Uggie won the Palm Dog Prize after this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and he’d be a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination, if not for an old Academy rule that prevents animals from being honored. The last pooch this heroic on the big screen was Lassie, or perhaps Benji. Uggie accompanies him everywhere, wags his tail adorably, and, in one pivotal scene, saves him from a burning building. He flirts with a female co-star, Peppy (Berenice Bejo), but the real love of his life is his dog. George Valentin ( Jean Dujardin) is a silent-screen legend. The movie is a throwback to classic Hollywood, shot in black and white, with no sound.

He’s a 9-year-old Jack Russell terrier who steals the show in The Artist, a film most Oscar pundits consider a frontrunner in the 2011 Academy Awards race. Von Muller announced Uggie's death in Facebook post, saying, 'Our beloved boy has passed away.The list of this year’s breakout movie stars includes Elizabeth Olsen of Martha Marcy May Marlene Felicity Jones from Like Crazy and Pariah’s Adepero Oduye. 'If they don't get their exercise, they get old too fast, just like people,' the trainer said in an interview three years ago. Von Muller made it a point to keep Uggie in shape and feeling young with exercise, including using a dog treadmill.

If you guys can adopt a dog, even if they don't make it on the big screen, they'll be big stars at your house.' 'The main message that Uggie would like to send to everybody out there is to please adopt,' Von Muller said at the paw-print ceremony. Uggie was a rescue dog, a cause that his owner championed.

He retired in 2012 in a ceremony at the famous Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, where he became the first dog to leave his paw prints in concrete alongside the prints of human stars. Uggie's other credits included the movies Water for Elephants and Mr. Uggie shared scenes in the film with his brother Dash and another Jack Russell named Dude. The movie won Academy Awards for Best Picture, lead actor and director in 2011. In The Artist, Uggie played the canine companion to Jean Dujardin's fading silent-film star. He was very special,' said Von Muller, who plans to bury the dog in his backyard. The Artist star Jean Dujardin is seen holding his canine co-star Uggie after accepting the Oscar for best picture on Feb.

Uggie jack russell terrier