Ralph Helfer
Author of Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived
About the Author
Works by Ralph Helfer
Associated Works
Het Beste Boek 194: De straatvechter / Brieven van verlangen / Vijf over twaalf / Modoc — Author — 1 copy, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1931-04-09
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- animal trainer
- Short biography
- [excerpted from author's website]
Ralph Helfer is a renowned exotic animal behaviorist, author, film producer, lecturer, and safari host. One of the greatest Hollywood exotic animal behaviorists to ever work the silver screen. Ralph is the original creator of "affection training," a method that uses love, patience, understanding, and respect to develop strong bonds between humans and wild animals. During his career, Helfer owned numerous animal celebrities, including Zamba the lion, Modoc, the elephant, Clarence the Cross-eyed Lion, and Judy the Chimp. His company, Africa USA, was the world's largest supplier of affection trained animals for the motion picture and television industry for over 30 years, with an impressive 2000+ credits to his name and winner of numerous Patsy awards. He began his career in motion pictures determined to redefine what it meant to “train” the glamorous fanged, furry, and four-legged heroes the world watched every night on their television sets, and every weekend in their local cinemas. Through his affection training, he quickly began to surpass the other animal trainers on the Hollywood scene who resorted to fear training to get their desired results. The animals Ralph raised, nurtured, and worked with on a daily basis responded to his caring approach better than any big cat ever answered to a circus whip.
He founded the AGA (Animal Guild of America), was the CEO and owner of Enchanted Village, a leisure time park in Buena Park, Calif. as well as the CEO and owner of Little Africa in Solvang, CA. He was also director and designer of the animal performances at Marine World Africa U.S.A.
Ralph went on to lecture all around the states and taught at the Learning Tree University in San Fernando where he won the award for Excellence. After leaving Hollywood Ralph moved to Kenya, East Africa where he went on to host private luxury safaris that showcased the beauty and wonder of a country he loves and considers an adopted home. Ralph currently lives in California where he continues to write and is working alongside his daughter Tana, who grew up with the animals Ralph loved so much and was also raised with an affection training mindset. - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Places of residence
- Hollywood, California, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
A fascinating & gripping story, but poorly told. Helfer just can't seem to hit the mark to get the reader emotionally engaged. Too bad. Finished the story anyway because the raw material is so interesting.
This is Ralph Helfer’s memoir of raising and working with the lion he rescued as a young cub, Zamba, who became possibly the most famous lion and a leading Hollywood star.
I’m not a great animal lover, but I was interested and engaged in most of this memoir. I particularly liked some of the stories Helfer told of how he trained Zamba (and other animals in his care) using affection rather than fear and physical punishment. There are scenes of humor and tenderness, and some rather show more frightening scenarios as well.
I did find Helfer a bit preachy at times. Still, I applaud the way that he changed the minds of many animal “trainers” about the best techniques to use; but worry that a casual reader might not recognize the extremely hard work this is and decide to try to “sleep with my pet tiger” as Helfer frequently slept with Zamba. show less
I’m not a great animal lover, but I was interested and engaged in most of this memoir. I particularly liked some of the stories Helfer told of how he trained Zamba (and other animals in his care) using affection rather than fear and physical punishment. There are scenes of humor and tenderness, and some rather show more frightening scenarios as well.
I did find Helfer a bit preachy at times. Still, I applaud the way that he changed the minds of many animal “trainers” about the best techniques to use; but worry that a casual reader might not recognize the extremely hard work this is and decide to try to “sleep with my pet tiger” as Helfer frequently slept with Zamba. show less
Exactly my kind of story: a true love story of a man (and elephant) who followed his heart into every adventure life presented him. Even with atrocious editing, the story came through loud and clear. Spiritual, wordly and full of soul. Bravo. One in a million.
Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived by Ralph Helfer
325 pages
★★★
The story of Modoc is definitely an impressive one. Within the elephant’s life she would go through war, shootings, fires, and much more. Such a wild adventure for such a large animal. And I don’t dislike the story, as it is indeed a fascinating one. Is it true? I don’t know. As a big nonfiction reader I live for documents and proof – there’s really none in the book and even in my own show more research I found very little proof of any of the places or people ever existing. Then again, perhaps the author chose to change the names of people and places because…why not? In the beginning of the book the author even states that some “poetic political license” was used. This is obviously the case in such instances ***spoiler*** as when the elephant is attacked by a drunk man. By the time anyone notices anything the elephant is injured and the man is dead yet the book gives a several page detailed story of what the man said and what went down. Interesting since no one was there to witness it except a dead man and an elephant – neither said a word about it I’m sure.***end spoiler*** I feel this book would have better been advertised as BASED on a true story…yes, that one word can make a huge difference on how I look at it.
At the end the story itself didn’t bother me, I just took it with a grain of salt what was true and was given “poetic license” by the author. The writing bothered me. For some reason the author’s way of writing really got to me. Then again he is known as an animal trainer, not an author. While the man may have heard this fantastic and wonderful story of Modoc and Bram (Modoc’s trainer and friend) from Bram himself, I think the story would have been better written by someone else. Don’t get me started on the author’s need to put exclamation points in practically every paragraph because….exciting!!! I was expecting such wonderful things from this book since so many people I know loved it and I feel snobbish to say that I didn’t like it more. Sorry, Modoc the Greatest Elephant Ever, your story deserved to be better written in my opinion. show less
325 pages
★★★
The story of Modoc is definitely an impressive one. Within the elephant’s life she would go through war, shootings, fires, and much more. Such a wild adventure for such a large animal. And I don’t dislike the story, as it is indeed a fascinating one. Is it true? I don’t know. As a big nonfiction reader I live for documents and proof – there’s really none in the book and even in my own show more research I found very little proof of any of the places or people ever existing. Then again, perhaps the author chose to change the names of people and places because…why not? In the beginning of the book the author even states that some “poetic political license” was used. This is obviously the case in such instances ***spoiler*** as when the elephant is attacked by a drunk man. By the time anyone notices anything the elephant is injured and the man is dead yet the book gives a several page detailed story of what the man said and what went down. Interesting since no one was there to witness it except a dead man and an elephant – neither said a word about it I’m sure.***end spoiler*** I feel this book would have better been advertised as BASED on a true story…yes, that one word can make a huge difference on how I look at it.
At the end the story itself didn’t bother me, I just took it with a grain of salt what was true and was given “poetic license” by the author. The writing bothered me. For some reason the author’s way of writing really got to me. Then again he is known as an animal trainer, not an author. While the man may have heard this fantastic and wonderful story of Modoc and Bram (Modoc’s trainer and friend) from Bram himself, I think the story would have been better written by someone else. Don’t get me started on the author’s need to put exclamation points in practically every paragraph because….exciting!!! I was expecting such wonderful things from this book since so many people I know loved it and I feel snobbish to say that I didn’t like it more. Sorry, Modoc the Greatest Elephant Ever, your story deserved to be better written in my opinion. show less
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