Joe Camp, filmmaker behind the “Benji” franchise

Joe Camp, a pioneering filmmaker who created the groundbreaking “Benji” franchise, which brought a lovable dog in a live-action film to the masses and became a smash success, died Friday at his home in Bell Buckle, Tenn. He was 84.

The cause was an unspecified illness, his son Brandon Camp, a director, said in a statement.

Joe Camp began thinking about directing as early as 8 years old, but he would first encounter decades of rejections. While attending the University of Mississippi,

he tried to transfer to UCLA’S film school, only to be turned down. After college, Camp dabbled in advertising at the Houston office of Mccann Erickson and then at Norsworthy-mercer, an agency in Dallas, while writing unproduced sitcom scripts on the side.

In 1971, Camp and James Nicodenius, a cinematographer, formed their own production company, Mulberry Square Productions, which was based in Dallas, far from the traditional hubs of the television and film industry, Los Angeles and New York.

The idea for “Benji” came from watching The Walt Disney Co. animated film “Lady and the Tramp” in the late 1960s. Afterward, Camp observed his own dog’s facial expressions and wondered if a movie could be made starring one in real life told from the dog’s perspective. “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.

With little professional experience, Camp feverishly came up with a script in one sitting — his first feature-length film — in which an adorable stray dog would save two children from a kidnapping. He raised $500,000 and shot the film in 12 weeks in 1973.

At first, he had trouble finding a dog trainer, but then celebrated trainer Frank Inn agreed to take part. But no Hollywood studios were interested in distributing it. So Camp did it independently.

“Getting that first ‘Benji’ movie made was like careening through a minefield of slammed doors, unplanned disasters, catastrophic mistakes and a noticeable vacuum of money, knowledge and experience,” Camp wrote on his website.

“Benji” premiered in 1974. It would go on to gross about $40 million — about $250 million in today’s dollars — and shattered perceptions about how to make successful films. It was one of the top moneymakers of the year, along with “Jaws” and “The Towering Inferno.”

Camp went on to make several other “Benji” films: 1977’s “For the Love of Benji”; 1980’s “Oh! Heavenly Dog,” which starred Chevy Chase and Jane Seymour; 1987’s “Benji the Hunted”; and 2004’s “Benji: Off the Leash!” There was also a CBS children’s show in 1983, “Benji, Zax & the Alien Prince.” “Benji” was rebooted as a 2018 film for Netflix and was written by Camp and son Brandon, who directed the film.

Camp, inspired by Walt Disney’s vision, insisted there be no profanity of any sort.

For decades, he defied Hollywood suits to tell heartwarming stories in the way he wanted to.

“The whole point of it is to say, ‘If this dog can do it, if I can do it, this idiot from the sticks of the South can do it, anyone can do it. If you try hard enough and you don’t give up,’” Camp told the AP in 2003. “That’s what ‘Benji’ movies are all about.”