Lassie, a Rough Collie, is "the world's most famous dog" * and a fictional character who has starred in (or, more properly, in variations been the subject of) many movies, TV shows, and books from 1938 through 2006.
The character of Lassie was created by British-American author Eric Knight in Lassie Come-Home, published as a short story in the Saturday Evening Post in 1938 and as a novel in 1940. In Knight's story, a young Yorkshire boy owns an exceptionally beautiful and loyal collie, but when the family faces severe economic hardship, the dog is sold to a wealthy nobleman. Both boy and dog grieve over the separation, made worse when the new owner transports Lassie hundreds of miles away to his estate in Scotland. However, the collie's instinct and courage cause her to escape, and the book follows Lassie's desperate efforts to return to the boy she loves.
In 1943 the book was made into what would become the first Lassie movie, also titled Lassie Come Home (no hyphen), which generally followed the plot of the book. Roddy McDowall starred. Since then, there have been numerous sequels, television series and spin-offs. Other television series followed in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, made by various production companies, with varied casts and themes, making the Lassie concept as a television series one of the very longest running of any collective series so focused. However, in reality they were truly different series, which ran from only a few years to over a decade. There are very few other examples of a character persisting through various productions (perhaps in mythology, such as the Chinese Monkey, or popular legends such as Zorro).
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All-Reviews.com - Lassie (1994) - Review of the movie.
Meta Description: [ Review of the movie Lassie, starring Thomas Gury and Helen Slater and directed by Daniel Petrie ]
Chicago Sun Times: Lassie - Critic Robert Ebert looks at how the film grew on him despite the cliches.
IMDb: Lassie (1994) - Cast, crew, users' comments and related links.
Meta Description: [ Lassie - Cast, Crew, Reviews, Plot Summary, Comments, Discussion, Taglines, Trailers, Posters, Photos, Showtimes, Link to Official Site, Fan Sites ]
Kids in Mind: Lassie - Parents' review looking at its suitability for children in terms of sex/nudity, violence and profanity.
Meta Description: [ Parents' review of the movie Lassie. ]
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