Rewards of acting for all creatures great and small

DAVID STEWART is a film and theatre agent with a distinctive list of

clients; his ambitious starlets love to preen and purr and sport furs,

feathers . . . and whiskers, horns, and scales. Stewart is the Max

Clifford of the animal kingdom, supplying the entertainment industry

with everything from cats and dogs to buzzards and four-feet-long Thai

water dragons.

He spotted a gap in the Scottish market three years ago when he was

working for a deer farmer who was asked to supply deer for a television

commercial. Stewart, a biology graduate who specialised in animal

behaviour, tossed the idea around and finally set up Creature Feature, a

one-man outfit based at Gelston Mill in Castle Douglas, specialising in

''expertly trained and managed animals''.

His creatures have since appeared in programmes like Rab C. Nesbitt,

Strathblair, The Advocates, Punch Drunk, and Taggart. Stewart

accompanies them on shoots; he has to operate under the Performing

Animals Regulation Act, following strict guidelines for the care and

training of his thespian beasts and fowls.

In the past, animals may have been badly treated by the film world,

but legendary atrocities -- horses sent tumbling over cliffs, exploding

cows -- are no longer tolerated. Indeed, in Hollywood, performing

animals are now fussed over with the kind of care once reserved for the

leading lady. Hundreds of rats used in an underground scene in an

Indiana Jones movie were individually washed and blow-dried after their

stint on camera, and were each paid #5 a day for their efforts.

Stewart demurs when asked about how much he charges. ''It varies,'' he

shrugs. While the majority of his work is for TV programmes and

commercials he has also worked with the stage sector. Last year he

supplied the Grassmarket Project with a dozen rats for their production

of Die Pest.

Rodents -- small, easily managed, but with big shock potential -- are

popular theatrical props. The theatre company, Cyborg, used a big rat in

a production at the Theatre Workshop a few years ago, to the dismay of

many of the theatre staff.

More usually, theatre companies tend to shy away from the use of live

animals because of the unpredictability factor. Amateur companies are,

however, sometimes tempted to use animals as a gimmick -- a production

of the Wizard of Oz at the Mitchell Theatre last year generated

unprecedented publicity due to the audition for Toto the dog. The two

mongrels chosen turned in sparky performances, while a donkey in an

amateur version of Carmen was once praised by this paper as ''the best

in the show''.

''The most important task is finding an animal with the right

temperament,'' insists Stewart. ''You have to know exactly what they

have to do.''

Since the formation of Creature Feature 20 months ago, Stewart's own

cat, Spatz, has been in constant demand for film work. It's the

archetypal rags to riches story. Spatz was one of a litter of wild cats

about to be put down by a vet. Stewart rescued him at the eleventh hour

and set him on the path to fame. Spatz has shown his gratitude with some

Oscar-winning performances in productions like the Hydro Electric ad,

where he was called upon to curl up in front of the fire and fall

asleep.

Perfectly normal behaviour for a feline? Well, animals, especially

cats, can be pretty perverse, and patience has to be an essential

credential for an animal agent. ''You can't train cats, but you can

bribe them,'' admits Stewart.

His trickiest job to date has been the seemingly simple task of

persuading Polly, the parrot who starred in the Napier University ad

(''We've Dropped the Poly'') to look left, then right, then down. ''At

one point I tried to move it from one shoulder to another and it thought

'sod this' and took a chunk out of my finger,'' he says ruefully.

Happily Stewart's charges are usually better behaved, winning the kind

of hearty commendations from the industry which belie at least the

latter half of the ''never work with children or animals'' maxim. ''The

best animals I have ever worked with,'' praised Sarah Hellings, a

director of Taggart, who has employed two dogs, a cat, cow, goat,

chickens, rabbits, doves, and toads from Creature Feature. Johnny Morris

reckoned the Thai water dragon, which perched on his shoulder during a

clip for Edinburgh Nights in August, was ''the best reptile I've ever

worked with,'' while Gregor Fisher delivered the ultimate approbation of

a canine co-star in Rab C Nesbitt: ''The dug was great.''