‘The Artist’ star Uggie the Dog wins Golden Collar Award

If you saw The Artist, you know that the real star of the film was not Jean Dujardin or Berenice Bejo, but it was Uggie the dog. Uggie, a Jack Russell Terrier, won the Golden Collar Award for his performance in a feature film on Monday.

The Wrap reports that Monday’s ceremony was the first ever, with awards handed out by Dog News Daily digital media, which created the show only months ago. The awards were voted on by 14 entertainment journalists from The Wrap, Entertainment Weekly, Variety and other outlets.

Uggie was actually nominated twice. One came for The Artist and the other for his role as Queenie in Water for Elephants. According to Deadline, Martin Scorsese actually lobbied hard to help Blackie, the Doberman who appeared in Hugo, win even though he did not score a nomination, but Uggie’s charm was too much to overcome. The remaining dogs nominated in the film category included 50/50’s Denver, Young Adult’s Hummer and Beginners’ Cosmo.

Unfortunately for Uggie, he will likely never have a chance to defend his title at next year’s ceremony. After he appears at the Academy Awards later this month, where The Artist was nominated for 10 awards, he will retire because of an illness. According to Zap2It, Uggie was supported by appearances from his co-stars, James Cromwell and Missi Pyle.

Best Dog in a foreign film went to Koko of Red Dog, while Bridgette won the Best Dog in a TV series for her performance as Stella in ABC’s Modern Family. There was a tie for Best Dog in a reality series, so both The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Jiggy and Pit Boss’ Hercules won the award. Best Dog in a direct-to-DVD film went to Rowdy for Marley & Me: The Puppy Years.

Two humans were honored at the ceremony. Charlize Theron won the humanitarian award, while director Michael Vance won the Legends Honorary Award.