50 free Lassie trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Lassie has been coming home since 1938, when Eric Knight's short story ran in The Saturday Evening Post. This quiz follows the collie from the Yorkshire novel to the 1943 MGM film with Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor, through the 591-episode television series with Jeff, Timmy, June Lockhart and Ranger Corey Stuart, and on to the cartoons, the anime, the 1994 and 2005 films and the streaming-era revival. Along the way you will meet Pal, the male collie who won the part with a single swim across a river, and the dynasty of his descendants who have played the role ever since. There are questions on theme tunes, Emmys, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the well that Timmy never actually fell into. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the character, the TV series, the films and the people behind them, so it holds up for classic-TV fans and dog lovers alike.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Lassie is a fictional dog of which breed?
Rough Collie
Every screen Lassie since 1943 has been a male descendant of one dog, Pal.
Q 02Lassie first appeared in a 1938 short story published in which magazine?
The Saturday Evening Post
Eric Knight expanded it into the novel Lassie Come-Home two years later.
Q 03In what year was Eric Knight's full-length novel Lassie Come-Home published?
1940
It grew out of the 1938 short story and reached cinemas three years later.
Q 04In which English county is the novel Lassie Come-Home set?
Yorkshire
The Depression-era story follows a collie's long journey home to her young master.
Q 05How did Lassie's creator Eric Knight die in January 1943?
In a military plane crash
He was a US Army major in Special Services when his C-54 went down in Dutch Guiana, months before the first film opened.
Q 06Which studio made the 1943 film Lassie Come Home?
MGM
It was the first of seven MGM Lassie films, all in Technicolor.
Q 07Which two young stars appeared in the 1943 film Lassie Come Home?
Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor
McDowall played Joe Carraclough, the boy who loses his dog when his family is forced to sell her.
Q 08In Lassie Come Home, the Carracloughs sell their collie to which aristocrat?
The Duke of Rudling
He carries her hundreds of miles to Scotland, and she walks all the way back.
Q 09For which Academy Award was the 1943 film Lassie Come Home nominated?
Best Cinematography, Color
It was added to the National Film Registry in 1993.
Q 10What was the name of the dog who played Lassie in the 1943 film and six more MGM features?
Pal
He was male, born in June 1940 at Glamis Kennels in North Hollywood.
Q 11How did Pal win the role of Lassie after producers had hired a female collie?
A one-take river-swimming stunt scene
The director reportedly had tears in his eyes; the first six weeks were reshot with Pal.
Q 12Who was Pal's owner and trainer, who later acquired the Lassie name and trademark from MGM?
Rudd Weatherwax
His family has supplied every Lassie since, all descended from Pal.
Q 13The dogs who play Lassie have all been of which sex?
Male, descended from Pal
Q 21After the Martin family left, Lassie was taken in by Corey Stuart, who worked as what?
A US Forest Ranger
Robert Bray played him from 1964 to 1968, the start of the show's 'Ranger years'.
Q 22Under what title were the first 116 episodes of Lassie later syndicated?
Jeff's Collie
Episodes 117 to 352 were sold as 'Timmy & Lassie'.
Q 23The famous whistled Lassie theme that debuted in season five was composed by whom?
Les Baxter
The whistling itself was performed by Muzzy Marcellino.
Pal died in June 1958, aged 18, and his son Lassie Junior took over.
Q 14In which year did the Lassie television series debut?
1954
It ran until March 1973, first on CBS and then in syndication.
Q 15On which network did Lassie air for its first 17 seasons?
CBS
It won its Sunday 7 p.m. time slot every year of that run.
Q 16How many episodes of the Lassie TV series were produced in total?
591
That is 19 seasons, from September 1954 to March 1973.
Q 17Who played Lassie's first TV master, farm boy Jeff Miller?
Tommy Rettig
His father, a soldier, had been killed in World War II, leaving Jeff with his mother Ellen and Gramps.
Q 18Which actor played the orphan Timmy, Lassie's master from 1957 to 1964?
Jon Provost
He titled his autobiography 'Timmy's in the Well!', a joke on a scene that never happened.
Q 19Who played Ruth Martin, Timmy's adoptive mother, from 1958 to 1964?
June Lockhart
She had already been in the Lassie universe, co-starring in the 1945 film Son of Lassie.
Q 20Which future Oscar winner played Ruth Martin for a single season, 1957 to 1958?
Cloris Leachman
Another actress replaced her, and Hugh Reilly likewise replaced Jon Shepodd as Paul Martin.
Q 24In what year did the Lassie TV series switch from black and white to colour?
1965
By then Lassie had moved from the farm to the forest service.
Q 25How many Emmy Awards did the Lassie TV series win?
Two
It took Best Children's Program in 1955 and 1956, plus a Peabody in 1956.
Q 26Which pseudonym did producer Robert Maxwell use when writing many early Lassie episodes?
Claire Kennedy
The writing team of Robert Schaefer and Eric Freiwald handled more than 150 episodes.
Q 27Timmy Martin's shirt, jeans and Keds from the show are on display where?
The Smithsonian Institution
Lassie herself received the 1967 US Department of Agriculture Conservation Award.
Q 28Which of these was NOT one of the collies who played Lassie on the TV series?
Buddy
Lassie Junior, Spook, Baby, Mire and Hey Hey all took turns in the role.
Q 29Lassie is one of only three animals with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Which are the other two?
Rin Tin Tin and Strongheart
Both of the others were silent-film dog stars.
Q 30In 2005, Variety named Lassie to which list, as its only animal?
100 Icons of the Century
She has also marketed her own line of pet food.