Goodtime Charlie

Goodtime Charlie, or just simply Charlie, is the titular main protagonist of Disney's 1967 live-action film Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar. He is a domesticated cougar who was adopted by Jess Bradley until he was released into the wild.

He was portrayed by Charlie Ruggles.

History
Charlie was orphaned in the wilderness until he was adopted by Jess Bradley. He experiences some adventures growing up, such as playing with a black bear cub and visiting a cook named Potlatch. However, Potlatch owns a fox terrier named Chainsaw, who is Charlie's archrival. This rivalry leads to problems including a wrecked kitchen and a trip down the river as part of the logging crew, which, of course, leads to more problems including another destroyed kitchen. As a result of all of this which costs the lumberjack company a great deal of money, Charlie is let go and tied up, until he hears and sees some of the employees involved with a log standing contest, in which Charlie does enter. However, when Chainsaw comes over, Charlie loses his concentration and fall off the log into the water. The contest ends when the boss forces the other employees back to work, and Jess is forced to leave Charlie at home forever.

However, the following night, Charlie breaks out of his cage as he hears the call of a female cougar, allowing him to wander off into the wilderness. The two had a good time together, but it quickly turns sour when his new friend wouldn't share a meal she had recently caught. Charlie then moves on and finds himself a free meal from a farmer milking his cows. This does not turn out well for Charlie and havoc ensues on the farm.

He is then hunted down by a hunter and his hunting dogs until he manages to escape onto a log fume. He eventually reaches the logging camp. However, after spending the summer in the wild, his natural instincts have kicked in and he's more wild than tame now as he gets locked in Potlatch's closet. When Chainsaw discovers Charlie, Charlie runs and gets trapped in a lift on the ground, the bosses men are about to shoot Charlie, until Jess comes to the rescue, telling them not to shoot Charlie at all and manages to tame him. Ultimately, Jess has no option but to release him back into the wild, but in a nature preserve, where the cougars and other wild animals are protected from hunters, dogs, and other predators. There he finds the same female cougar, and lives happily ever after.

Trivia

 * The Olympic Game Farm located in Sequim, WA. (formerly known as "Disney's Wild Animal Ranch") supplied several tame cougars for different scenes in the film. One of the cats liked to swim and played on some floating logs, so the log rolling scene was added to the script.