6 Animal Film Stars With Tragic Histories

6. Keiko - Free Willy

Despite his name, which means "lucky one" in Japanese, Keiko's twenty-seven year life contained plenty of hardships. As a result, researchers and fans were thrilled that he was given the opportunity to return to the ocean eventually - it's just that the end result was unforeseeably tragic.

First captured in 1979, Keiko appeared in aquariums in Iceland and Canada until he was transported to an unkempt amusement park in Mexico. He was cast in the family film eleven years later after battling a papilloma virus that left wart-like spots on his skin. While the campaign to remove him from his nightmarish home in Mexico was successful, rougher seas lay ahead.

Though audiences cheered the release of Willy in the film, the real orca struggled to acclimate to the wild and was rehabilitated in an Oregon aquarium. He was released in Iceland after learning survival skills but the other whales refused to accept him, leaving him to rely on human companionship there and during his final years in a Norway habitat he selected himself. Tourists flocked to Norway to photograph and ride on Keiko until his sudden death from pneumonia a year later.

One of the film's highlights was the warm friendship between Jesse and Willy but several scientists insist that the release was a failure due to Keiko's reliance on human interaction. Unfortunately, the good intentions surrounding poor Keiko led to a wave of turbulence for him.