Lassie is one of the most iconic television characters that has been embedded in our hearts since childhood. The series, which aired from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s, followed the adventures and heroic acts of Lassie as she saved her owners from difficult situations. The show achieved great success, receiving critical acclaim and massive public admiration, which led producers to continue creating more seasons, totaling 17 over nearly 20 years. Lassie thus became the seventh longest-running prime-time TV show in the United States. Despite the role being played by various dogs throughout the seasons, Lassie remains one of the most famous animal characters to have graced Hollywood in recent decades, if not the most famous of all.

The character of Lassie dates back to the 19th century, with an early portrayal in a short story by British author Elizabeth Gaskell in 1859, titled “The Unfortunate Brothers.” In this story, Lassie is depicted as a female Collie with intelligent eyes who rescues two brothers lost in the snow after the elder brother, Gregory, ties a scarf around her neck and sends her home. Lassie rushes back with rescuers. Later, during World War I, the real Lassie, who inspired numerous films and TV episodes, saved a sailor’s life. She belonged to a pub owner in the UK. When a British warship was destroyed by a German submarine, followed by the explosion of a lifeboat with the sailors’ bodies, the pub owner offered to temporarily store the bodies in his cellar. Lassie, a mixed-breed Collie, found her way among the corpses, licked the face of one victim, and stayed by him for over half an hour, warming him with her fur. To everyone’s astonishment, the body moved—it was a sailor still alive, who was then taken to the hospital and recovered. The sailor later visited Lassie to thank her for saving his life, and the story spread among reporters until it reached the United States, capturing Hollywood’s interest.

The Lassie character began to take a clearer form after appearing as a short story in a newspaper titled “Lassie Come Home,” written by English author Eric Knight in 1938. Later, it was published as a full novel in 1940, set in England during the Great Depression. It depicted Lassie’s long journey to reunite with her young master in Yorkshire after her family was forced to sell her for money. Eric Knight said he developed the character based on a Collie dog he had as a child named “Tots.” The Collie breed, sometimes referred to as the Scottish Collie, was domesticated in Scotland for herding and hunting. Known for its intelligence and hard work, Knight’s real dog was a loyal and affectionate companion who would wait for him for hours after school. This devotion and connection naturally inspired the Lassie character and story.

By 1943, the novel was adapted into a feature film of the same name, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor. The film featured a Collie named “Pal” with a long, thick coat and was a major success, leading to positive critical responses and encouraging producers to create more films and a radio series that lasted until 1949. Between 1954 and 1973, the television series “Lassie” aired, beginning with the dog “Pal” and set on a farm with a young master. As “Pal” aged and the series continued through multiple seasons, producers replaced him with younger relatives of the same breed to continue the role. Lassie transitioned from the farm in the eleventh season to becoming a companion to U.S. Forest Service rangers, then spent a season alone before ending the series as a resident of an orphanage. The long-running series won two Emmy Awards before concluding in 1973. Later, some irregular TV adaptations were made in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2005, a new version of the film “Lassie Come Home” was produced in the UK, starring Peter O’Toole and Samantha Morton.

Due to Lassie’s significant fame in film and television, she was commercially exploited for pet food marketing and promoting an animal care TV program. Lassie is also one of only four fictional animal characters to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, alongside Mickey Mouse, Kermit the Frog, and Bugs Bunny. Furthermore, she was the only animal included in “Variety” magazine’s “100 Icons of the Century” list.