For a while now, people have wondered who the parents of certain characters were. For Mufasa and Scar, people had many, many different versions of their parents. But when it was mentioned in a children's book after The Lion King was released, it was said that their father was named Ahadi, and their mother was named Uru. Then after that, meany different version of the two were drawn throughout the Lion King fandom.
The same went for Balto. It was curious who his parents were. Some fans believed his wolf side came from his father, while his mother was the dog side. But when the sequel came out, more Balto fans agreed that his wolf side was his mother's side, and that her name was Aniu. It is still a mystery as to who his father really was.
Now what about Charlie Barkin? Are there unified theories on his mother and father? Oh, for sure. But why go along with theories as to who his parents were, when you can find out for yourself?
You may be wondering "Cat, I've watched these movies a million times and seen every single episode of the series! His parents were never mentioned!" That's where you would be wrong. It is indeed mentioned who his parents were, and it is in fact in the first movie. They have names and designs, as well. Don Bluth didn't leave anything out about that.
Its during the song "Let Me Be Surprised" when Charlie is confronting Annabelle (who was simply dubbed "whippet angel" in the movie. She was only given a name in the second movie and anything after it.). She is flipping through his records trying to find goodness and loyalty from him. There is a record of who his parents were, his date of birth, and even his breed(s) are located on the same page. You get a view of the page when Charlie says "I don't wanna die, you've got the wrong guy" (the first time). Its not easy to see on the VHS, but its VERY clear on the DVD.
Aside from his date of birth ("September 13, 1937" which is ironically director Don Bluth's birth date.) and his breed ("Mostly German Shepherd, but also part collie, part great dane, and part retreiver.") you see a view of Charlie as a pup, and on the page next to it are portraits of his parents.
His father's name was Burt R. Barkin
His mother's name was Loni A. Bowzer
Too lazy to look it up? Or just don't believe me altogether? Well, how about this for proof.

It's safe to say who Charlie's parents officially were/are. But it is unsure if they were alive or dead. True it showed their portraits in Charlie's book, but it was just a record of who he was, not a record of their state of being.
Now that we know who his mother and father are, what are now your theories on them? Who do you think was responsible for Charlie's crazy mixture of breeds? Do you think they're still alive? Why?
**(Interesting tidbit. Burt and Loni were named after the actors Burt Reynolds (Charlie) and Loni Anderson (Flo), who were actually married at the time, but later on divorced. Hence the choice in their middle initials. Could this be a hint towards Charlie and Flo's relationship?)
It's difficult to say if they were dead already. I personally think they were still alive after Charlie went to Heaven. Certainly he would've seen them there at some point (not counting the sequel. They forgot alot of things in the first movie, I don't think they'd bother to know who his parents were xD).
As far as the breeds go, I think Loni looks more like a full on collie, but that would make Charlie mostly collie, not mostly German Shepherd. Judging by Burt's appearance, I'd say he was mostly German Shepherd himself, with some Great Dane for size, tho I think he looks more like a wolf than a German Shepherd, haha. As for Loni, I think she would've been the fluffier breeds, collie and retriever.
Anyway, I hope you all learned something from this. To really look for details in movies like All Dogs Go To Heaven. (And especially to not make fan characters out of Burt R. Barkin and Loni A. Bowzer xD)
| June 06, 2015 | ||
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It would've been cool if we could've seen more of Charlie's past. Also
not to be an ass but the fact that Charlie and Don Blyth share the
same birthday technically isn't ironic. |
| October 22, 2014 | ||
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Awesome work! I only noticed this after seeing it on the character
pages but it's nice to read the page all about Charlie in the book- I
have an odd feeling the animators wrote something similar to what Don
must have wrote for them to work with; sounds like something a writer
would scrawl on a page of ideas anyway XD Although I was debatable about the sequel I did really like the small scene in which Charlie mentions his parents, that being, "I ran away from home when I was a pup," before David asks, "Did that make your parents sorry?" followed by, "I don't know, I never saw them again after that," I always thought that was a lovely scene and it put a bit of mystery into Charlie's backstory ![]() |
| July 26, 2012 | ||
Cool. Good job mate, I never noticed that before. |
| July 25, 2012 | ||
never noticed tht but did no th breed XD |
| April 18, 2012 | ||
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| Not active |
Wow, I never noticed that while watching the movie! Its really
interesting what they sneak into movies ![]() |
![]() | April 16, 2012 | |
I'm not 100% sure about Loni being a collie - especially if you
confront her with Flo. Loni's muzzle and ears seem more... lupine and
sharp. Maybe she was/is a Belgian Tervuren though, and Burt either a
Sarloos Wolfdog or Alsatian Wolfdog. |
![]() | February 28, 2012 | |
what kind of dog is charlie |
| May 16, 2011 | ||
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Awww. Puppy Charlie! |
| August 23, 2010 | ||
Wonderfull Article Cat!! I noticed Burt's porttrait on my VH at home
but i never saw Loni, his birthdate, breed, etc. thank you or sharing
this ![]() |
| July 31, 2010 | ||
you've got an eye for detail! |
| May 27, 2010 | ||
great! I never saw it. |
| April 27, 2010 | ||
Great article It's to bad you don't see his parents in the
movies |
| April 07, 2010 | ||
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Never ever noticed it! Awesome catch! =D |
| April 01, 2010 | ||
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I never noticed that before, either! (Guess I should've paid closer
attention, the last time I watched the movie.... ^ _ ^;; ) |
| February 28, 2010 | ||
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| Alaskan Spirits Omega |
Nice going!! |
| December 19, 2009 | ||
oh thanks,i always wondered about Charlie's parents! :smile: |
| December 15, 2009 | ||
I already noticed that in the movie, but I never thought about making
it into an article, and you explain the whole thing WAY better then I
do. 8D Thanks for posting this, now I won't see all these types of
versions of Charlie's parents all over the place, when there doesn't
need to be. |
| December 15, 2009 | ||
Site Builder (Content), Site Builder (Gr... | ||
| M-awesome |
Great article. Never noticed this at all. |
| December 13, 2009 | ||
Thanks guys ;D Glad you found it interesting |
| December 13, 2009 | ||
Nice article, Cat. (: Really makes you think. Personally I'm glad that we can know for sure who Charlie's parents are (or /were/). I'm tired of seeing questions like, "who is scars parents?111?" and "DOES BALTO HAVE A MOM?1!?" It's good that we have this to refer to. ;3 |
![]() | December 13, 2009 | |
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| December 13, 2009 | ||
i never noticed that before Cat. nice job about finding these ^ ^ |
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