Willard

For many years I was under the impression that the title character, Willard, was himself a rat. It seems I was wrong (see Wikipedia).

Ben was the eponymous subject of a sequel, released in 1972. The title song to this was recorded by Michael Jackson; it became the title track on his second studio album, released a few months before the film. Released as a single, it was a No. 1 hit in the USA and made the Top Ten in the UK.

Willard was remade in 2003. Bruce Davison, who played the title character in the 1971 original, made "a non–acting cameo" as Willard's father, in a portrait photograph. Willard himself was played by Crispin Glover, whose other roles included Marty McFly's father in Back to the Future.