Long before Mr. Ed (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4), the talking horse who ruled America's TV screens, another talking animal won over audiences with his sassy comebacks and helpful demeanor. Francis the Talking Mule, usually voiced by actor Chill Wills (1902–1978), helped his bumbling sidekick Donald O'Connor (1925–) out of humorous situations in a popular series of movie comedies in the 1940s and 1950s.

The last forty years of the twentieth century saw an increase in the number of "talking animal" movies and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) shows, from the talkative horse Mr. Ed, who ruled the stable on CBS in the 1960s, to Babe, the chatty pig who starred in his own Oscar-nominated film in 1995. Comedian Eddie Murphy (1961–) dealt with a whole host of talking animals in his Dr. Dolittle movies. However, none...