Ben the bear - Friendly grizzly bear starring on the adventure THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GRIZZLY ADAMS/NBC/1977-78. Ben (short for Benjamin Franklin) was the companion of mountain man James Capen "Grizzly" Adams (Dan Haggerty) who originally escaped to the safety of the wilderness after being falsely accused of a crime. Grizzly Adams had originally rescued Ben from the ledge of a rocky slope when the bear was a cub. Adams raised the cub and soon they became life-long friends and shared many adventures together. Their friends included an eccentric mountain man named Mad Jack (Denver Pyle) and an Indian blood brother, Nakuma (Don Shanks). The real name of the bear who played Ben was Bozo (a female bear). She was owned by Lloyd Beebe, a well known animal trainer who ran an animal compound in Sequim, Washington. Beebe discovered Bozo while working for a circus. Contrary to the tales of grizzlies being ferocious, Bozo, was rather gentle and performed unleashed. Bozo was nine-years-old when the series started in 1977. Note: The real Grizzly Adams was born on October 22, 1822 in Medway, Massachusetts. He was known to have strolled into San Francisco with two unleashed grizzly bears at his side, hence his nickname. The real Ben died in a San Francisco zoo (built by Adams) in the 1850s. Adams died in 1860 while touring  with the great P.T. Barnum Circus. The Grizzly Adams TV series, which was inspired by the Sunn Classic film "The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams (1974) and a similar role in another film "The Adventures Of Frontier Freemont (1976) spawned the sequel TV movie The Capture of Grizzly Adams (1982) and the big screen film Grizzly Mountain (1998) about a boy and a girl who wander into the magic cave of Grizzly Mountain and find themselves transported back to the year 1870 where they meet a kindly woodsman named Jeremiah (Haggerty) and his bear (played by Jack the Bear).    

Grizzly Adams Theme Songs Lyrics ("Maybe" written & sung by Thom Pace)

Deep inside the forest There's a door into another land. Here is our life and home. We are staying here forever In the beauty of this place all alone. We keep on hoping. Maybe there's a world Where we don't have to run. Maybe there's a time we'll call our own, Living free in harmony and majesty. Take me home. Take me home.