Toto – Wizard of Oz: Interesting Facts!
Who doesn’t love the Wizard of Oz? A main character in the classic film is Toto. We wanted to share some fun facts about the little black Cairn terrier. First, we need to address that the actual name of the dog is Terry, but she went by Toto in the movie. If you remember, Toto was portrayed as a boy in the film. So, this talented girl dog played a boy dog during filming!
Another fact is that Terry received incorrect billing in the closing credits. She is billed as “Toto” playing the role of “Toto”: You may be wondering how Terry found her way to stardom. Her owner and trainer was a man named Carl Spitz who ran the Hollywood Dog Training School. Spitz adopted Terry in 1933, when she was just a year old. Terry was to appear in 15 films altogether. The Wizard of Oz was the only one in which she got a screen credit. Her first appearance was in Ready for Love in 1934.
How did Terry get paid for her time? She received a $125 weekly salary which happened to be double the amount that the Munchkins earned during filming. Keep in mind that the spotlight was not always glamourous for Terry! She was very scared to be in the basket when Miss Gulch took her away from Dorothy. The wind machines to mimic the tornado was very scary for Terry. In addition, she suffered a sprained food after accidently being stepped on by one of the Wicked Witch’s guards. She returned to the scenes a few weeks later to finish.
Terry died in 1945 at the age of 13 and was buried in the pet burial area behind Carl Spitz’s residence and kennel. Do you know which character in the Wizard of Oz is in more scenes than Dorothy? You guessed it! The answer is Toto! The dog appears in every seen that Dorothy is in, even if it is only for a few seconds. We hope that you enjoyed learning about of the most famous film dogs in history!