06/19/2025
Terry: Best Known as Toto
Terry was in several films, but her most famous was The Wizard of Oz. The audience loved her character so much that her name was officially changed to Toto.
Terry, a purebred Cairn terrier, was born in November 1933 in Aalta Dena, California. She was soon taken in by a married couple in nearby Pasadena. Soon after, the owners brought the dog to Carl Spitz, who ran the successful Hollywood Dog Training School in the nearby San Fernando Valley, to be trained to stop wetting the rugs. Once trained, the couple had no intention of picking Terry up or paying the bill so Spitz kept the dog.
Terry was an intelligent dog and Spitz saw potential in her for acting. She appeared in several films before her role as Toto in The Wizard of Oz. Her first major appearance was in 1934 with Shirley Temple in Bright Eyes as Rags. When the choice of dogs for the part was narrowed down, it was up to Shirley (and her own dog who was not part of the film, a Pomeranian named Ching-Ching) to decide who would get it. Terry and Ching-Ching hit it off, and Shirley gave her approval: "She's hired."
Hundreds of dogs auditioned for the part of Toto, but Spitz prepared Terry well for the part. Judy Garland, who played Dorothy, took an immediate liking to Terry, as well as the other cast members. Terry was selected to play the part.
Terry did the part well and even performed all the stunts during the filming, including being put in a basket and withstanding three wind machines mimicking a tornado. According to American Girl Magazine in 1940 "The hardest thing this little dog ever had to do was during the drawbridge scene in the Wizard of Oz, when she was chased by the huge Winkie guards of the Wicked Witch. Toto had to come running out of the castle and was trying to cross the drawbridge. She had almost reached the middle when the drawbridge was pulled straight up. The only safety Toto had was by clutching the edge of the bridge with her little paws and balancing herself thirty feet in the air. One of a dog's greatest fears is the fear of falling, so it took a great deal of courage to follow her master's orders that time."
During the filming on the Witches Castle, a large Winkie accidentally stepped on Terry's paw causing the dog to squeal. Garland insisted Terry was given a few days off to recuperate. Terry's hard work paid off well. She received $125 a week, more than many of the human actors made. Garland fell in love with the little terrier as she worked with her, and even wanted to buy her from Spitz, but he refused to sell. Although a great actress, apparently Terry wasn't all that perfect. According to Garland's daughter, Lorna Luft, her mom said Terry had the worst breath in the world, making it hard to not wince when the dog would pant in her face.
In 1939 when the film was released, Terry was there at the premiere held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, CA. She became an instant star, began making public appearances, and was called Toto by all her fans. Spitz felt it was only right to officially change her name to Toto.
Toto went on to make more films, the last released in 1945, shortly before she passed away of old age on September 1 of that year. Spitz buried her on the kennel grounds which was later destroyed during the construction of the Ventura Freeway in 1958. On June 18, 2011 a memorial at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, CA was unveiled in memory of Toto - funded by an active group of Toto fans.
