Lee Duncan, a US Air Corporal, discovered the first 'Rin Tin Tin' on September 15, 1918, during World War I in Lorraine, France. Duncan and his battalion had arrived at a bombed out dog kennel, where they found a mother Shepherd Dog and her five scrawny pups. Duncan selected two of the pups, a male and a female, while the others were taken back to camp by members of his group. The mother and the remaining pups did not survive the next few months.
Duncan named the two surviving pups 'Rin Tin Tin' and 'Nannette', after tiny French puppets that French children would give to American soldiers for good luck. When the war ended, Duncan made arrangements to take the pups back to his home in Los Angeles, but during the Atlantic crossing, Nannette fell ill and passed away shortly after arriving in America.
In 1922, Duncan and Rin Tin Tin attended an LA dog show, where 'Rinty' performed by jumping an impressive 13 ½ feet. Following the show, producer Darryl Zanuck approached Duncan, asking if he could try out his new 'oving pictures' camera on the dog. Zanuck paid $350 to film Rinty in action.
Duncan then contacted every studio in Hollywood with a Rin Tin Tin-starring script, "Where The North Begins", and was unexpectedly hired by Warner Bros (Vitaphone) to star in their low-budget film "Man From Hells River". Rin Tin Tin's impressive performance in the film led to his starring role in 26 pictures for Warners, as well as his own live 1930s radio show "The Wonder Dog".
At the peak of his popularity, Warners maintained 18 trained stand-ins to reduce any stress on their dog star, while providing Rinty with a private chef who prepared daily lunches of tenderloin steak, served to the accompaniment of live classical music to aid the dog's digestion. Rin Tin Tin passed away in 1932 at the age of 14, and was returned to his birthplace in France, where he was interred in "The Cimetière des Chiens (et Autres Animaux Exotiques)" in the suburb of Asnières.
Today, Rin Tin Tin's bloodline continues at a Texas kennel, where a litter of 8-11 pups is born each year.
