Dan Haggerty, American actor, Died at 74

  Actor

Dan Haggerty was born on November 19, 1941, in Pound, Wisconsin and died on January 15, 2016.

He was an American actor.

Dan was best known for the title role in The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams.

Haggerty grew up with a family that owned and operated a small wild animal attraction.

While he was there he helped raise wild animals, including a black bear that performed tricks.

Later after high school, he moved to southern California to pursue acting.

He was cast in a small non-speaking role as a bodybuilder, in the 1964 film Muscle Beach Party and also as a
bodybuilder in Girl Happy, starring Elvis Presley.

After that followed, appearances in various biker and wildlife films such as Easy Rider, Angels Die Hard, The Adventures of Frontier Fremont and Terror Out of the Sky.

Dan’s knowledge of and with animals also brought him work as an animal trainer and handler in films produced by Walt Disney Studios.

In addition to that, he also served as a stuntman on the television series Tarzan, and as a set builder on various other projects.

Dan directed white tigers, wolverines, eagles and wild boar in When the North Wind Blows and worked with bears, foxes and hawks in the 1997 film Grizzly Mountain.

Haggerty is best known for representing the character Grizzly Adams in the title role of the 1974 Sunn Classic Pictures feature, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams.

From 1977 to 1978, the feature film evolved the NBC television series, and Haggerty became known to movie-goers for his portrayal of nature-loving James Capen “Grizzly” Adams.

Dan Haggerty appeared briefly in David Carradine’s film, Americana and provided a fighting dog for the production.

He has worked with many different people in the industry and continued to work as both an actor and infomercial spokesman.

During his career he had endorsements, one was for the Pap-Ion Magnetic Inductor (PAP-IMI), a device alleged to have health benefits.

Dan had only been hired as a spokesperson and was found not to be part of the fraud that later embroiled the manufacturer.

Dan Haggerty was the lead role in the movies – Repo Jake (1990), Elves (1990), Grizzly Mountain (1995), and Escape to Grizzly Mountain (2000), was also featured as a character in Al Franken’s novel, Why Not Me?.

He has starred in the TV miniseries Condominium (1980), which also starred Barbara Eden, Ralph Bellamy and Stuart Whitman.

Dan played the role of a hydraulics expert trying to warn residents that their Florida condos were about to be demolished in a forthcoming hurricane.

His wife was Samantha Haggerty, died after a motorcycle accident on August 10, 2008.

Dan Haggerty passed away at 74 yrs old due to cancer, in Burbank, California.