Bear the Chimp - Traveling chimpanzee (a.k.a. "The Kid") on the comedy adventure B.J. & THE BEAR/NBC/1979-81.

Bear was a four-year-old, good-natured chimp owned by Billie Joe "BJ" McCay (Greg Evigan), a young Vietnam veteran trucker who plied his trade by driving a red and white rig across the country.

B.J. first met Bear in Vietnam when Bear brought B.J. food while he was a POW. B.J. named his pet companion (who accompanied him on all of his trips) after Paul "Bear" Bryant, a football coach from the University of Alabama, whom B.J. considered the greatest coach of all times.

Bear's real name was Sam. He was born in the wilds of Africa and imported to the United States by an animal dealer and later sold to his trainer, Marvin Downey. Bear's stand-in was Jimmy the chimp.

Theme Song Lyrics

Hey there, where ya goin’?
Not exactly knowin'
Who says you have to call just one place home.
He’s goin’ everywhere,
B.J. McKay and his best friend Bear.

He just keeps on movin’.
Ladies keep improvin’
Every day is better than the last.
New dreams and better scenes,
And best of all I don’t pay property tax.

Rollin’ down to Dallas.
Who’s providin’ my palace?
Off to New Orleans or who knows where.
Places new and ladies, too,
I’m B.J. McKay and this is my best friend Bear.

External Links

• B.J. and the Bear (IMDb)