Trivia / Benji

• Benji was the second canine star to be inducted into the Animal Hall of Fame, Lassie being the first.
• The first Benji movie was the last film Higgins starred in before retiring from acting.
• Higgins, the original Benji who went on to become a well known and much loved canine actor, was pulled from the shelter the day he was scheduled to be euthanized.
• According to Joe Camp, Benji's creator, Benji is an eternal character and an ever-living manifestation of love, hope, compassion, and the values of persistence toward a goal.
• In 2001, the Chicago Tribune named the original Benji movie one of the best family films of all times.
• Three of the Benji movies scored in the top 10% of all movies in their respective years of release.
• The concept of "Benji" showing (not telling) a story with a canine actor that could express emotion so well on screen that dialog would not be needed or missed, was conceived in a shower in Plano, Texas.
• Benji is partnered with Pets 911.com, an American web shelter adoption service, to promote the adoption of pets who desperately need homes.
• Bizarrely Benji once appeared as a centerfold in Playgirl Magazine! When asked why since it was such a vast difference from his usual strict family-friendly philosophy, Joe said, "The way we looked at it was that in addition to being ridiculously funny, Benji's centerfold meant one less naked man on the magazine racks... because, you see, the dog playing Benji at that time was actually a girl." Although he also said its not something they would ever repeat.
• Higgins is the only canine actor to ever have his name placed in contention for an acting Academy Award. During the release of the original Benji movie, there were so many film writers praising the dog's ability to express emotion on the screen that Joe thought Why not? He did not get nominated in the end but several ads ran in both Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter suggesting him for the award.
• Benji's title theme "I Feel Love" was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe.
• According to Frank Inn, Higgins was the smartest dog he had ever trained, Higgins was able to learn a new routine or trick every week, and could remember them for years! Because of the dog’s incredible memory, Inn was able to combine tricks so that Higgins could do increasingly complex stunts.
• Although very similar in looks to her father, Benjean is recognisable from Higgins by her paler, slightly longer, and softer fur, and a larger patch of white around her nose. Her ear tips also had to be dyed black when filming to match Higgins'. Their barks were also very different, Higgins’ bark was a deep, froggy sound, while Benjean had a higher-pitched, more traditional-sounding yelp like bark. This is readily apparent when comparing Benji and For the Love of Benji. Like Higgins, Benjean was also an intelligent and talented canine actor. She never suffered from trainer-eye (where a dog is noticeably and constantly looking to the trainer for direction), and she could memorise complex long-shot scenes over a distance
• Two of Benji's primetime specials were nominated for Emmys.
• Benji has twice been named the American Guild of Variety Artists' Animal Entertainer of the year.
• Tiffany, a Maltese mix that co-starred as Benji's girlfriend in some of the films and whose run overlapped with both Higgins and Benjean, was a rescue too. In fact Frank Inn was well known to visit animal shelters and adopt as many as he could because he couldn’t stand for them to be euthanized. He kept and trained the ones that he thought had potential as animal actors and found loving homes for the rest. At one time Inn and his assistants had over 1,000 animals in their care.
• Benji Off the Leash, Benji's fifth motion picture, won the 2005 Genesis Award for Best Family Film.
• Moochie, the current Benji, lives at home with Joe and Kathleen Camp, and Lizard Tongue (Shaggy), her co-star in Benji Off the Leash, two other dogs (all adopted from rescue), two cats, and five horses (again, all rescues)
• The puppies of Higgins that did not become animal actors were either homed with close friends and family of Frank Inn,or in several cases entered into training programmes and went on to become service/assistance dogs instead.
• The American Humane Association reported that because the original Benji was rescued from an animal shelter, more than 1,000,000 dogs were adopted from shelters across the country as the character became popular. The current Benji was also adopted from a shelter in order to stimulate even more adoptions. In late 2001, the televised search for the new Benji in shelters across the country, and the ultimate introduction of Moochie as the new Benji, and subsequent promotion of Benji Off the Leash, cumulatively generated more than a billion media exposures for the adoption efforts of animal shelters and rescue groups everywhere.