The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams (film)
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard Friedenberg
Produced by	Charles E. Sellier Jr. Raylan D. Jensen
Written by	Lawrence Dobkin
Starring	Dan Haggerty
Music by	Thom Pace
Cinematography	George Stapleford
Editing by	George Stapleford
Studio	Sunn Classic Pictures
Distributed by	Sunn Classic Pictures Sun International
Release date(s)	November 13, 1974 (1974-11-13)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Budget	$125,000
Money made	$65 million or $24 million

The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams (TV series)
Dan Haggerty as "Grizzly Adams" and Bozo the bear as "Ben", 1977
Created by	Charles E. Sellier Jr.
Starring	Dan Haggerty Denver Pyle Don Shanks
Narrated by	Denver Pyle
Theme music composer	Thom Pace
Opening theme	"Maybe"
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	38
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Production company(s)	Schick Sunn Classic Productions
Distributor	Viacom Enterprises
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	February 9, 1977 (1977-02-09) – May 12, 1978 (1978-05-12)

The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams is a 1974 independent feature film created and produced by Charles E. Sellier Jr. The film's popularity led to an NBC television series of the same name. The title character, played by Dan Haggerty, was loosely based on California mountain man John "Grizzly" Adams (1812–1860).

The film and TV series portrayed the fictional Grizzly Adams as a frontier woodsman who fled into the mountains after he was wrongly accused of murder. While struggling to survive, Adams saves an orphaned grizzly bear cub he adopts and names Ben. The bear, while growing to its huge adult size, becomes Adams' closest companion. Consistently kind and gentle, Adams discovers and demonstrates an uncanny ability to gain the trust of most of the indigenous wildlife of the region, and he helps, sometimes rescues, takes in and tames many species. Originally a hunter, with his learned affection for wildlife Adams resolves never to harm another animal whenever possible. In the television series, Adams had two human friends, an old mountain man trader named "Mad Jack" played by Denver Pyle who was often featured with his mule ("Number Seven"), and a Native American by the name of "Nakoma" played by Don Shanks. Adams, Mad Jack, and Nakoma helped myriad mountain visitors while protecting wildlife at the same time.

NBC aired the series finale on February 21, 1982 by way of a two-hour TV movie called The Capture of Grizzly Adams where a bounty hunter used Adams' daughter, who was not seen or mentioned since the 1974 film, in a kidnap-extortion ploy to lure the fugitive mountain man back to civilization. In the end Adams proves his innocence.

Cast

• Dan Haggerty as James Capen 'Grizzly' Adams
• Denver Pyle as Mad Jack
• Don Shanks as Nakoma
• John Bishop as Robbie Cartman
• Bozo (a grizzly bear) as Ben (named after Benjamin Franklin)

In addition to Ben, there were many other named animals in the TV series, the most prominent being Number 7, Mad Jack's ornery mule. Bart the Bear, then a bear cub, made one of his first acting appearances in the series playing Ben as a cub.

Episodes

Season 1 (1977)

Season 2 (1977–78)

Sequels

Dan Haggerty also played Jeremiah, a modern-day version of Grizzly Adams, in the films Grizzly Mountain (1997) and Escape to Grizzly Mountain (2000).