Dan Haggerty

Actor and star of The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams Born: November 19, 1942; Died: January 15, 2016

DAN Haggerty, who has died of cancer aged 73, was a stuntman, actor and animal trainer who became a star and a family favourite as the star of the television series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams.

In the show, he played a man wrongly accused of murder who flees to the Rocky Mountains where he befriends a bear cub. The heart-warming and sentimental series, which ran from 1977-78, followed Adams and the bear on a series of adventures and became a hit around the world.

The character of James “Grizzly” Adams was easy for Haggerty to play because in many ways it reflected his own life. Born in Pound, Wisconsin, his parents had wanted him to become a priest but he had a lifelong affinity for wild animals and instead he took a job on a ranch where he trained animals for film and television.

He then began to win bit parts in movies, including the Frankie Avalon comedy Muscle Beach Party in 1964 and the non-speaking part of a biker in the road-trip movie Easy Rider. He also had a small role in the Elvis Presley musical Girl Happy.

It was while working on a scene in the 1974 film When the North Wind Blows in which he had to chase a tiger across a frozen lake that the producers of the movie The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams spotted him and realised he would be perfect for the lead role.

The film, which was based on the reallife adventures of a California trapper, was made the same year with Haggerty in the lead role and inspired the series in 1977. The opening titles showed Grizzly befriending a bear he named Ben but there was a menagerie of other animals too, including owls, deer and raccoons.

The series only ran for two years, but it made a star of Haggerty, who, with his wild beard, became recognisable around the world. In 1982, he reprised the role for a TV movie The Capture of Grizzly Adams and in later films played similar characters – there was Spirit of the Eagle in 1991, Grizzly Mountain in 1997 (which added an unlikely time-travel element) and Escape to Grizzly Mountain in 2000.

There were other films too (and small roles in 1970s shows such as Charlie’s Angels and The Love Boat), but he never quite managed to emulate his success with Grizzly elsewhere and in 1988 he served 90 days in prison for selling cocaine to undercover police officers.

Away from movies, he tried his hand at various projects including running a restaurant. Haggerty, who had been suffering from cancer of the spine, died in Burbank, California, and is survived by his five children. His second wife Samantha died in 2008.