Scarlett the Cat
Though Cats was in the middle of its Broadway run in 1996, New York City's most famous feline that year made a more daring play out in Brooklyn. Scarlett, a homeless calico, had been staying with her 4-week-old kittens in a garage that had been damaged in several fires. The shelter again went ablaze and one firefighter arrived on the scene to find Scarlett amidst her brood, terribly burned from having carried them out one by one. The story quickly hit the tabloids and more than 1,000 offers to adopt the entire family rolled into the shelter where Scarlett was staying. She eventually found a home with a local woman and then spent her days being pampered and courted by the likes of talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael until passing away in 2008.