Cats In Movies: Famous Felines Of The Silver Screen

Cats rule the internet, but there are many examples of cats in movies too.

Roles for cats in movies began with silent movies and continue to this day with such hits as the recent animated Puss In Boots feature film. Here are a few examples of felines on the screen:

• Pepper was the first feline star.  She was a stray that wandered onto the movie set. Pepper ended up working with silent screen stars Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle in several features.  When Pepper’s favorite co-star, Great Dane Teddy, passed away, she went into mourning and disappeared.
• Orion the cat starred in Men In Black as guardian of the galaxy.  If you’re a stickler for detail, in one scene you may have noticed Orion’s name is spelled in all capital letters on his collar, while in another scene the name is written in calligraphy.
• Solomon, a white Persian, played the feline companion of villain Ernst Blofeld in two James Bond movies, You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever.
• In 1951, an orange tabby named Orangey starred in a comedy movie called Rhubarb with actor Ray Milland.  Orangey took serious dislike to Milland, so the crew had to go to extraordinary measures like spraying the actor with catnip and smearing him with meat paste just to keep Orangey in the scene.  The cat was awarded a PATSY (the equivalent of an Oscar for animal actors) for his role in Rhubarb, but Milland didn’t receive comparable recognition.
• Ten years later, Orangey starred as Cat in Breakfast At Tiffany’s with Audrey Hepburn.  Hepburn received an Oscar nomination for her role and Orangey was awarded another PATSY for his role.
• Spot the cat starred as the feline companion to Data, one of the lead characters in the Star Trek feature Generations.  He’d played the role for many episodes of the television series and was so popular he carried over the role to the feature film.

When thinking about cats in movies, who is your favorite feline actor?

Source:  Cat-A-Logue by Deborah Robertson

Photo Source:  Fredflare.com