Dan Haggerty, who gained widespread recognition for his portrayal of the kind mountain man with a striking beard and his bear friend Ben in the NBC television series and 1974 film “The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams,” passed away on Friday in Burbank, California. His age was 73 years.
Terry Bomar, his manager and friend, stated that spinal cancer was the cause of death.
Dan Haggerty was creating a name for himself in Hollywood as an animal handler and stuntman before landing his famous part. When a producer requested him to appear in a few opening moments for a film about a woodsman and his bear, it was his big break. The plot, which is based on a novel by Charles Sellier Jr., centers on a man who flees to the woods after being wrongfully convicted of murder, becomes friends with the local wildlife, and takes in an abandoned bear.
Haggerty accepted to do the part, but he had one requirement: he had to appear in the whole film. Despite having a relatively low budget of $165,000, the film’s remake brought in close to $30 million at the box office. Because of this popularity, a television series was created, and in February 1977, Haggerty went back to playing the character of the wild and outdoorsy wilderness guardian.
The audience responded well to the show. It lukewarms the heart, as The New York Times’ John Leonard observed in his review. A large lump in the throat and a lot of communing with nature are experienced when a man and a bear hide out in a log cabin. Haggerty won a 1978 People’s Choice Award for being the most well-liked actor in a new series because of the series’ warm and sympathetic tone, which won over a lot of viewers.
The series also yielded two follow-ups: “Legend of the Wild,” which was broadcast on television in 1978 and eventually released in theaters in 1981, and “The Capture of Grizzly Adams,” a 1982 television film in which Adams ultimately exonerates himself of the false charge.
Born in Los Angeles on November 19, 1942, Daniel Francis Haggerty had a difficult upbringing. He had a turbulent childhood, breaking out of military school several times before coming home with his actor-father in Burbank when his parents divorced when he was three years old.
Haggerty was married twice in his personal life. When he was 17, he got married to Diane Rooker, but they later got divorced. In 2008, he lost his second wife, Samantha Hilton, in a horrific motorbike accident. His children, Don, Megan, Tracy, Dylan, and Cody, survive him.
In his debut motion picture, “Muscle Beach Party” (1964), Haggerty portrayed bodybuilder Biff. After that, he played supporting parts in motorcycle and wildlife movies. He was a hippie commune member in “Easy Rider.” He also played the role off-screen, living with a variety of wild creatures he had either tamed or rescued on a small ranch in Malibu Canyon.
His expertise with animals led to positions as an animal trainer and stuntman for television shows including “Daktari” and “Tarzan.” He kept taking on parts like “Where the North Wind Blows” (1974) and “The Adventures of Frontier Fremont” (1976) that highlighted his affinity for the natural world. His love of outdoor parts brought him roles evoking Grizzly Adams to movies like “Grizzly Mountain” (1997) and “Escape to Grizzly Mountain” (2000).
Haggerty had appearances in a number of horror movies later in his career, such as “Terror Night” (1987) and “Elves” (1989). He was involved in court in 1985 and was given a 90-day jail sentence for distributing cocaine to police officers who were undercover.
Tragic incidents also occurred in his life. Haggerty suffered third-degree burns to his arms when a diner carrying a burning drink unintentionally caught his renowned beard on fire in 1977 when he was dining. Despite being admitted to the hospital and supposed to stay for a month, he left after just ten days, claiming to have expertise of curing animals.
“The first couple of days I just lay in the dark room drinking water, like a wounded wolf trying to heal myself,” he said, reflecting on his injury, to People magazine.
Bride receives strange call in church – leaves immediately without a word
A lot of little girls dream about what their wedding day will be like. They always imagine what they will wear, what the band will play, and, of course, who their groom will be.
On Sarah Ray’s big day, she did something no one expected. Keep reading to know more.
Sarah Ray was all set for her big day in Tennessee. She was dressed in her beautiful white wedding gown and was ready to say her vows and make her fiance her husband.
But as the wedding was underway, the bride received a call. She attended the call and, without saying a word, rushed out of her wedding. No one understood what had happened.
She left the church filled with people waiting to attend her wedding. Her groom, who was waiting for her to walk down the aisle, decided to forgive her for her hasty exit. Perhaps because he knew that she must have had a good reason for doing so.
A picture that was shared by hundreds of people showed the bride running on the road in her wedding gown. The reason for her abruptly leaving is very understandable.
When she was about to walk down the aisle, she received an unfortunate phone call that informed her that her father and grandmother had been involved in a car accident. She knew she could not abandon her family and decided to make a run for it.
She grabbed a pair of flat shoes, put them on, and made her way to her family. Since Sarah was a nurse by profession, her instinct to save lives kicked in immediately, and she knew she had to rush to be by her family’s side in case they needed medical attention.
When she got to the scene of the accident, she realized that everything was alright. She was calmed down by learning that her family had not sustained any harm, as she had feared.
Together with her family, she arrived back at the church, so the wedding could go on as it needed to.
If you enjoyed this story, you might like to read about how a strange woman handed a father an envelope, and upon opening it, he immediately ran after her.
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