Joe Camp, who created and directed ‘Benji’ films, dead at 84

Joe Camp, who created, wrote and directed films about a lovable dog named Benji, died Friday. He was 84.

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Camp died at his home in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, about 55 miles south of Nashville, his son, Brandon Camp, said in a statement. The cause of death was an unspecified illness, The New York Times reported.

Joe Camp raised $500,000 to make the first “Benji” film in 1974, Variety reported.

The family film followed a lovable mutt who saves two children from kidnappers and starred Higgins, a dog who had appeared on the 1960s sitcom “Petticoat Junction,” according to the entertainment news website.

Owned and trained by famed animal trainer Frank Inn, Higgins died in 1975 at the age of 17, Deadline reported. Subsequent Benjis included the original dog’s offspring.

Camp said his idea for the film came from watching the Disney animated film “Lady and the Tramp” during the late 1960s, the Times reported. Camp said he watched his dog’s facial expressions and wondered if a movie could be made from a dog’s perspective.

Camp said he asked his wife, “Do you think it would be possible to do that kind of a movie with a real dog?” according to The Hollywood Reporter. “We came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be possible, because how do you tell a story without words?”

But after his wife went to bed, Camp stayed up with his Yorkshire terrier, Benji and became “intrigued with watching his expressions on things.”

“I got down on the floor in a corner all huddled up and acted afraid, and the dog’s looking at me like, ‘Have you lost your mind?’ You could read that in his face. I went to bed knowing dogs do talk.”

“I went to sleep with the distinct concept that dogs do talk if you’re really paying attention,” Camp told The Associated Press in 2003.

A sequel, “For the Love Of Benji,” was released in 1977, followed in 1978 by “The Phenomenon of Benji,” a 30-minute television special that Camp co-wrote, co-produced and co-directed, Deadline reported.

Later that year, “Benji’s Very Own Christmas Story,” another television movie, was nominated for an Emmy Award, according to the entertainment news website.

Camp would win an Emmy in 1980 for Outstanding Children’s Program for writing and directing “Benji at Work.”

That same year, he directed and co-wrote “Oh Heavenly Dog,” which starred Chevy Chase.

In 1987, Camp collaborated with Disney for “Benji the Hunted” and in 2004 with “Benji: Off the Leash!”

“Benji” was rebooted as a 2018 film for Netflix, the Times reported. It was co-written by Camp and his son, Brandon Camp, who directed the movie.

Joseph Shelton Camp Jr. was born on April 20, 1939, in St. Louis, according to the newspaper. He is survived by his wife, Kathleen; his two sons, Joe and Brandon; and his stepchildren, David Wolff, Dylan Wolff and Allegra Wolff. His first wife, Carolyn, whom he married in 1960, died in 1997 from a heart disorder, the Times reported.

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