In show business, you'll sometimes find animal actors that are as famous as (and in rare cases, even more popular than) their human counterparts. There's just something about the right animal in the right role that makes a film work even smoother than it would with just a human cast. Dogs, cats, horses... no matter the species, there's almost always a stand out in the bunch. One such animal in an iconic role was a horse by the name of Blanco. The world knew him as Gandalf the Grey/White's noble steed Shadowfax in The Lord of The Rings saga. A horse of great beauty and excellent performance, Blanco had not been in the best health and sadly passed away this past week. Official fan site The One Ring ran a statement from his trainer, Cynthia Royal, a couple days ago.
In her statement, Royal acknowledged the horse's prolonged illness, which had gone particularly critical over the past couple of months. He was suffering from "extremely serious issues with his intestinal tract and liver". The final stages of his life weren't all bad though, as Cynthia described a day out of his recovery where he felt like his oldself again. Unfortunately, before they had the chance to bring him home for his recovery, his condition turned for the worse. He was euthanized, with his trainer by his side to comfort him. After Ms. Royal described Blanco's life, she had this to say towards the end of her memorial:
While this leg of Blanco’s journey has passed and my heart still aches, I will live in peace knowing we gave our all to aid in his recovery. We spared no effort nor expense, even though doing so in conjunction with the on-going expenses of my own health challenges has placed an additional financial burden on my family.
We will always remember Blanco's performance alongside Ian McKellen in The Lord of The Rings trilogy, and his legacy will live on in forever in a series of iconic films. Naturally, he will truly be missed. Donations towards the medical expenses for Blanco can be made here, and included below is the tribute video from the donation site. Our thoughts and wishes go out to Ms. Royal in her time of mourning.
