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 Bart
the Bear - Kodiak brown bear featured in a number of movies and
seen on television from time to time (including appearances as a bear cub
on GRIZZLY ADAMS/NBC/1977-78). Trained by Doug and Lynne Seus, Bart the
bear stood 9 and 1/2 feet tall and weighed 1,500 pounds. He was adopted
from the Baltimore Zoo when he was only five pounds and taken to a
wildlife ranch near Heber City, Utah near Salt Lake City.
Called "the John Wayne of bear actors," Bart debuted in
the movie Windwalker (1980) and later appeared in Clan of the
Cave Bear (1986) with Daryl Hannah; The Great Outdoors (1988)
with John Candy; The Bear (1989) a nature film with with Bart the
bear in the lead role; Giant of Thunder Mountain (1990); The
Great American West (1991); White Fang (1992); On Deadly
Ground (1993); Walking Thunder (1993); Yellowstone
(1994); Red River, a French film (1994); The Legends of the Fall
(1995) with Brad Pitt; Meet the Deedles (1997); Wild America
(1997) with Jonathan Taylor Thomas; and The Edge (1997) with Sir
Anthony Hopkins (reportedly Bart was paid $1 million for his work in
film).
Bart's TV roles included appearances on The Gambler
(CBS TV Movie, 1983); Down the Long Hills (Disney, 1986); Lost
in the Barrens (CBS, 1994); Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
(1994); Young Riders, "The Decoy" episode (MGM TV, 1995);
Lonesome Dove "Deadman's Walk" (ABC TV, 1996); McKenna (CBS,
1996); and Jack Hanna's "Animal Adventures" (1996).
Bart was also a presenter (with trainer Doug Seus) on the
Academy Awards in 1998 and the "spokesbear" for both the Animal Cancer
Center at Colorado State University and the Vital Ground Foundation, a
conservation group which buys threatened habitat along the Rocky mountain
front and on Kodiak Island, Alaska.
Born in the zoo on January 19, 1977, Bart the bear
died of Cancer at the age of 23 on May 10, 2000. He was buried on the Seus'
farm. Bart is survived by fellow bears Tank and Bubba. Bart's favorite
foods were Pesto, apples, Hawaiian Punch, and carrots.
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