Orangey, Hollywood’s Favorite Feline

Stubborn, aloof, and undomesticated, the feline has never enjoyed quite the same prestige on-screen as the endlessly tractable, hungry-for-approval dog—there has never been a calico Rin Tin Tin, nor a tortoiseshell Lassie. But there was Orangey, the shorthair marmalade tabby of movie animal wrangler Frank Inn, never exactly a household name, but to date the only cat to win two Picture Animal Top Star of the Year awards (PATSYs), best remembered as Holly Golightly’s “Cat” in Blake Edwards’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but boasting a resume that includes screwball comedy (Rhubarb), science fiction (The Incredible Shrinking Man), and even Westerns (Stranger on Horseback). Was the phenomenon known as “Orangey” in fact a composite of more than one animal’s performances? Inn has confessed as much, but this detracts nothing from the fact that there is only one Orangey, and in this series Metrograph celebrates and sings the praises of him… of them… whatever you prefer. Viva Orangey!