Dan Haggerty, who played a gentle mountain man with a luxuriant beard and a bear named Ben in the 1974 movie “The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams” and the NBC television series of the same name, died on Friday in Burbank, Calif.
He was 73.
According to Terry Bomar, his manager and buddy, the cause was spinal cancer.
When a producer invited Mr. Haggerty to appear in the opening sequences he was reshooting for a movie about a woodsman and his bear, he was already a Hollywood stuntman and animal handler.
It was based on Charles Sellier Jr.’s book “The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams,” which chronicled the tale of a California man who was wrongfully accused of murder and fled to the woods, where he tames an orphaned grizzly and builds relationships with the local wildlife.
Mr. Haggerty consented, but only provided he was able to finish the film. The movie earned about $30 million at the box office after being redone for $165,000.
It makes the heart lukewarm. The New York Times published a review of the first episode by John Leonard. Mad Jack (Denver Pyle) and Makuma (Don Shanks), a noble red man, bring grain and counsel to the log house where the bear and man hide out. As they exit the cabin, the bear washes his fur and the man traps his. Raccoons, owls, deer, rabbits, hawks, badgers, cougars, a large lump in the throat, and a lot of communication with nature are all there at the same time.
Mr. Haggerty won a People’s Choice Award in 1978 for being the most popular actor in a new series because of the series’ affectionate and amiable portrayal of him. Two codas from “Grizzly Adams” were produced: “Legend of the Wild,” which aired in 1978 and
On November 19, 1942, Daniel Francis Haggerty was born in Los Angeles. After his parents divorced when he was three years old, he had a difficult upbringing and repeatedly ran away from military school until moving in with his actor father in Burbank, California.
He married Diane Rooker when he was 17. The marriage ended in divorce. In 2008, he lost his second wife, Samantha Hilton, in a motorbike accident. His children, Don, Dylan, Tracy, Megan, and Cody, survive him.
He played a muscle builder named Biff opposite Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello in his debut movie, “Muscle Beach Party” (1964). Characters like “Bearded Biker” and “Biker With Bandana” appeared in later biker and wildlife movies. He had a fleeting appearance in “Easy
Mr. Haggerty’s well-known beard was set on fire in 1977 by a negligent restaurant guest who was carrying a flaming cocktail. He was transported to a hospital for a month-long course of treatment after attempting to put out the fire and suffering third-degree burns on his arms.
He told People, “I just lay in the dark room drinking water for the first couple of days, like a wounded wolf trying to heal himself.” Nurses urged me to open the curtains and attempted to administer painkillers. However, there are instances when animals have greater healing knowledge than humans. After ten days, he left the hospital.