Rudd Weatherwax

Common card · No. 436564

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.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn for the show's sponsor, Campbell's Soup. It was not uncommon in the 1950s and 1960s for publicity material to be distributed by either an advertising or public relat…, Public domain