Кал Вортингтон және оның "Споты"

American automobile salesman

Calvin Coolidge Worthington (November 27, 1920 – September 8, 2013) was an American car dealer, best known on the West Coast of the United States for his offbeat radio and television advertisements for his Worthington Dealership Group, a car dealership chain that covered the western and southwestern U. S. at its peak, and later for his minor appearances and parodies in a number of movies. Worthington first rose to fame for his unique radio and television advertisements for the dealership group, most of which began with the announcement "Here's Cal Worthington and his dog Spot! ", though "Spot" was never a dog. Instead, Spot would be, for instance, a tiger, a seal, an elephant, a chimpanzee, or a bear. In one ad, "Spot" was a hippopotamus, which Worthington rode in the commercial. On some occasions, "Spot" was a vehicle, such as an airplane on whose wings Worthington would be seen standing while airborne. While "Spot" was officially retired in the mid 1980s, he was mentioned occasionally in later commercials. According to a profile published in The Sacramento Bee in 1990, Worthington grossed $316.8 million in 1988, making him at the time the largest single owner of a car dealership chain. His advertising agency, named Spot Advertising, had Worthington as its only client and spent $15 million on commercials, the most of any auto dealer at the time. He sold automobiles from 1945 until his death and owned a ranch located in Orland, California, north of Sacramento.

Calvin Coolidge Worthington was born on November 27, 1920, in the now defunct town of Bly, Oklahoma, three weeks after his namesake, Calvin Coolidge, had been elected Vice President of the United States. Worthington grew up in grinding poverty, one of nine children, and dropped out of school at the age of 13. His first job was as a water boy on a road construction crew for 15 cents an hour. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps The company closed their Long Beach location, their last remaining dealership, in February 2023. The company entered the Anchorage market at a frenzied time in 1976, during the height of the construction of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. In fact, the appearance in Alaska of a well heeled California businessman coincidental with oil related prosperity often entered the consciousness of Alaskans during those years, though Worthington was not the only businessman who fell under this category. Worthington purchased an existing dealership, Friendly Ford, from the Stepp family, who continued to operate the city's Lincoln–Mercury dealership for many years afterward. He was one of the first to abandon the traditional stand alone dealership in favor of "auto malls." as of 2002, he also owned three shopping centers and one office tower, grossing $600 million a year.

For nearly a quarter century, from the 1960s until the 1990s, Worthington ran a series of offbeat television and radio advertisements for his auto dealerships patterned loosely after the pioneering "oddball" advertisements of Earl "Madman" Muntz. They began as a parody of a competitor who appeared in advertisements with a puppy recently adopted from the pound. Among the many creatures that were featured as "Spot" were a killer whale from SeaWorld, a lion, an elephant, a goose, a tiger, a bull, various snakes, a rhinoceros, a skunk, a bear, a roller skating chimpanzee, a carabao (water buffalo), and a hippopotamus. In addition to the many animals that were featured, one of Cal Worthington's "Spots" was Deacon Jones, at the time one of the "Fearsome Foursome" of the National Football League's Los Angeles Rams, who sang the "Go See Cal" jingle. Worthington made deals with two local circuses to obtain animals for the commercial shoots. He also made use of animals belonging to individuals who commonly leased them to film and television shoots in nearby Hollywood. In May 2010, Worthington appeared in a political advertisement for California State Assembly candidate Larry Miles. The commercial, a throwback to the "My dog Spot" days, featured Worthington and "Spot" with Miles. Worthington maintained his pilot certificate and medical certification until just two years before his death and was type rated on the Learjet. Worthington died on September 8, 2013, at age 92 at his ranch in Orland, California. After Worthington's death, his grandson Nick Worthington was general manager of the Worthington automobile empire, and appeared in the commercials. The family sold the last car dealership, the original Long Beach location, in 2023 to concentrate on commercial real estate and agriculture.

Worthington appeared in film and on television portraying himself as a car dealer. In addition, his commercials have provided background in numerous films, and both the style of his commercials as well as his own personal appearance and manner of speech have been portrayed by other actors as well.

Worthington appeared as a car dealer in the 1973 film Save the Tiger. Worthington's ads were parodied in Marty Feldman's 1977 comedy feature film The Last Remake of Beau Geste. Worthington's ads played in the background in movies such as Into the Night (1985) and Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986). In the 1993 movie Made in America, the character of Hal Jackson, played by Ted Danson is based on Cal Worthington. He is a California based car dealer who stars in his own outrageous commercials, accompanied by large, out of control animals. In the 1998 film Brown's Requiem, based on James Ellroy's debut novel of the same name, the main character's boss Bud Myers is a Southern California car salesman famous for TV advertisements featuring the salesman and his dog. According to the book "James Ellroy: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction", James Ellroy, who was born in Los Angeles, based this character on Cal Worthington.

Worthington made numerous appearances over the years on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.