Orangey

Cat actor

Orangey

Orangey with Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Other name(s)|

* Jimmy
* Jeremy
* Rhubarb

Species| Felis catus
Sex| Male
Born| Orangey Minerva
Unknown
United States
Died| Los Angeles, California, United States
Resting place| Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation| Actor
Notable role|

* Rhubarb
* Cat
* Butch

Years active| 1950s–1960s
Owner| Frank Inn
Awards| PATSY Award (1951, 1961)

Orangey, also known as Orangey Minerva (c. 1950–1967), was a male, red domestic shorthair tabby cat,[1] who was an animal actor owned and trained by the cinematic animal handler Frank Inn.[2][3] Many cats in Hollywood are orange like Orangey. He was a prolific actor who was not always credited for his work.

"Red" is the correct broad term to describe all cats that have the "red gene".[4] Red applies to cats with fur that looks orange (marmalade), ginger, siena, rust, yellow, or cream. Because of that same red gene, red cats are always tabbies no matter what the breed, or how light, muted or diluted that characteristic M on the tabby forehead appears.[5][6][7][8] The same gene makes it more likely that red cats will be male than female. There are more red domestic shorthair tabby cats in the United States and than any other type of tabby. Domestic shorthairs make up the majority of cats in the U.S. and the world.

## Career

[edit]

Orangey (credited under various names) had a prolific career in film and television in the 1950s and early 1960s and was the only cat to win two PATSY Awards (Picture Animal Top Star of the Year, an animal actor's version of an Oscar), the first for the title role in Rhubarb (1951),[9] a story about a cat who inherits a fortune, and the second for his portrayal of "Cat" in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961).[9] For this film Orangey won the 1962 PATSY Award for his portrayal of "the poor slob without a name." He has also been credited as the cat Mouschi in the film adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank (1959).[1] In that film, he nearly reveals the Jews' hiding place, and later becomes its only escapee. The cat was credited as the family pet, "Butch," in the film The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), in which he is mistakenly assumed to have eaten the title character.

On The Dick Van Dyke Show he portrayed Sally's cat, Mr. Henderson in "Where you been, Fassbinder?" season 1, episode 25 on March 14, 1962.[10][11][12] Orangey played Rusty on The Beverly Hillbillies in "Elly’s Animals" (season 1, episode 19) that aired on January 30, 1963.[13] He was Matilda Cat in The Beverly Hillbillies episode entitled "The Cat Burglar" (S4.E19) that aired on Jan 26, 1966, but was uncredited.[14][15]

According to Sam Wasson, author of 5th Avenue, 5AM: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman, Inn said Orangey was "a real New York type cat, just what we want. In no time at all I'm going to make a method, or Lee Strasberg type, cat out of him."[9] Orangey was called "the world's meanest cat" by one studio executive. He often scratched and bit actors. But he was prized for his ability to stay for several hours. Sometimes, however, he would flee after filming some scenes and production would be shut down until he could be found. Inn would sometimes have to post guard dogs at the studio entrance to keep him from running away.[3]

Other appearances included a regular role as "Minerva" on the television series Our Miss Brooks (1952-1958).

The cat was also credited as "Jimmy," "Jeremy," and "Rhubarb."[16] Orangey's last known appearance came in two consecutive episodes in the TV series Batman in 1967-68 in which he played an uncredited role alongside Eartha Kitt who portrayed Catwoman.

Sofia Bohdanowicz's 2020 short documentary film, The Hardest Working Cat in Show Biz is based on Dan Sallitt’s essay of the same name, and explores Orangey's history, mythology, and rumors that the name "Orangey" was ascribed to several different cats as opposed to one single cat.[17][18]

## Death

[edit]

Orangey died in 1967. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) located in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States.[citation needed]

## Filmography

[edit]

List of film credits  Title  | Year  | Role  | Notes  | Ref(s)

|
|
|
|

Rhubarb | 1951  | Rhubarb  | Uncredited, one of 14 cats in the role  |
This Island Earth | 1955  | Neutron  | Uncredited  |
The Incredible Shrinking Man | 1957  | Butch  | Uncredited  |
The Matchmaker | 1958  | Himself - a Cat  | credited as Rhubarb  |
The Diary of Anne Frank | 1959  | Mouschi  | Uncredited  |
Visit to a Small Planet | 1960  | Clementine  | Uncredited  |
Breakfast at Tiffany's | 1961  | Cat  | Frank Inn also credited  |
Gigot | 1962  |  | Uncredited  |
The Comedy of Terrors | 1963  | Cleopatra  | credited as Rhubarb  |
Village of the Giants | 1965  | Giant Cat  | Uncredited  |

Television

* Our Miss Brooks (1952–1958) as Minerva (uncredited)
* Alfred Hitchcock Presents (January 22, 1956) (Season 1 Episode 17: "The Older Sister") as Cat (uncredited)
* Alfred Hitchcock Presents (December 22, 1957) (Season 3 Episode 12: "Miss Paisley's Cat") as Stanley the cat (uncredited)
* Shirley Temple's Storybook (1958) as The Cat
* The Dick Van Dyke Show (1962) as Mr. Henderson
* The Beverly Hillbillies (1963) as Rusty, Cat
* My Favorite Martian (1963–1964) as Herbie, Max the Cat, Cat on Footpath
* Mission Impossible ("The Seal", 1967) as IMF agent Rusty the cat(uncredited)
* Batman (1967–1968) as Cat

Documentary

* Audrey Hepburn Remembered (1993) as Cat

## Awards

[edit]

Year  | Nominated work  | Category  | Awards  | Result

|
|
|
|

1952  | Rhubarb | Picture Animal Top Star of the Year  | PATSY Award | Won
1962  | Breakfast at Tiffany's | Picture Animal Top Star of the Year  | PATSY Award  | Won

## See also

[edit]

* List of individual cats

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Bass, Iris (2011). Cat Lover's Daily Companion. Quarry Books. p. 250\. ISBN 978-1592537495.
2. ^ "Anna Jane Grossman: Training a Cat Actor for Broadway? Better Understand the Peculiar World of Feline Motivation". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2014-01-27.
3. ^ a b Powe Allred, Alexandra (2005). Cat's Most Wanted. Washington D.C.: Potomac Books. p. 172\. ISBN 1612342930.
4. ^ "Cat coat genetics", Wikipedia, 2025-02-10, retrieved 2025-03-15
5. ^ "Category:Red cats - Wikimedia Commons". commons.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
6. ^ Psaradelis, Sarah (2025-03-14). "Cat Colors: Facts Behind Different Coat Types & Patterns". Catster. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
7. ^ "The Ultimate Guide To Cat Coat Colors". Nature's Advantage. 2022-11-09. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
8. ^ "What Color is My Cat?". TICA - The International Cat Association. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
9. ^ a b c Deczynski, Rebecca (25 March 2015). "6 Cats Who Made a Mark on the Silver Screen". Mental Floss. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
10. ^ KJ Ricardo (2020-08-08). "DICK VAN DYKE SHOW" - Guest Star Spotlight: Orangey the Cat (Sally's Cat, Mr. Henderson)!!!. Retrieved 2025-03-15 - via YouTube.
11. ^ "The Dick Van Dyke Show" Where You Been, Fassbinder? (TV Episode 1962) - Orangey as Mr. Henderson - IMDb. Retrieved 2025-03-15 - via m.imdb.com.
12. ^ Kay, Linda (2015-09-08). "The Dick Van Dyke Show – "Where You Been, Fassbinder?"". Cinema Cats. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
13. ^ Whorf, Richard (1963-01-30), "Elly's Animals", The Beverly Hillbillies, Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, retrieved 2025-03-15
14. ^ Depew, Joseph (1966-01-26), "The Cat Burglar", The Beverly Hillbillies, Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, retrieved 2025-03-15
15. ^ "The Cat Burglar (1966)". IMDb. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
16. ^ Billson, Anne (January 25, 2014). "Cats improve every film they are in". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 27, 2014. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
17. ^ Sallitt, Dan. "The Hardest Working Cat in Show Biz". Filmmaker Magazine. Archived from the original on 2020-11-26. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
18. ^ Rizov, Vadim. "Online Premiere: Sofia Bohdanowicz's The Hardest Working Cat in Showbiz". Filmmaker Magazine. Archived from the original on 2020-12-03. Retrieved 2020-12-06.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Orangey.

* Orangey at AlloCiné (in French)
* Orangey at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's

Adaptations|

* House of Flowers (1954 musical)
* Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961 film)
* Breakfast at Tiffany's (1966 musical)
* Breakfast at Tiffany's (2013 play)

Music|

* "Moon River"
* Breakfast at Tiffany's: Music from the Motion Picture (1961 soundtrack)
* Jazz for "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961 album)
* "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1995 song)

Other|

* Black Givenchy dress of Audrey Hepburn
* I. Y. Yunioshi

* v
* t
* e

Animal actors

Dogs|

* Ace the Wonder Dog
* Brigitte
* Brownie the Wonder Dog
* Buddy
* Cook
* Cosmo
* Daisy
* Darla
* Doug the Pug
* Dynamite the Dog
* Enzo
* Flame
* Gidget
* Higgins
* Jean
* Jed
* Koko
* Koton
* Kuma von Clifford
* Lassie
* Lightning
* Luke the Dog
* Madison
* Messi
* Moonie
* Moose
* Olivia
* Pal
* Pete the Pup
* Peggy
* Rin Tin Tin
* Sanggeun
* Shep
* Silver Streak
* Skippy
* Soccer
* Spike
* Strongheart
* Sykes
* Teddy
* Terry
* Thunder
* Uggie

Primates
(non-human)|

* Cheeta
* Crystal the Monkey
* J. Fred Muggs
* Jiggs
* Jimmy the Chimp
* Jovian
* Manis
* Joe Martin
* Jo Mendi II
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Horses|

* Bamboo Harvester
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* Popcorn Deelites
* Rex the Wonder Horse
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* Wonder horses

Bears|

* Bart the Bear
* Bart the Bear 2
* Brody the Bear
* Bruno
* Hercules

Cats|

* The lions of MGM
* Lil Bub
* Grumpy Cat
* Henry
* Morris the Cat
* Orangey

Birds|

* Douglas (parrot)
* Jimmy (raven)
* Mr Percival (pelican)

Elephants|

* Chirakkal Kalidasan
* Tai

Cetaceans|

* Keiko (orca)
* Namu (orca)
* Winter (dolphin)

Reptiles|

* Burt (crocodile)
* Frank (lizard)
* Pocho (crocodile)

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