One of the earliest canine film stars was Etzel von Oeringen, known on film as Strongheart. Born October 1 1917, he was a male German Shepherd who was trained as a police dog in Germany but was brought to the USA by husband and wife filmmakers Laurence Trimble and Jane Murfin, who had previously worked successfully with Jean, the Vitagraph Dog. He appeared in several movies, including a 1925 adaptation of White Fang. Some of these pictures were highly successful, and did much to encourage the popularity of the German Shepherd breed.
In 1929, while being filmed for a movie, Strongheart accidentally made contact with a hot studio light and was burned. These burns caused a tumor to form, which ultimately caused his death that year. After Strongheart’s death, J. Allen Boone wrote a book, “Letters to Strongheart,” about the survival of the dog’s soul after death. The book was reprinted many times and remains a classic of the Spiritualiist faith.
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