Elsa Lanchester, Pal, and Donald Crisp
A few days ago, I was thinking about Roddy McDowall. As someone who lives with one foot in old Hollywood, it isn’t even remotely unusual for me to have one of its stars on my mind. I was thinking, isn’t it strange that his name isn’t brought up more often when we’re talking about exceptional child stars? We (understandably!) reel off Shirley Temple, Natalie Wood, Elizabeth Taylor, Jodie Foster, Jackie Coogan, Drew Barrymore, etc… but Roddy was as wonderful as anyone.
He, along with Elsa Lanchester, Elizabeth Taylor, and Donald Crisp (and Pal!) make Lassie Come Home (1943) such a wonderful movie – and one that’s as entertaining the 10th time you watch it as it was the first time.
The beautiful collie who portrayed Lassie in this film was Pal, his one-year old-male. He retired at the age of five. All subsequent Lassie movies used his direct descendants.
You can find the wonderful family movie Lassie Come Home on dvd (Amazon link) or watch on Prime Video.
Roddy McDowall, Pal, and Donald Crisp