--- title: Fearless Fagan: The Lion That Went Hollywood description: Back in the early 1950s, LIFE magazine saw fit to report on — and to exhaustively photograph — a lion named Fagan not just once, but twice. canonical: https://time.com/3877983/fearless-fagan-the-lion-that-went-hollywood/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-09-19T00:18:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:50.454Z og:title: Fearless Fagan: The Lion That Went Hollywood og:description: Back in the early 1950s, LIFE magazine saw fit to report on — and to exhaustively photograph — a lion named Fagan not just once, but twice. og:url: https://time.com/3877983/fearless-fagan-the-lion-that-went-hollywood/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6a8bebd91729a2f9/6987f059e20a87eda4a89713/111750847.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Loomis Dean-A New Home og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fearless Fagan: The Lion That Went Hollywood twitter:description: Back in the early 1950s, LIFE magazine saw fit to report on — and to exhaustively photograph — a lion named Fagan not just once, but twice. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6a8bebd91729a2f9/6987f059e20a87eda4a89713/111750847.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Fearless Fagan: Portrait of the Lion as a Young Actor by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Sep 19, 2013 12:18 AM UTC  Humeston's attempts to put Fagan in circuses and zoos were unsuccessful, but finally the Humane Society at Monterey, California, agreed to take in the big cat. (Humeston was particularly overjoyed because it was only seven miles from his base, meaning he could frequently visit his pet.) But this was not to be the end of Fagan's journey. Above: MGM associate producer Sidney Franklin Jr. -- more on him in a bit -- gives Fagan a voice test. Humeston's attempts to put Fagan in circuses and zoos were unsuccessful, but finally the Humane Society at Monterey, California, agreed to take in the big cat. (Humeston was particularly overjoyed because it was only seven miles from his base, meaning he could frequently visit his pet.) But this was not to be the end of Fagan's journey. Above: MGM associate producer Sidney Franklin Jr. -- more on him in a bit -- gives Fagan a voice test.Loomis Dean/TIME & LIFE Pictures by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Sep 19, 2013 12:18 AM UTC Back in the early 1950s, LIFE magazine saw fit to report on — and to exhaustively photograph — a lion named Fagan not just once, but twice. The first time the magazine ran a story on Fagan was in February 1951, when an article informed LIFE’s readers that a 24-year-old Army private stationed at Fort Ord, Calif., had requested a 14-day furlough for his cat. That is to say, for his _really big_ cat: a mature male lion. Private Floyd C. Humeston had raised the lion from a cub, brushed its teeth, combed its fur and, LIFE claimed, had “evolved an English-German gibberish that Fagan not only understands but answers with growls and gurgles which his master understands.” Humeston was trying to find a home for the growling, gurgling beast after he (Humeston, not Fagan) had been drafted. Flash forward five months, to July 1951, when a “sequel” to the first article, titled “Fearless Fagan Goes Hollywood,” appeared in the magazine’s pages. (The photos in this gallery were shot for that July ’51 feature.) LIFE provided a recap of the previous article, while revealing the lion and its master’s latest adventures: --- > “” --- The movie that Franklin produced, _Fearless Fagan_ (1952), had real talent attached to it: Charles Lederer, the writer of _Gentlemen Prefer Blondes_ and _Ocean’s Eleven_, wrote the screenplay; Stanley Donen (who helmed _Singin’ in the Rain_) directed; and Janet Leigh was one of its stars.  Fagan the lion on an MGM set, 1951. Loomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Fagan the lion on the MGM lot, 1951. Loomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Fagan the lion on the MGM lot, 1951. Loomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "From a chauffer-driven convertible Fagan trades glances with fellow M-G-M star Esther Williams." Loomis Dean—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Fagan the lion with movie producer Sidney Franklin, 1951. Loomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  MGM Studio's Sidney Franklin Jr. with Fagan the lion, 1951. Loomis Dean–TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Owner Floyd Humeston leads Fagan the lion to the camera department for a posing test, 1951. Loomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Fagan the lion in his "dressing room" in 1951. Loomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Fagan the lion, ready for his makeup, 1951. Loomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  A photographer shoots publicity photos of Fagan the lion, 1951. Loomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Floyd Humeston and Fagan the lion outside the Thalberg Building, Hollywood, 1951. Loomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images Fearless Fagan: The Lion That Went Hollywood ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3877983/fearless-fagan-the-lion-that-went-hollywood/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3877983/fearless-fagan-the-lion-that-went-hollywood/"},"headline":"Fearless Fagan: Portrait of the Lion as a Young Actor","datePublished":"2013-09-19T00:18:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:50.454Z","description":"Back in the early 1950s, LIFE magazine saw fit to report on -- and to exhaustively photograph -- a lion named Fagan not just once, but twice.","url":"https://time.com/3877983/fearless-fagan-the-lion-that-went-hollywood/","keywords":["animals","movies","Hollywood","Lion","1951"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6a8bebd91729a2f9/6987f059e20a87eda4a89713/111750847.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6a8bebd91729a2f9/6987f059e20a87eda4a89713/111750847.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Loomis Dean-A New Home","caption":"Humeston's attempts to put Fagan in circuses and zoos were unsuccessful, but finally the Humane Society at Monterey, California, agreed to take in the big cat. 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