A Few Famous Bears
Famous bears have fascinated people in books, TV shows, movies and in person for centuries. Bears are intelligent, powerful and potentially deadly predators that capture our imaginations. There have been many famous bears that have grown to become media celebrities and will always be remembered, whether good or bad, as examples of human and bear interactions.
One of the largest and most used media outlets for people to see bears are movie and television screens. Bears can be trained to provide entertainment and realistic bear activities, which can give people a close up view of their behavior and physical appearance, but they can also become dangerous, creating public scenes of violence that are always remembered.
Movies and television have produced several bears that are now considered to be famous. Based on the classic fictional novel, Americans came to know a famous bear named Gentle Ben. The stories of Gentle Ben and his boy friend became even more popular when a TV show appeared in the 1960’s and became a classic children’s show. Gentle Ben was played by a live 660 pound American Black Bear named Bruno the Bear. One of the most known bears featured in movies and television was Bart the Bear. This particular bear had an outstanding Hollywood career, starring in more than 15 feature films and numerous TV spots.
Bart, an Alaskan Kodiak brown bear was born in Maryland in 1977 from a mother who was already an animal film star. Eventually Bart grew to be over 9 feet tall and weighed 1500 pounds as full adult. He was exceptionally trained and even performed simulated attack scenes on humans for movies. Some of Bart’s movie credits include: “The Great Outdoors”, “The Bear”, “The Edge”, “On Deadly Ground” and “Legends of the Fall.” Bart the Bear died from cancer in 2000 and became the ambassador for the Vital Ground Foundation, which helps to preserve land for wild bears. His trainers have named another Kodiak bear born in 2000 Little Bart the Bear in honor of him. Little Bart has already begun performing movies like “Dr. Doolittle 2”, “Without a Paddle” and “Into The Wild”, and is on his way to becoming as famous as his namesake.
Bart the Bear was famous for portraying grizzly and brown bears in movies and television in the most realistic ways possible. His career was unmarred by negative events, but this is not always true with all famous bears. Bears are unpredictable and extremely powerful animals and some bears have become famous for their acts of violence against humans. One example of this was Rocky, a 7 ½ foot tall, 700 pound male grizzly bear featured in a recent Will Farrell movie called “Semi-Pro”. During a promotional film shoot, Rocky attacked and killed his handler by biting him on the neck. Such events often make an animal actor like Rocky instantly more famous than his acting career alone. As a result of this type of negative publicity, some famous bears now serve to educate the public about bears and safety when traveling in wild bear country. Born in 1995, Brody the grizzly bear travels around the country to help teach bear safety and educate people about bears in general. He has been featured on the cover of National Geographic and in many movies, commercials and television spots. Brody the Bear is one of the most famous bears working today.
There is often controversy about these types of captive bears. Some people feel that bears should not be kept in captivity even if they are raised by their handlers, while others feel they are important to entertainment and education. Whether they are famous for their long standing acting careers, or because of the violence they can sometimes inflict on humans, these particular bears will always be remembered as stars.