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Ben
the Bear - Friendly grizzly bear featured 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, Nakoma (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.
TRIVIA 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.
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