https://www.everythingaudrey.com/breakf ... angey-cat/There is a rumor going on that the Breakfast at Tiffany’s Cat was played by 9 cats. This hasn’t been confirmed though however would make quite a coincidence with Paul’s book “9 lives”
We know for fact that the Breakfast at Tiffany’s cat was played by at least two cats: a yellow classic tabby and a yellow mackerel tabby. These two cats change back and forth throughout the movie. Acting for a cat must be a tough job for them, so the need for multiple cats was necessary.
Audrey Hepburn stated that the worse thing she had ever done on film was when she threw Cat out of the cab and into the rainy street. She said that “it was the most distasteful thing she ever had to do on film”.
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ORANGEY CAT
Orangey the Cat is the only cat in history that has won the Patsy Award twice. For those who do not know, the Patsy award is the animal kingdom’s equal of an Oscar. The Patsy Award is awarded by the American Humane Association. The award represents Top Star Picture Animal of the Year. In 1951, Orangey cat played in the film, Rhubarb, and won his first Patsy for his cinema debut. His role was playing the eponymous baseball team-owning cat. About ten years later, in 1961, he won his 2nd Patsy, playing “Cat” in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). Cat was a fortunate homeless feline described as a “poor slob without a name” by Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn).
Orangey, was also known as Minerva the Cat, and Rhubarb the Cat since those are the movie roles he was most known for. Orangey, cleverly named, was an orange-colored tabby cat who was trained by Frank Inn, a famous animal trainer who was responsible for other famous animal actors like the pig who acted as Arnold Ziffel in Green Acres (1965) and Higgins the Dog, who played in the TV series “Petticoat Junction” (1964) which later created the role of Benji. Both Higgins and Arnold were Patsy winners. During his entire career, Frank Inn’s animals won a whopping total of 40 Pasty Awards!
Other films that Orangey the Cat appeared in during his long 15 year career, include:
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
Gigot (1962)
Village of the Giants (1965)
Our Miss Brooks (1952 – 1958) This was orangey’s longest job playing as Minerva the Catin Our Miss Brooks.
breakfast at tiffany's cat called orangey cat
QUOTES REFERENCING ORANGEY CAT
audrey hepburn-orangey cat-breakfast at -tiffanysHolly Golightly: He’s all right! Aren’t you, cat? Poor cat! Poor slob! Poor slob without a name! The way I see it I haven’t got the right to give him one. We don’t belong to each other. We just took up one day by the river. I don’t want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together. I’m not sure where that is but I know what it is like. It’s like Tiffany’s.
Holly Golightly:”I’m not Holly. I’m not Lulamae either. I don’t know who I am. I’m like Cat here. We’re a couple of no name slobs. We belong to nobody, and nobody belongs to us. We don’t even belong to each other.” Audrey Hepburn, as Holly Golightly.
Here is a Breakfast at Tiffany’s goof/ mistake.
When Holly has her mental melt down in her apartment she yanks the dressing table cloth, throwing the cat to the floor. However, in the next shot, the cat is flung up to the window.
CHECK OUT THE MOVIE BELOW TO SEE IF YOU CAN SPOT THE MISTAKE:
SYMBOLISM OF THE BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S CAT
The Breakfast at Tiffany’s cat (Orangey) is a consistent reminder to Holly and the audience of the lack of connection she feels to those around her. For much of the story, the Breakfast at Tiffany’s cat symbolizes Holly’s inability or maybe unwillingness to feel anchored down and stuck to anything or anyone. The fact that Holly won’t give the cat a name further stresses this key point:
“We just sort of took up by the river one day, we don’t belong to each other: he’s an independent, and so am I”… Holly won’t declare the cat as her own pet since that would signify that she’s settling down, and this is something she is extremely against doing.
Close to the end of the movie, the cat comes to represent something slightly different. Holly sets the cat free on her taxi ride to the airport, but she does so by leaving him in an unfamiliar and unfriendly-looking neighborhood with horrible weather … rain… and cats hate getting wet. When she eventually understands the terrible error she has made, she searches urgently to find him. The cat symbolizes Holly’s realization that she’s horrified about never belonging anywhere or to anyone. Also she realizes that she needs to find “herself” first before belonging. This was triggered by the ring that Paul gave her with her engraved initials H.G. on it. All of her built up concerns come to rest in the symbol of the cat, and the fact that if she doesn’t find him might tell us something about her ultimate fate.