Frank Inn
Encyclopedia
Frank Inn was born as Elias Franklin Freeman, (May 8, 1916 - July 27, 2002) was an American
animal trainer
. He trained several animals for movies, but was most known for his work with the dogs in the Benji
series.
, to a Quaker family. He left home at age 17, changed his name to Frank Inn, and sought his fortune in Hollywood. He learned to train animals while recovering from a serious automobile accident in Culver City, California
.
Inn was married to the former Juanita Heard for 50 years, from 1946 until her death in 1996. They had three children.
After Juanita's death, Inn retired and devoted his time to writing poetry, assembling a museum of memorabilia from his long career, and training a new generation of animal wranglers.
Frank Inn died at age 86 after a brief illness. The ashes of his beloved dog Higgins
, cat Orangey
, and his award winning pig Arnold Ziffel
were placed in his coffin and buried with him at his request.
movie series.
In 1943, he assisted Rudd Weatherwax
in the training of Pal
, the dog who originated the movie role of Lassie
.
In the early 1950s, Inn left the Weatherwax animal training organization and began to work as an independent trainer. His animal stars included Orangey
, a cat who was in the films Rhubarb
(1952), The Incredible Shrinking Man
(1957), The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), and appeared in the television series Our Miss Brooks
with Eve Arden
; Cleo, a basset hound
who was in the film Bell, Book and Candle (1957) and in Jackie Cooper
's 1950s television show, The People's Choice
; Arnold Ziffel
, the pig
from Green Acres
; the chimps
from Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp
, the dog and two cats from The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty
, Tramp the dog of My Three Sons
and many of Elly May Clampett's exotic "critters" on The Beverly Hillbillies
.
Possibly his most famous animal was Higgins
, a fluffy brown mutt he rescued from an animal shelter in Burbank, California
. The dog, which Inn believed to be a cross between a miniature poodle
, a cocker spaniel, and a small terrier
(either a miniature Schnauzer
or a Border terrier
), starred in Petticoat Junction
in the 1960s, and in the feature films Mooch Goes to Hollywood
(1971) and Benji
(1974). A sequel For the Love of Benji
(1977) starred Higgins's daughter Benjean, also trained by Inn. Benjean portrayed the title role in the following three Benji movies.
In addition to his assistant trainers Gerry Warshauer and Karl Miller, Juanita Inn also helped Frank with animal training; she was listed in the opening credits of Benji and given credit as an animal trainer in Oh! Heavenly Dog, a 1980 movie starring Benjean.
Frank Inn also took on small character roles in films that featured his trained animals. He portrayed a studio security guard (uncredited) in Mooch Goes to Hollywood in 1971, appeared as himself in Benji the Hunted
in 1987, and played a cook in the 1976 camel comedy Hawmps!
. He can also be seen working as Benjean's trainer in the 1980 documentary Benji at Work, and the voice of Juanita Inn can be heard calling Benjean from off-camera during the behind-the-scenes description of a complex multi-part stunt that required the dog to approach a building, try to enter, and then run away as if driven off.
A true animal lover, Inn could not bear to see healthy animals euthanased
or "put to sleep," as he called it, so he took them in. Those with acting ability he and his assistants kept and trained; the others he gave to friends and admirers as pets. Inn said that at one time he and his helpers had one thousand animals under their care, and the feeding bills alone came to $400.00 per day.
honored Frank Inn as their first inductee into the IACP Hall of Fame.
The Patsy Award
(Picture Animal Top Star of the Year) was originated by the Hollywood office of the American Humane Association
in 1939 to honor animal performers in four categories, canine, equine, wild and special. During his career, Inn's animals won 40 Patsy Awards, three of them multiple times: Orangey the cat won three times, for Rhubarb, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and Breakfast at Tiffany's; Arnold the Pig won for three successive years on Green Acres from 1966–1968; and Higgins (dog)
(then playing "Dog" on Petticoat Junction), won a Patsy in 1962.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
animal trainer
Animal training
Animal training refers to teaching animals specific responses to specific conditions or stimuli. Training may be for the purpose of companionship, detection, protection, entertainment or all of the above....
. He trained several animals for movies, but was most known for his work with the dogs in the Benji
Benji
Benji is the name of a fictional dog who has been the focus of several movies from 1974 through the 2000s. It is also the title of the first film in the Benji series....
series.
Personal life
Elias Franklin Freeman was born in Camby, IndianaIndiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, to a Quaker family. He left home at age 17, changed his name to Frank Inn, and sought his fortune in Hollywood. He learned to train animals while recovering from a serious automobile accident in Culver City, California
Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...
.
Inn was married to the former Juanita Heard for 50 years, from 1946 until her death in 1996. They had three children.
After Juanita's death, Inn retired and devoted his time to writing poetry, assembling a museum of memorabilia from his long career, and training a new generation of animal wranglers.
Frank Inn died at age 86 after a brief illness. The ashes of his beloved dog Higgins
Higgins (dog)
Higgins was one of the best-known dog actors of the 1960s – 1970s. Most people remember him either as "Dog" or as "Benji," two of the most popular roles he played during a 14-year career in show business....
, cat Orangey
Orangey
Orangey, a red tabby cat, was a talented animal actor owned and trained by the well-known cinematic animal handler Frank Inn.Orangey had a prolific career in film and television in the 1950s and early 1960s and was the only cat to win two Patsy Awards , the first for the title role...
, and his award winning pig Arnold Ziffel
Arnold Ziffel
Arnold Ziffel was a pig featured in Green Acres, an American situation comedy that was produced by Filmways, Inc., and originally aired on the CBS network from 1965 to 1971...
were placed in his coffin and buried with him at his request.
Career
Inn's career as an animal trainer spanned more than 50 years. His first professional work was as an assistant trainer of Skippy, the dog who played Asta in the Thin ManThe Thin Man (film)
The Thin Man is a 1934 American comic detective film starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, a flirtatious married couple who banter wittily as they solve crimes with ease. Nick is a hard drinking retired detective and Nora a wealthy heiress...
movie series.
In 1943, he assisted Rudd Weatherwax
Rudd Weatherwax
Ruddell Bird "Rudd" Weatherwax was an American actor and animal trainer. He and his brother Frank Weatherwax are best remembered for training dogs for motion pictures and television. Frank's collie, Pal, became the original Lassie, handled by Rudd for the 1943 MGM film Lassie Come Home...
in the training of Pal
Pal (dog actor)
Pal was a Rough Collie actor and the first in a line of such dogs to portray the fictional female collie Lassie in film and television. Pal was born in California in 1940 and eventually brought to the notice of Rudd Weatherwax, a Hollywood animal trainer. In 1943, the dog was chosen to play Lassie...
, the dog who originated the movie role of Lassie
Lassie
Lassie is a fictional collie dog character created by Eric Knight in a short story expanded to novel length called Lassie Come-Home. Published in 1940, the novel was filmed by MGM in 1943 as Lassie Come Home with a dog named Pal playing Lassie. Pal then appeared with the stage name "Lassie" in six...
.
In the early 1950s, Inn left the Weatherwax animal training organization and began to work as an independent trainer. His animal stars included Orangey
Orangey
Orangey, a red tabby cat, was a talented animal actor owned and trained by the well-known cinematic animal handler Frank Inn.Orangey had a prolific career in film and television in the 1950s and early 1960s and was the only cat to win two Patsy Awards , the first for the title role...
, a cat who was in the films Rhubarb
Rhubarb (1951 film)
Rhubarb is a 1951 film adapted from the 1946 novel Rhubarb by humorist, H. Allen Smith. Directed by Arthur Lubin, the screwball noir comedy stars the cat Orangey, Jan Sterling and Ray Milland.-Characters and story:...
(1952), The Incredible Shrinking Man
The Incredible Shrinking Man
The Incredible Shrinking Man is a 1957 science fiction film directed by Jack Arnold and adapted for the screen by Richard Matheson from his novel The Shrinking Man ....
(1957), The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), and appeared in the television series Our Miss Brooks
Our Miss Brooks
Our Miss Brooks is an American situation comedy starring Eve Arden as a sardonic high school English teacher. It began as a radio show broadcast on CBS from 1948 to 1957. When the show was adapted to television , it became one of the medium's earliest hits...
with Eve Arden
Eve Arden
Eve Arden was an American actress. Her almost 60-year career crossed most media frontiers with supporting and leading roles, but she may be best-remembered for playing the sardonic but engaging title character, a high school teacher, on Our Miss Brooks, and as the Rydell High School principal in...
; Cleo, a basset hound
Basset Hound
The Basset Hound is a short-legged breed of dog of the hound family. They are scent hounds, bred to hunt rabbits and hare by scent. Their sense of smell for tracking is second only to that of the Bloodhound....
who was in the film Bell, Book and Candle (1957) and in Jackie Cooper
Jackie Cooper
Jackie Cooper was an American actor, television director, producer and executive. He was a child actor who managed to make the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first child actor to receive an Academy Award nomination...
's 1950s television show, The People's Choice
The People's Choice (TV series)
The People's Choice is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from 1955 to 1958, primarily sponsored by The Borden Company.It stars Jackie Cooper as Socrates "Sock" Miller, an ex-Marine and New City, California politician with a basset hound named "Cleo", whose thoughts , as she balefully...
; Arnold Ziffel
Arnold Ziffel
Arnold Ziffel was a pig featured in Green Acres, an American situation comedy that was produced by Filmways, Inc., and originally aired on the CBS network from 1965 to 1971...
, the pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
from Green Acres
Green Acres
Green Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...
; the chimps
Chimpanzee
Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
from Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp
Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp
Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp is an American action/adventure comedy series that originally aired on ABC from September 12, 1970, to September 2, 1972...
, the dog and two cats from The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty
The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty
The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty was a children's television show alternating animation and live footage segments. It took the concept of James Thurber's popular short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and parodied it with anthropomorphised dogs and cats.-Plot:Waldo Kitty and his girlfriend...
, Tramp the dog of My Three Sons
My Three Sons
My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas , raising his three sons.The series was a cornerstone of the CBS...
and many of Elly May Clampett's exotic "critters" on The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
.
Possibly his most famous animal was Higgins
Higgins (dog)
Higgins was one of the best-known dog actors of the 1960s – 1970s. Most people remember him either as "Dog" or as "Benji," two of the most popular roles he played during a 14-year career in show business....
, a fluffy brown mutt he rescued from an animal shelter in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
. The dog, which Inn believed to be a cross between a miniature poodle
Poodle
The Poodle is a breed of dog. The poodle breed is found officially in toy, miniature, and standard sizes, with many coat colors. Originally bred as a type of water dog, the poodle is highly intelligent and skillful in many dog sports, including agility, obedience, tracking, and even herding...
, a cocker spaniel, and a small terrier
Terrier
A terrier is a dog of any one of many breeds or landraces of terrier type, which are typically small, wiry, very active and fearless dogs. Terrier breeds vary greatly in size from just a couple of pounds to over 70 pounds and are usually categorized by size or function...
(either a miniature Schnauzer
Miniature Schnauzer
The Miniature Schnauzer is a breed of small dog of the Schnauzer type that originated in Germany in the mid-to-late 19th century. Miniature Schnauzers developed from crosses between the Standard Schnauzer and one or more smaller breeds such as the Poodle and Affenpinscher.The breed remains one of...
or a Border terrier
Border Terrier
The Border Terrier is a small, rough-coated breed of dog of the terrier group. Originally bred as fox and vermin hunters, Border Terriers share ancestry with Dandie Dinmont Terriers and Bedlington Terriers....
), starred in Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
in the 1960s, and in the feature films Mooch Goes to Hollywood
Mooch Goes to Hollywood
Mooch Goes to Hollywood is a 1971 television movie about an ambitious dog and her attempts to become a canine star after befriending Zsa Zsa Gabor, who provides the pooch with the skinny on the INs and OUTs of achieving Hollywood fame...
(1971) and Benji
Benji (film)
Benji is the first film in a series of nine about the golden mixed breed dog named Benji. It was written and directed by Joe Camp and was released in 1974. It received one Academy Award nomination for the Best Original Song.-Plot:...
(1974). A sequel For the Love of Benji
For the Love of Benji
For the Love of Benji is the second film featuring Benji the dog and was released in 1977.-Plot synopsis:In this film, Benji is lost and becomes a stray animal in Athens, Greece, trying to reunite with his family while secret agents pursue him, trying to get a formula which was glued to his paw in...
(1977) starred Higgins's daughter Benjean, also trained by Inn. Benjean portrayed the title role in the following three Benji movies.
In addition to his assistant trainers Gerry Warshauer and Karl Miller, Juanita Inn also helped Frank with animal training; she was listed in the opening credits of Benji and given credit as an animal trainer in Oh! Heavenly Dog, a 1980 movie starring Benjean.
Frank Inn also took on small character roles in films that featured his trained animals. He portrayed a studio security guard (uncredited) in Mooch Goes to Hollywood in 1971, appeared as himself in Benji the Hunted
Benji the Hunted
Benji the Hunted is a 1987 children's film about a dog trying to survive in the wilderness. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures. This was the last Benji movie to star Benjean in the title role.-Plot:...
in 1987, and played a cook in the 1976 camel comedy Hawmps!
Hawmps!
Hawmps! is a 1976 American film about a United States Cavalry experiment to introduce camels into the service in the western United States, specifically Wyoming. It was written by William Bickley, Joe Camp, and Michael Warren, directed by Joe Camp, and produced by Benji Films....
. He can also be seen working as Benjean's trainer in the 1980 documentary Benji at Work, and the voice of Juanita Inn can be heard calling Benjean from off-camera during the behind-the-scenes description of a complex multi-part stunt that required the dog to approach a building, try to enter, and then run away as if driven off.
A true animal lover, Inn could not bear to see healthy animals euthanased
Animal euthanasia
Animal euthanasia is the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, an animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition. Euthanasia methods are designed to cause minimal pain and distress...
or "put to sleep," as he called it, so he took them in. Those with acting ability he and his assistants kept and trained; the others he gave to friends and admirers as pets. Inn said that at one time he and his helpers had one thousand animals under their care, and the feeding bills alone came to $400.00 per day.
Honors
The International Association of Canine ProfessionalsInternational Association of Canine Professionals
The International Association of Canine Professionals is an organization involved in supporting and representing professionals in all occupations involving canine management. This includes training, grooming, health, husbandry, kennels, pet sitting and retail. The IACP aims to provide high...
honored Frank Inn as their first inductee into the IACP Hall of Fame.
The Patsy Award
Patsy Award
The Patsy Award was originated by the Hollywood office of the American Humane Association in 1939. They decided to honor animal performers after a horse was killed in an on-set accident during the filming of the Tyrone Power film Jesse James...
(Picture Animal Top Star of the Year) was originated by the Hollywood office of the American Humane Association
American Humane Association
The American Humane Association is an organization founded in 1877 dedicated to the welfare of animals and children.The AHA's Film and Television Unit has monitored the welfare of animals during the production of films and television programs since 1940. They are the source of the familiar...
in 1939 to honor animal performers in four categories, canine, equine, wild and special. During his career, Inn's animals won 40 Patsy Awards, three of them multiple times: Orangey the cat won three times, for Rhubarb, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and Breakfast at Tiffany's; Arnold the Pig won for three successive years on Green Acres from 1966–1968; and Higgins (dog)
Higgins (dog)
Higgins was one of the best-known dog actors of the 1960s – 1970s. Most people remember him either as "Dog" or as "Benji," two of the most popular roles he played during a 14-year career in show business....
(then playing "Dog" on Petticoat Junction), won a Patsy in 1962.