W.S. Van Dyke’s “The Thin Man” features Dashiell Hammett’s husband-and-wife detective team of Nick and Nora Charles, and also their dog, a wire-haired fox terrier named Asta.
The popularity of the movie, due in part to the charming Asta, spawned five sequels. Canine actor Skippy, who played Nick and Nora’s dog in the first two films, had his name changed to Asta in real life to reflect his subsequent stardom.
The popular family movie “My Dog Skip” is based on Willie Morris’ autobiographical memoir of the same name. Morris’ boyhood dog, the titular Skip, was a fox terrier. However, Skip was “recast” like a Jack Russell terrier for the movie version of Morris’ story