Wrestler whose bigger claim to fame was owning a treasured celebrity grizzly bear

Andy Robin, who has died aged 84, was a Scottish professional wrestler and more famously the owner, with his wife Maggie, of Hercules the Bear, the grizzly who made headlines around the world in 1980 when he went missing in the Outer Hebrides.

The Robins bought Hercules as a cub from a wildlife park for £50 in 1976 with the aim of training him as a fighting partner for Andy, and raised him at their home, the Sheriffmuir Inn near Dunblane, Stirlingshire, where customers got used to seeing the 8ft 2in (2.4m), 60st (381kg) bear joining Robin for a pint in the bar.

Feeding

Hercules cost more than £200 a week, but after making his debut wrestling with

Robin at Perth

Ice Rink in August 1977, in a bout which lasted 15 minutes, the bear was soon more than earning his keep in appearance and advertising fees.

He starred in his own film, A Day in the Life of Hercules the Bear in 1979, did his first commercial, ‘‘follow the bear’’ for Hofmeister lager, in the late 1970s, and became the face of British Airways in 1980. He also helped advertise a brand of vodka.

In August 1980 the Robins were on the island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, combining a holiday with shooting a Kleenex commercial starring Hercules. While swimming with Robin, Hercules slipped his rope and kept on swimming. Despite the combined efforts of local boatmen, the police, navy and army, and a host of volunteers, Hercules remained missing for 24 days before two crofters spotted him swimming off the neighbouring island of North Uist.

When airlifted to safety, he was a sorry sight. As he had never learnt to hunt, he had lost 20 stone. He celebrated his return to the Robins by consuming 120 pints of milk and dozens of eggs.

Robin was charged with failing to keep a wild animal under control, but the case was dropped after the celebrated Glasgow lawyer Joe Beltrami persuaded the Procurator Fiscal that Hercules was a working animal and therefore exempt under legislation. Legend has it that Beltrami demanded an identity parade with five other grizzlies because he ‘‘wasn’t convinced’’ the one they had found was Hercules.

The escapade turned Hercules into an international celebrity. Britain’s cartoonists gave him the Golden Joker of the Year award and Kleenex nicknamed him the Big Softy. The publicity led to a rise in the number of tourists visiting the Outer Hebrides and in 1981 the Scottish Tourist Board made him Personality of the Year.

When he travelled to the United States a newspaper heralded his arrival with the headline: ‘‘Bigger than ET, Stronger than Superman, heavier than the Incredible Hulk –

Hercules in Hollywood’’. He graced the cover of Time and met Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, who sent him a telegram when he was adopted as a mascot by UCLA.

Hercules caddied for Bob Hope at Gleneagles, led a Fringe festival parade in Edinburgh, promoted the Miss World contest and secured a cameo role in the James Bond film Octopussy, pinning Roger Moore against a caravan.

The bear’s celebrity made the Robins a fortune; they built a rambling house with a den and pool for Hercules on 30 acres in the Ochil Hills of Perthshire and named it Big Bear Ranch. When Hercules died in 2000, aged 25, the Robins were devastated. The bear had been so much their baby that they had decided not to have children.

Hercules is buried below a life-size statue of himself in North Uist.

Andy Robin was born in 1935 in Stirling, the son of a miner and a hotel cook. After leaving school he worked, variously, on a farm, as a forester and as a door steward at Auchterarder’s Aytoun Hall, ‘‘going through the room like a Tasmanian devil’’ at the first sniff of trouble, according to one report.

He tried his hand at boxing but soon switched to the safer sport of wrestling. In 1955 he was Cumberland Wrestling world champion and in 1964 he won the British Commonwealth mid-heavyweight wrestling championship. He was soon going on exhibition tours in the US and later appeared on television.

In 1968 he attended The Wonderful World of Sport festival in Toronto, where punters were offered a prize of $1000 if they could last 15 minutes in the wrestling ring with a muzzled black bear called Terrible Ted. Robin volunteered, took the prize and a few years later decided that a bear would be a good accompaniment to his own act.

After Hercules’ death the Robins moved to Auchterarder, where Robin enjoyed the company of Robbie, his Jack Russell.

He is survived by Maggie. He had three sons and a daughter from two previous marriages.

His last wish, to be buried beside Hercules, has been fulfilled.–

Hercules caddied for Bob Hope at Gleneagles ... promoted the Miss World contest and secured a cameo role in the James Bond film Octopussy.