Frank Thrall Weatherwax (June 23, 1902 – December 17, 1991) was an American

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and

animal trainer Animal training is the act of teaching animals specific responses to specific conditions or stimuli. Training may be for purposes such as companionship, detection, protection, and entertainment. The type of training an animal receives will vary ...

. He is best remembered with his brother

Rudd Weatherwax 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 coll ...

for their famous

collie Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Many ...

Pal Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

, the dog who became famous as

Lassie Lassie is a fictional female Rough Collie dog and is featured in a short story by Eric Knight that was later expanded to a full-length novel called ''Lassie Come-Home''. Knight's portrayal of Lassie bears some features in common with another fic ...

in the 1943

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

film ''

Lassie Come Home ''Lassie Come Home'' is a 1943 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Technicolor feature film starring Roddy McDowall and canine actor Pal, in a story about the profound bond between Yorkshire boy Joe Carraclough and his rough collie, Lassie. The film was dire ...

''. He also trained the dog, Lightning, for the 1935 movie ''A Dog of Flanders''.

Animal training

Weatherwax was born in Camp Palomas,

New Mexico Territory The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912. It was created from the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico, as a result of ''Santa Fe de Nuevo México ...

,Camp Palomas, now Las Palomas, is an unincorporated community located in Sierra County, about 6 miles south of

Truth or Consequences ''Truth or Consequences'' is an American game show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards (1940–1957) and later on television by Edwards (1950–1954), Jack Bailey (1954–1956), Bob Barker (1956–1975), Steve Dunne (1957–1958), ...

. It uses the ZIP code for

Williamsburg, New Mexico Williamsburg is a village in Sierra County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 449 at the 2010 census. The village, though small, is located adjacent to Truth or Consequences, and has essentially become a suburb. Though the town is ex ...

, 87942. the son of Anna Elisa (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Wallis) and Walter Smiley Weatherwax. Weatherwax trained the original

Asta The General Students' Committee (German: Allgemeiner Studierendenausschuss) or AStA, is the acting executive board and the external representing agency of the (constituted) student body at universities in most German states. It is therefore consid ...

for ''

The Thin Man ''The Thin Man'' (1934) is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in a condensed version in the December 1933 issue of ''Redbook''. It appeared in book form the following month. A film series followed, featuring the main cha ...

'', a film produced in 1934. This movie had five sequels and an accompanying television show. Weatherwax's Asta did not star in the TV series. He also trained

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...

, who appeared in Disney's ''

Old Yeller ''Old Yeller'' is a 1956 children's novel written by Fred Gipson and illustrated by Carl Burger. It received a Newbery Honor in 1957. The title is taken from the name of the yellow dog who is the center of the book's story. In 1957, Walt Disney ...

'' and in other film and television programs. Weatherwax played a bully in ''

Little Lord Fauntleroy ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was published as a serial in '' St. Nicholas Magazine'' from November 1885 to October 1886, then as a book by Scribner's (the publisher of ''St. Nicholas'') in 1886. The ill ...

'' in 1921 with

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

. In 1920 he appeared in the silent film version of ''

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' (german: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre) and ''Heidi: How She Used ...

'' and in '' The Jucklins''.

Family

He was the brother of

, actor and animal trainer, and uncle of actor

Ken Weatherwax Kenneth Patrick Weatherwax (September 29, 1955 – December 7, 2014) was an American child actor best known for having played Pugsley Addams on ''The Addams Family''. Biography Weatherwax was born in Los Angeles, California, into a show-business ...

Notes

External links

*
Profile
canineprofessionals.com 1902 births 1991 deaths American male silent film actors Dog trainers Male actors from New Mexico People from Sierra County, New Mexico 20th-century American male actors {{US-film-actor-1900s-stub