Jimmy the Crow is surely one of the most unnoticed movie stars of all time. Between the 1930s and 1950s Jimmy, actually a raven, appeared in more than a thousand feature films, including the likes of The Wizard of Oz and It's a Wonderful Life.
Jimmy was found in a nest in the Mojave Desert in 1934 by animal trainer Curly Twiford. Twiford was keen to make Jimmy appealing for use in films so taught him as many tricks as he could including typing, opening letters and even riding a tiny motorcycle. Jimmy could understand several hundred words though Twiford said that only about fifty of those were actually useful. It generally took a week for Jimmy to learn each useful word, though it would take longer if the word has more than 1 syllable.
Jimmy's big break came in when he was cast in the 1938 film You Can't Take it With You and I like to imagine he was a key reason why the film went on to win Best Picture. Jimmy obviously did something right because director Frank Capra proceeded to cast Jimmy in every subsequent movie he made.
Of course, many of Jimmy's appearances are never likely to be seen by modern audiences but there are a couple of rare exceptions. In The Wizard of Oz we see a crow land on the scarecrow and that's Jimmy. His other major appearance is in the Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life. If you know the film you may remember that Uncle Billy inexplicably has a pet crow in the Building and Loan office. It seemed that Capra wanted to put Jimmy into every film even if there was no valid reason for him to even be there.
The more famous Jimmy in It's a Wonderful Life is of course Jimmy Stewart who was complimentary about his corvid co-star. "When they call Jimmy, we both answer" he remarked when interviewed on the set. He also said that Jimmy the Crow was "the smartest actor on the set" and required fewer re-takes than his human counterparts.
Jimmy became so popular with the studio that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had him insured for $10,000. Twiford had Lloyd's of London write a policy which covered Jimmy's $500 a week fee, as well as $200 for Twiford in case Jimmy forgot any words he would need. All movie stars need stand-ins and at one point Jimmy has 21 different ones who would fill in for him when the scene did required any tricks or movement.
Rightfully, Jimmy was honoured. He received a Red Cross gold medal as an acknowledgement of two hundred hour entertaining veterans after the war and his footprints were enshrined in cement at a large L.A. pet shop alongside other animal stars of the day like Lassie.
Jimmy's last credited film was the 1954 Dean Martin comedy 3 Ring Circus. We don't know what happened to him after that and though Curly Twiford claimed Jimmy would "probably live to be one hundred and fifty years old", ravens don't tend to live more than thirty years in captivity. Twiford himself didn't outlive Jimmy by much, dying in 1956 at the age of 60. The trainer claimed that it was only Jimmy that kept him solvent during the second world war and it seems that for a fair portion of his life Jimmy was his main source of income.
Jimmy was found in a nest in the Mojave Desert in 1934 by animal trainer Curly Twiford. Twiford was keen to make Jimmy appealing for use in films so taught him as many tricks as he could including typing, opening letters and even riding a tiny motorcycle. Jimmy could understand several hundred words though Twiford said that only about fifty of those were actually useful. It generally took a week for Jimmy to learn each useful word, though it would take longer if the word has more than 1 syllable.
Jimmy's big break came in when he was cast in the 1938 film You Can't Take it With You and I like to imagine he was a key reason why the film went on to win Best Picture. Jimmy obviously did something right because director Frank Capra proceeded to cast Jimmy in every subsequent movie he made.
Of course, many of Jimmy's appearances are never likely to be seen by modern audiences but there are a couple of rare exceptions. In The Wizard of Oz we see a crow land on the scarecrow and that's Jimmy. His other major appearance is in the Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life. If you know the film you may remember that Uncle Billy inexplicably has a pet crow in the Building and Loan office. It seemed that Capra wanted to put Jimmy into every film even if there was no valid reason for him to even be there.
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| Jimmy's scene in The Wizard of Oz |
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| Jimmy in It's a Wonderful Life |
Rightfully, Jimmy was honoured. He received a Red Cross gold medal as an acknowledgement of two hundred hour entertaining veterans after the war and his footprints were enshrined in cement at a large L.A. pet shop alongside other animal stars of the day like Lassie.
Jimmy's last credited film was the 1954 Dean Martin comedy 3 Ring Circus. We don't know what happened to him after that and though Curly Twiford claimed Jimmy would "probably live to be one hundred and fifty years old", ravens don't tend to live more than thirty years in captivity. Twiford himself didn't outlive Jimmy by much, dying in 1956 at the age of 60. The trainer claimed that it was only Jimmy that kept him solvent during the second world war and it seems that for a fair portion of his life Jimmy was his main source of income.
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