| 1 | Bozo the bear |
The original actress bear. Bozo was a gigantic female Kodiak bear who shot to fame when she portrayed real life grizzly bear Benjamin Franklin in the TV show The Life and Times Of Grizzly Adams. The real Ben Franklin was actually a male, a Californian grizzly bear (an extinct subspecies) who befriended the real life Grizzly Adams and even saved his life during a vicious battle that left his skull lacerated. Bozo starred in the show from 1977 to 1978, and became a familiar sight on US TV screens.
Bozo began life in Katmai National Park in 1960, and was abandoned by her mother. She was picked up by Juneau Animal Rescue, before embarking upon a career in the Ringling Brothers circus until her early teens. Bozo was already well trained, and transitioned to acting smoothly. She also starred in The Legend of Black Thunder Mountain in 1979, as a wild grizzly who charges from the woods and scares the kids into playing dead, before turning out to be a friendly bear who leads them into a magical valley. Uncommonly for a bear on film, her character name didn’t include the word bear: it was “Mrs Mullen” instead. Bozo was said to have an excellent relationship with Dan Haggerty, the actor who played Grizzly Adams, and numerous photos survive showing the pair smiling and joking together.
Another claim to fame is Bozo’s extraordinary lifespan of 38 or 39. After a fruitful career, she died on January 8th 1999 in a cosy Nebraska bear sanctuary.
| 2 | Bart the bear |
The most famous actor bear. Bart the bear was the “brainchild” of famous bear trainer Doug Sues and his wife Lynn. The couple bought young Bart from Boston zoo, collecting him personally at the airport and feeding him a special high-fat feeding formula they’d developed.
For the next three years, Doug dove into training Bart with a manic passion, and by 1981, he was ready to appear in his first film, Windwalker, a native American themed film where Bart’s role was simply to turn up and maul someone. He had more success in Clan Of The Cave Bear from 1986, where his brutal swipes took out several Neanderthal hunters before he was pinned to the floor and stabbed repeatedly with a small knife. Bart was acclaimed for this brief performance, but it paled compared to The Bear (1988). Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, the plot centred around an adult male bear who decides to adopt a small cub. To prepare him, the director gave Bart a large sized teddy bear.
Bart probably had the longest credits list of any actor bear – his other films included White Fang, Legends of the Fall, and The Edge starring Sir Anthony Hopkins. In 1998, he helped Mike Myers to present the Oscars, but not long after, a cancerous tumour was discovered on Bart’s paw. After a heroic battle, he was euthanised on May 10th 2000. His enduring nickname was the John Wayne of bears, and by adulthood, Bart stood 9 feet tall and weighed a hefty 1500 pounds.
| 3 | Hercules the bear |
The most civilised actor bear. Hercules was lucky to be walking the Earth at all, let alone be starring in blockbuster movies. He was born in captivity in the Highland Wildlife Park in 1975, and escaped death by the skin of his teeth when the zoo announced that they no longer had the resources to support growing bears. Thankfully, he was scooped up by a Mr Robins for £50, and from 1976 onwards, the duo teamed up to storm the UK wrestling circuit, which probably made people thankful for once that the sport was completely rigged. This wrestling training translated well into acting, and in 1983, Hercules appeared in the James Bond film Octopussy alongside Roger Moore (in the circus scenes near the end).
While filming an advert on the Outer Hebrides in 1980, Hercules escaped. After intense international media coverage, hundreds of Scottish locals joined the search, which was called off after three days after nobody had any luck. After 3 weeks, Hercules was spotted swimming, looking significantly thinner than usual. Amazingly, he hadn’t preyed upon any of the island’s sheep, cattle or wildlife. Hercules was famous for his dislike of raw meat – he much preferred the civilised taste of cooked meat.
From that moment on, Hercules was dubbed “Hercules the human bear”, which eventually became the name of a documentary about him in 2014. Another of Hercules’ better performances was a Kleenex tissue advert in 1982, which used the ingenious pun of “Big Softy”.
Hercules is another deceased actor bear, dying on January 1st 2001 from natural causes at age 25.
| 4 | Whopper the bear |
The scariest actor bear. Whopper was born in January 1998, and grew to be almost as gigantic as his predecessor Bart, standing 8 feet tall and weighing 1400 pounds. His massiveness isn’t surprising given that Whopper is a Kodiak bear, the largest subspecies to walk the Earth, and his repertoire as an actor is equally intimidating. Whopper can hurl objects with incredible accuracy, is trained to charge on command, and is famed for his stand-on-hind-legs and roar act.
His more innocent tricks include moving objects and placing them in the precise location ordered by trainers. As for his acting career, Whopper’s finest hour came in 2004 when he starred in Anchorman alongside Will Ferrell (who strangely seems to attract bears like a magnet).
More recently, Whopper the bear duelled Alexander Ludwig in a whiteout blizzard for the TV show Vikings in 2016. By now, he was much friendlier on set, but he did become convinced during the shoot that a clothesline was a fully charged electrical wire.
Whopper has also turned his hand to selling Kellogg’s cornflakes, proving that they’re the ultimate cereal by awakening from hibernation, walking into a kitchen, and stealing some in a 55 second advert that aired in 2010. In fact, commercials are Whopper’s speciality; he’s also advertised Rice Krispy treats, Spring Air Mattresses, and Chobani Yoghurt.
Whopper is now 23 years old, still going strong alongside his bear pals Barney and Betty (more on them soon). A more recent performance was in the comedy Super Troopers 2 in 2018.
| 5 | Bart 2 |
The most famous modern day actor bear. No, he isn’t related to the original Bart, except in spirit. In fact, Bart the second is a totally different subspecies, an Alaskan interior bear rather than a scale-breaking Kodiak. However, his filmography is almost as respectable, starting in 2001 just one year after his birthday in January 2000. He’s part of the Doug and Lynn Sues clan alongside Tank the bear, so where better to start his career than playing Tank’s cub, born in the final moments of Doctor Doolittle 2.
Since then, Bart 2 has played a marauding grizzly in a horror film called Into The Grizzly Maze (2015), with a timeless who-will-survive storyline where Billy Bob Thornton meets up with his estranged brother and ventures into a bear-infested wilderness for 2 days along with a group of teenagers. Americans first became acquainted with Bart II in 2001, when Brad Pitt narrated a documentary called Growing Up Grizzly which focussed on his life, alongside his sister Honeybump. Pitt had previously starred in Legends of the Fall alongside Bart the second’s “Dad”, and in 2004, a follow up episode of Growing Up Grizzly was released, updating viewers on Bart’s life.
The most heartwarming part of the Bart 2 story is that for 21 years, he lived with his beloved sister Honeybump. The two were orphaned as young cubs in Alaska, and little could they anticipate the dizzy heights of showbiz that awaited them. Bart 2 died in 2021.
| 6 | Tank the bear |
The most overlooked actor bear. Tank isn’t listed as an official actor bear on the wikipedia page, but back in 2001, he landed the starring role in Doctor Doolittle 2, the final film in the series to star Eddie Murphy. He played the circus bear Archie, the last surviving male Pacific bear on Earth, who Dr Doolittle visits in order to persuade him to become a real bear and make babies with the last surviving female. Naturally, things go wrong, and Dr Doolittle faces accusations of neglecting his wife while pursuing his mad schemes. But the story ends happily, with Tank (I mean, er, Archie) breeding with Ava and producing two healthy cubs (including Bart II). And no, the voiceover wasn’t performed by Tank himself – it was dubbed.
Elsewhere, Tank has mainly focussed on documentaries. He’s another member of the Doug Seus roster and was designated heir apparent to Bart after being born back in January 1995. Recently, Tank starred in Man vs Bear on the Discovery Channel. The name says it all, as wannabee tough guys are made to compete against Tank and his bear pals Bart 2 and Susie in various backbreaking competitions, which they mostly (scratch that, invariably) lost. Tasks include pushing a 2000 pound wooden barrel and eating a delicious pile of dead insects.
It’s said that Tank has a remarkably gentle disposition, even by the standards of showbiz bears. His height is 7 foot 1 and his weight is a hefty 800 pounds.
| 7 | Rocky the bear |
The most tragic bear actor. Rocky was a male grizzly bear trained in the niche of on-set wrestling, and rose to fame in 2008 when he starred as “Dewey the killer bear” in Semi-Pro. The film also starred Will Ferrell as a basketball coach who wrestles a bear to promote his struggling team, and the shoot went without any hitches. Rocky received plaudits for his performance, but 7 weeks after Semi-Pro‘s worldwide release, Stephan Miller and his cousin decided to use Rocky for a promotional video for the Predators In Action charity organisation.
The plan was for a staged wrestling match, but early in the shoot, Rocky stood up into his wrestling position too early, and swiped at Miller before he could raise his arm into the official defensive position. Randy whacked the bear with a cane, but this only made Rocky angry. Seconds later, the bear delivered a single bite to the neck of Randy, piercing his jugular vein, and leaving him dead within minutes.
The California Department of Fish and Game immediately began a debate over whether to put Rocky down, and PETA intervened with protests. Stephan Miller said that Randy would have wanted the bear to continue, and ultimately, it was ruled that the death was a tragic accident and that Rocky should be allowed to exist as a normal sanctuary-dwelling bear. His acting career, however, was all but over, although a case was brought and denied in 2012 which would have loosened some of the restrictions.
| 8 | Barney the bear |
The least famous actor bear. Born in January 1999, Barney is the Daniel Day Lewis of the bear acting community, picking and choosing his roles for maximum impact. So far, he’s only been in three films: Against the Wild in 2013, Anchorman in 2004, and his debut Grizzly Falls in 1999, where a bear kidnaps a random young boy (as they’re known to do). Barney was a close associate of Whopper, being raised by animal trainer Ruth LaBarge alongside Betsy, who Barney had a particularly tight bond with. The two bears would sit and cuddle up to each other while filming adverts, while Whopper was more of a schoolyard bully.
One day in 2002, American Express came up with the mad idea of an advert where Jerry Seinfeld rants about the greatness of credit cards while his campsite is besieged by bears. The shoot went perfectly, until the curious Barney sniffed at a patch of salmon juice on the floor. Suddenly, the bears’ wilderness instincts came rushing back. Whopper pushed Barney away from the patch, and within seconds, the two bears were on their hind legs and slugging it out for total dominance, stumbling worryingly close to a $0.5 million set of camera equipment.
The air was thick with tension, as the crew was armed with pepper spray, chains and wooden sticks. Ruth LaBarge jumped in the way and warned everybody to stay calm, but before the tranquiliser gun could fire, Whopper and Barney suddenly gave up. The fight had only lasted ten seconds.
| 9 | Brody the bear |
The “Robert Redford” of actor bears. Brody the bear was born in captivity on January 14th 1995, and was arguably always destined for showbiz. Like Bart and Whopper, Brody is a Kodiak bear, and was trained to be an acting professional by bear expert Jeff Watson.
Brody made his debut aged just 12 weeks old on Good Morning America, followed by the Today Show at 14 weeks and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 5 months. By 1998, Brody had starred as “grizzly bear” in an episode of Promised Land where the characters camp in the North Carolina wilderness and a little girl goes missing. But the crown jewel of his career came in 2008, when he played the lead grizzly villain in Grizzly Park. The plot concerns a group of 8 young adult offenders who are sent to the Californian wilderness to achieve redemption, alongside a ranger who gives them spiritual guidance. Naturally, they encounter obstacles, and Brody was one of them, alongside a bloodthirsty escaped serial killer.
In the real world, however, Brody is described as having a very sweet face, and once met up with Muhammed Ali in his mansion for a chat. On the advertising front, Brody is a star for Energizer Batteries and Rice Krispies, and in 2007, he paid a visit to Nutramax Labs to buy a glucosamine supplement after he started having joint problems. Today, Brody the Bear is going as strong as ever.
| 10 | Brutus the bear |
The most unfortunately named actor bear. Brutus never mauled a man in his life and as a grizzly bear rather than a Kodiak bear, he wasn’t even that big, weighing in at 880 pounds. The Brutus story started in January 2002 when he was born in captivity, spending the first 6 months of his life in a tiny steel box. A naturalist called Casey Anderson found him, trained him, and made him the focus of an episode of a National Geographic Wild program called Expedition Grizzly. This spawned an entire TV series focussing on the bear-man duo, called America the Wild with Casey Anderson.
Brutus’ acting debut came in 2008 with Iron Ridge. Casey Anderson also had a starring role, as the friend of William Price, an overconfident yuppy who gets lost in the Montana wilderness and has to survive bitter cold, food shortages, and of course, a marauding grizzly bear.
Next on the agenda was Pretty Ugly People in 2009, another Montana production, but this time belonging to the comedy genre. Actress Missi Pyle plays a formerly obese woman who stuns her ragtag pack of friends by turning up to a 4 day hiking trip with a much slimmer build, having just completed gastric bypass surgery. Inevitably, there’s a bear scare along the way, and Brutus’ immense acting talents made it much more convincing.
When Anderson became engaged to Pyle after meeting each other on set, Brutus served as his best man. Sadly, Brutus is another deceased actor bear, dying on February 4th 2021.
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