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Stray to superstar: A CT man rescues shelter dogs, turning them into Broadway and movie actors

Photographed outside the Goodspeed Opera House, Bill Berloni of Haddam is currently working with two rescued Havanese mixes, Dulce (left) and Charlie (right), for the play "Left On Tenth" opening on Broadway in September. The world-renowned humane trainer works with dogs, cats, farm animals, birds, reptiles and insects. He just finished working with a Great Dane who will co-star with Naomi Watts and Bill Murray in the film The Friend to be released this fall. His career began nearly 50 ago, as an apprentice at the Goodspeed Opera House when he was put in charge of finding and training a dog named Sandy for the original production of ‘Annie.’ A large majority of the animals Berloni works with are rescues.
Mark Mirko
/
Connecticut Public
Photographed outside the Goodspeed Opera House, world-renowned Bill Berloni of Haddam is currently working with two rescued Havanese mixes, Dulce (left) and Charlie (right), for the play "Left On Tenth," opening on Broadway this month. “My philosophy is: I don’t dominate them. I work with them. I create situations where they want to be with us.”

On a summer day in East Haddam, Bill Berloni sat in a gazebo near the banks of the Connecticut River, with two Havanese dogs cuddled in his lap.

“With me today are the two dogs that are going to be starring in a new play on Broadway called ‘Left on Tenth,’ Charlie and Dulce,” he explained. “They’ll be playing the roles of Honey and Charlotte.”

Connecticut is home to many famous actors — including four-legged ones. They have names like Sandy from the show "Annie" and Bruiser from the musical "Legally Blonde." Most are rescues from animal shelters who went on to become showbiz stars.

Their trainer is Burloni, a world-renowned animal handler for stage and screen. These canine thespians live with Berloni, his wife and dozens of other stage-ready dogs on a farm in central Connecticut.

Berloni trains them based on lessons he learned as a boy.

“I grew up on a farm as an only child and my only playmates were a dog and a cat and a rabbit," he said. "There was no leash; there was no fence. And these animals didn’t run away. So I must have learned at a very young age that if you’re kind with them, if you understand their needs and what they like to do, they’ll hang out with you.”

They needed 'a sucker'

There’s no forcing an animal to perform in front of an audience, he said.

“My philosophy is: I don’t dominate them. I work with them," he said. "I create situations where they want to be with us.”

Berloni was first asked to train a dog for the stage in 1976. He was an apprentice at the Goodspeed Opera House, a professional theater steps away from where he was sitting.

“They decided to do a new musical based on a comic strip called 'Little Orphan Annie.' And there was a dog in the script," he said. "They couldn’t afford a dog trainer from New York and everybody on the paid staff threatened to quit."

They needed "a sucker," he said.

Bill Berloni of Haddam is a world-renowned humane trainer, supplier and coach of animals for theater and film. He works with dogs, cats, farm animals, birds, reptiles and insects. He just finished working with a Great Dane who will co-star with Naomi Watts and Bill Murray in the film, The Friend to be released this fall. He's currently preparing animals for the play 'Left On Tenth' opening on Broadway in Sept. His career began nearly 50 ago, as an apprentice at the Goodspeed Opera House when he was put in charge of finding and training a dog named Sandy for the original production of ‘Annie.'
Mark Mirko
/
Connecticut Public
Bill Berloni estimates he's helped rescue 300 to 400 animals since his career began nearly 50 years ago, as an apprentice at the Goodspeed Opera House when he was put in charge of finding and training a dog named Sandy for the original production of ‘Annie.' “I grew up on a farm as an only child and my only playmates were a dog and a cat and a rabbit," he said. "There was no leash; there was no fence. And these animals didn’t run away. So I must have learned at a very young age that if you’re kind with them, if you understand their needs and what they like to do, they’ll hang out with you.”

"They needed someone they could fool into training the dog for this new musical for no money," he continued. "I was the kid who was called into the producer’s office and offered a job as an actor and my Equity card in exchange for finding and training a dog. And at the age of 19, I said, 'Yes sir. I will be your guy.'”

Berloni’s budget? $35.

Someone told him there were cheap dogs at the animal shelter.

"So I began looking in shelters for a sandy-colored mutt," he said. 'And I found the original Sandy at the Connecticut Humane Society.”

Soon after, the show "Annie" moved from Connecticut to New York and opened on Broadway.

And Sandy went from stray to superstar.

Impact on stage — and off — for decades

There is a strategy to finding the right dog in a shelter, he said.

"The theater, like any workplace, is stressful," Berloni said. “And so any of us who are in it had better be used to dealing with stress. If you go to a shelter where there’s obviously the smell of death and chaos and noise — and a dog is just sitting there taking it in, I think to myself: Taking this dog and putting him in a dressing room and having him have cookies all day, he’s probably going to be OK!”

Berloni once imagined a career as an actor. But for years now, he’s traveled nationwide to find and cast the right dog for the part.

He estimates he's helped rescue 300 to 400 animals.

In 2011, Berloni was the first trainer to ever win a Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre. He’s been honored by the American Humane Association. He usually works with dogs, but he's also helped cats, lambs and pigs have their turns in the spotlight. He’s been on set for dozens of television shows, commercials and more than 30 movies. His latest film, called "The Friend," stars actress Naomi Watts with a Great Dane named Bing. While not a rescue, Berloni found Bing in Iowa.

Naomi Watts and Bing the dog of "The Friend" at the Deadline Studio held at the Bisha Hotel during the Toronto International Film Festival 2024 on September 7, 2024 in Toronto, Canada.
Deadline
/
Getty
For "The Friend," showing this month at the Toronto Film Festival, Berloni found and trained a Great Dane named Bing for his role as Apollo with Naomi Watts (above).

Berloni describes the film as a story about the human and animal bond unlike anything he’s seen.

“Two characters — a Great Dane and a woman in New York — lose somebody they love,” he said. “They both heal each other.”

Once a production wraps up, actors sometimes step in and adopt the dogs — or they join Berloni's family at the farm.

As Berloni reflects on more than 40 years of working with dogs in the entertainment industry, he gets emotional.

“I’m hoping at the end of it, I will have created some performances that moved people," he said. "But mostly that we’ve saved animals’ lives and maybe encouraged others to adopt.”

As the conversation ends, Berloni leans over and whispers to Charlie and Dulce: “You guys did really good today! Your first interview for your show. Oh my goodness! You came and you met people. And you didn’t have any accidents. That’s great!”

Humans can go through life forgetting what really matters, Berloni said. But dogs show us that it’s really all about love.

Inside the Goodspeed Opera House, Bill Berloni of Haddam works with two rescued Havanese mixes, Dulce (left) and Charlie (right).
Mark Mirko
/
Connecticut Public
“I’m hoping at the end of it, I will have created some performances that moved people," says Berloni, "But mostly that we’ve saved animals’ lives and maybe encouraged others to adopt.”

Correction: Bill Berloni has been honored by the American Humane Association, which now goes by American Humane. An earlier version of this story identified the group as the American Humane Society.

Diane Orson is a special correspondent with Connecticut Public. She is a longtime reporter and contributor to National Public Radio. Her stories have been heard on Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, Here and Now; and The World from PRX. She spent seven years as CT Public Radio's local host for Morning Edition.