Frank Inn, who helped train Lassie and Rhubarb the cat, and on his own discovered and made actors of Arnold the pig on "Green Acres," the 500 or so animals on "The Beverly Hillbillies" and his greatest star, Benji, the cuddly movie dog, died on July 27 in Sylmar, Calif. He was 86.
He died in the nursing home where he had lived in recent months, his daughter, Kathleen Hees, said.
Inn may have been television's greatest animal star maker. In the early 1950s, he trained his first big star, Cleo, the basset hound on "The People's Choice" who appeared with the actor Jackie Cooper. He followed with Tramp, the mutt on "My Three Sons," and Higgins, the canine star of "Petticoat Junction," and also trained animals for shows like "I Love Lucy," "Ozzie and Harriet," "The Addams Family" and "Barnaby Jones."
At his peak, he worked a menagerie of around 1,000 animals.