Inside the $20 Million Life of Killer Whale Keiko, ‘Free Willy’ Star, Who Died 20 Years Ago

Keiko the killer whale became a household name when he starred in the Free Willy movie franchise. Even though the whale only appeared in the first film (the next three used plastic replicas), the world was touched by Keiko's real-life story.

On the heels of the success of the first Free Willy film, Keiko was rescued from captivity and trained to reintegrate into nature. Shortly after the attempt to reintegrate him into the wild, Keiko died of pneumonia on December 12, 2003.

According to NBC, the process of preparing Keiko for life in the open ocean (which included teaching him how to catch live fish) cost $500,000 a month, resulting in an overall cost of $20 million. Before Keiko, no one had ever tried to return a captive orca to its native waters. Read further to learn more about Keiko's journey before his death at age 27.

Keiko was discovered by Free Willy filmmakers in Mexico City

Keiko lived most of his life in captivity after he was captured by fishermen in Iceland at two years old. He was ultimately sold to a Mexico City amusement park in 1985, where Free Willy filmmakers would spot him when he was around 15. The International Marine Mammal Project reported that Keiko's tank at the park was too small and was filled with tap water and salt, instead of seawater — two of several environmental factors that caused his health to deteriorate before he was rescued.

Though many of the film's scenes required a robotic whale, Keiko performed several tricks in the film. Tim Desmond was a trainer who worked with Keiko on the film and told the New York Times that the orca was so sensitive to human emotions that when trainers pretended to yell at him, he was so upset that he'd quit working for the day. "He is the gentlest killer whale I've ever met," Desmond told the Times, "And I've never seen an animal that sensitive."

Rehabilitating and re-homing Keiko cost millions of dollars

After Keiko's role in Free Willy, Life Magazine ran a story about the detrimental living conditions Keiko was subjected to at the Mexico City amusement park. After that, Warner Brothers, as well as its production company New Regency, each donated $1 million to the Free Willy/Keiko Foundation for Keiko's re-homing, according to the New Yorker.

Billionaire Craig McCaw and the Humane Society of the United States each also put in $1 million. The funds helped extract Keiko and rehabilitate him in a new state-of-the-art $7 million tank in Oregon, where he arrived in poor health and was a whole ton underweight.

Three years later, Keiko gained the weight back and recovered from several conditions caused by his environment at the amusement park. Keiko was then airlifted to Iceland, which was believed to be his place of origin. The move cost $2 million, according to the Washington Post, including the $370,000 for the Air Force flight that transported him.

Keiko returned home, but not immediately to the wild

The Earth Island Institute petitioned the Icelandic government to return Keiko to a seaside sanctuary. Upon Keiko's return home to Klettsvik Bay on Sept. 9, 1998, he was still in good health and catching and eating his food. Keiko lived mostly in the netted-off bay, though over time he began to make forays into open water and occasionally swam with wild orcas.

By July 2002, Keiko was comfortable venturing out and embarked on a journey in which he swam over 1,000 miles across North America and landed in Norway. Some believed he was on a quest for human companionship. He resurfaced in late August along the shores of a Norwegian village, where he played with people and allowed them to pet him. He made headlines after he became enthralled with an 8-year-old girl who played the "Free Willy" theme for him on the harmonica.

From there Keiko was led to safety at a different enclosed bay, where he was still allowed to venture into open water and often did so. He was living in that bay when he started to show sudden signs of lethargy, for which he was treated with antibiotics before his quick death the same day in Dec 2003 at age 27.

According to Whale & Dolphin Conservation USA, wild male orcas live for about 30 years on average, and 50 to 60 years maximum.