Dan Haggerty, an actor who played the mountain man Grizzly Adams in films and in a short-lived television series in the 1970s, died Jan. 15 at a hospital in Burbank, Calif. He was 74.
The cause was cancer of the spine, according to published reports quoting his manager, Terry Bomar.
Mr. Haggerty was a onetime Muscle Beach weightlifter who worked as a stuntman early in his career before landing the role of Adams, a real-life 19th-century frontiersman in the California mountains.
Bearded and burly, Mr. Haggerty had a natural affinity for animals, including bears and mountain lions, which were featured in the film “The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams.”
The low-budget movie, released in 1974, depicted the outdoor adventures of the title character, who retreated to an isolated life in a mountain forest after being wrongly accused of murder. In a wild environment, he lived among wild animals, including grizzly bears that he tamed and raised.
The film became a surprise box-office hit and made Mr. Haggerty an unlikely star. A television adaptation, also called “The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams” and featuring Mr. Haggerty, aired on NBC for two seasons in 1977 and 1978.
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He reprised the role of Grizzly Adams in a 1981 feature film, “Legend of the Wild,” and a 1982 TV movie, “The Capture of Grizzly Adams.”
Share this articleShareHe was born Gene Jajonski in Pound, Wis., on Nov. 19, 1941. He played a bodybuilder in the film “Muscle Beach Party” (1964) with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello and had minor roles in the 1965 Elvis Presley film “Girl Happy” and in “Easy Rider” (1969), starring Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda. Mr. Haggerty played another mountain man in “Grizzly Mountain” (1997), which featured his children Dylan and Megan, and in a 2000 sequel, “Escape to Grizzly Mountain.”
He continued to appear in small film and television roles until shortly before his death.
In 1985, Mr. Haggerty was sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years of probation after being convicted of selling cocaine to an undercover police officer. He was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in the 1990s and underwent several surgeries.
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His first marriage, to Diane Rooker, ended in divorce. His second wife, Samantha Hilton, died in 2008. Survivors include two children from his first marriage and three from his second.
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