He is considered to be the greatest animal actor EVER (eat
your heart out Beverly Hills Chihuahua), but did Rin Tin Tin win an Oscar?
Writer Susan Orlean, in her new biography about the Al Pacino of Pooches,
claims Rin Tin Tin won the first Oscar for Best Actor, only to have it
purloined by The Academy in 1929!
According to Orlean, Rin Tin Tin would have been the first Oscar winner for
Best Actor, but the award was given to German silent movie star Emil Jannings, who
didn't even show up for the ceremony (the winners were known in February, but
the awards were handed out in a May ceremony).
Was The Academy worried the entire academy and Oscar competition would be
considered a joke if the first Best Actor winner was a dog?
And, you have to wonder, did members of The Academy think the Oscars was nothing more than a "Dog and Pony Show", so why not give the statue to the four-legged thespian?
Rin Tin Tin was a HUGE movie star at the time, and many feel he was the reason Warner Brothers became a major Hollywood studio as they produced and distributed his movies, which were top box office blockbusters, so, is this proof Hollywood has always loved a moneymaker?
Congratulations, Susan. Now, I might have to buy the book.
