BY STEPHEN H. COWLES/CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Playback58@gmail.com

FRANKLIN—If you saw “Dolphin Tale” last year, you would have noticed the boy who bonded with the dolphin, Winter. That young man was actor Nathan Gamble, who lives in Washington state.

What you wouldn’t know from the credits is that he’s a cousin to Gayle Schmitz of Franklin.

The film is based on a true story about a dolphin that gets caught in a lobster trap and had its tail amputated. Thanks to two physicians who work with prosthetics, they came up with an artificial tail for the dolphin.

To attach it, they came up with a special material called Winter’s Gell.

The animal is “alive and well in Florida,” said Schmitz, owner of Franklin Art and Frameworks.

She explained that her cousin traveled to Florida to connect with and be accepted by Winter.

Gamble recently turned 14 and has been in “Babel,” in which he played the son of Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett’s characters. He was also the son to Thomas Jane’s character in “The Mist,” as well as being the commissioner’s son in “The Dark Knight.”

Television work has included appearances on “Ghost Whisperer,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “House, M.D.,” and “CSI.”

Schmitz said her cousin expressed an interest in doing movies and television. He did interviews, landed a commercial “and it’s been nonstop since.”

He’ll next appear this year in “Barlowe Mann,” which is listed being in post-production.