2004) also neglects to credit animal actors among the actors credit list. 

But we have made some headway and things are looking up. Maybe in a few years, the crediting of animal actors will be standard practice in the industry. Then, after a long struggle for recognition in a world of humans, the TV and film animals will finally get their due.

Click Here to read my original 2002 article/chart 
 

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