Karl Lewis Miller (1941-2008) was a very successful and renowned animal trainer. Thousands of animals were trained by him for their roles in feature films or TV shows.  He usually trained his animals to react to a specific sound.  Dogs react to his voice (or a clicker). The piglets in 'Babe' responded to a clicker. Karl trained different cats for the Lewis Teague thriller 'Cat's Eye'. You may remember the animal action in 'Dreamscape', 'Monster Busters', 'K-9',  'Beethoven' or the hamsters in 'The Nutty Professor'. He is very famous in Germany due to his work with the German shepherd dog 'REX' on the  long running German TV show 'Kommissar Rex'. All the animals were trained by the famous animal action expert Karl Lewis Miller.

His first years in the movie business as an animal trainer were characterized by the Doberman. Karl Lewis Miller trained, this very elegant, muscular and powerful dog for for his  supporting role in movies like 'They only kill their masters', 'Trapped' or  'Zoltan, Hound of Dracula'. And who does not remember the great TV series 'Magnum, P.I.' and the two Doberman Pinchers,  Zeus and Apollo? Karl trained them in the beginning and left the show mid-season. Does anyone know why he left the show? Scott E. Hart was brought in as the official animal supervisor for the 'Magnum, P.I.' show. Karl had a new challenge, he trained the dog for the Sam Fuller (Director) hit 'White Dog'.

Karl Lewis Miller (right) setting up an attack scene with one of his dogs (Saint-Bernard) in  'Cujo' (1983).

The Doberman scenes in 'Remo Williams' (1985) are brillantly choreographed. Something special, it seems that the 3 Doberman Pinchers work in close consultation. An outstanding work of animal trainer Karl Lewis Miller. Animal action at its best!

'James Bond' Director Guy Hamilton actually had a hit on the hand with 'Remo Williams',  only the timing (in many ways) was not right. However, it's a great film and not only because of the Dobermans. A little underrated 80s hit! Give it a try!

For the hit movie 'Babe' Karl Lewis Miller had to train several hundred of animals. Sheeps, dogs, cows, horses, ducks, ...and lots of small piglets. Several animals were even born on the set and grew up during the filming. The clever piglet Babe became a star, excellently trained by Miller.

As usual with any Hollywood star, Babe got a little help. A stunt double, an animatronic twin (Jim Henson's Creature Shop ), was there for the  tricky scenes, professional make-up and some CGI helped to make Babe such a Star.

Even the best animal action supervisor and trainer can not teach a piglet to talk with a dog. This magic was done by visual effects supervisor Charles Gibson and his ingenious crew (Rhythm & Hues Studios).

Rhythm & Hues Studios pioneered the groundbreaking animation technique of mapping CG  heads onto live action animals. R&H did over 130 visual effects shot for 'Babe'.