The original Rin Tin Tin was a war hero. Rescued from a World War I battlefield, he was brought back to the United States by an American soldier named Lee Daniels. The world fell in love with "Rinty" who appeared in numerous silent films. Rin Tin Tin was one of Hollywood's first big stars.
In 1929, the movie studios came up with an interesting way to promote their films; an award show! Movieland's best and brightest would compete for Academy Award statuettes to crown the best and brightest. (And also hopefully fill theater seats.) The ballots went out and plans for a lavish banquet were made to hand out the awards. As the ballots trickled in, one rather large problem appeared; Rin Tin Tin was so popular that he was handily beating his human competition. It seemed that nobody bothered to restrict the competition to humans.
The Academy was frantic. They were trying to start a new, honored tradition and awarding the first best actor award to a dog was seen as ridiculous. These "Academy Awards" would become a laughingstock. Their solution was actually pretty easy; they merely disqualified animal nominees retroactively. Votes for Rinty were discarded, making the new winner the German actor Emil Jannings.
Mr. Jannings has been the only German actor to win an Oscar (and just a few years after the United States had fought against Germany.) Many believe that Emil Jannings would not have won had the Academy disqualified Rinty before the voting started. For the losing actors, however, it could have been worse. Imagine the shame of losing a best actor award to a dog?
