holding or petting Higgins. Buchanan guest-starred on 17 episodes of the sitcom Green Acres, and Higgins guest-starred in two of those appearances. Buchanan and Higgins crossed paths for the last time in Benji, which was coincidentally also the last film in which both actors appeared. The two actors had an obvious fondness for one another, which is especially clear in Benji, because the movie's naturalistic pacing allowed them to interact as friends rather than requiring that Higgins perform a specific trick to which Buchanan would react. Frank Inn and Higgins were very close in real life as well as on the job. Inn wrote a poem about the dog called My Little Brown Dog. Family Higgins' progeny carried on his work in a continuing series of movies and television series featuring the Benji character, beginning with For the Love of Benji in 1977, in which Higgins' daughter Benjean inherited the role of Benji after Higgins' death. Benjean, who was also trained by Frank Inn, starred in more Benji movies than Higgins did because she was younger when she first took on the role. Benjean can be differentiated from Higgins by the fact that she was a female with no visible genitalia, and she had a large patch of white hairs on her muzzle around her nose, whereas Higgins was mostly black around his nose. In addition, Higgins’ bark was a deep, froggy sound, while Benjean had a higher-pitched, more traditional-sounding yelp. This is readily apparent when comparing Benji and For the Love of Benji. Confusion between the two dogs was increased when VHS and DVD videos of the original Benji movie were released with pictures of Benjean on the cover. Also, the dog "Tramp" from the TV series My Three Sons was one of Higgins' puppies; his real-life name was "Mac". Death Higgins died at age 17, just a month short of his 18th birthday. Inn had the dog's body cremated and saved the ashes in an urn on his mantelpiece. He then wrote a Christian poem in memory of Higgins called My Gift to Jesus. Inn died in 2002 and requested that Higgins' ashes be buried in his coffin with him. Inn is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. See also List of individual dogs References 1957 animal births 1975 animal deaths Benji Dog actors