Perhaps the shrewdest ruler of France, Cardinal Richelieu had 14 cats. When making an important decision or attending an important meeting, he would usually have a cat on his lap who he was petting.
Cat Man
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
I always wondered if the legendary James Bond film Director Lewis Gilbert & producers Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli modeled the menacing villain “Ernst Stavro Blofeld “ (played by the terminally creepy Donald Pleasence) on someone in history, perhaps on Richelieu, stroking his cat, as Blofeld would issue the orders to destroy someone (“You Only Live Twice”, 1967).
I prefer cats over dogs myself. But I love most animals (except snakes and other reptiles). We don’t have any pets right now (except for the Chihuahua who belongs to my step-daughter and who comes over to visit on occasion – my favorite dog). During my morning walks in the neighborhood, all the dogs greet me as I walk past their homes, and many a cat comes out to meow and curl at my legs if I stop. If I have the Chihuahua with me, she gets miffed and goes to the end of her leash and won’t look at me as long as I am petting the cat.
Then we have Dr. Evil and Mr. Bigglesworth, played by a hairless Sphynx cat whose real life name was Ted Nude Gent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYp7wQk7jts