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Show t .!tm;t itt' r f i rrrn- " r ?f "vvn r t j i 1 r T" IT T f'TT 9' i "" " ri-i r r r yrv "t i rrri'i'T r Page A12 Thursday, May 18, 1989 Park Record WDnaidl(fll9ysa 3rd ANNUAL ESjhkid w? BY RICK BROUGII Ben the bear recalls stardom in Utah foothills Jv L.B."-a Jv 1 This spring marks the end of several popular TV series, such as "Family Ties" and "Miami Vice." Pick up a newspaper anywhere, and you will read about the contributions that have been made to our culture by Michael J. Fox and Don Johnson. All this put me in mind, however, of another popular TV star. In the early '80s, he was a household word, but today he lives quietly in a small house in Heber. I'm speaking of course, about Ben, the bear from the "Grizzly Adams" series. When I caught up with Ben, I found him to be a genial old pro, willing to reminisce sometimes happily, sometimes bitterly about his days in movies and television. "So how did you start out?" I asked. "Like a lot of other animal actors, I got started at the Walt Disney Studios. In those days there was a lot of work for us. But I don't believe all that Disney P.R. crap about us being one big happy family. If you were a star like Old Yellower, you got the perks, the personal groomers, the Gravy Train three times a day. But the rest of us.. .zilch! "Hey, do you know why a bear does it in the woods? Because the studio wouldn't give us a trailer!" Nevertheless, he recalled, he continued to work through the decade in shows like 'Daktari,' 'The Beverly Hillbillies,' 'Bonanza,' and 'Gunsmoke.' "I was a favorite of Jim Arness," he said. "I must have mangled him about six times." I asked, "Of course, the most famous bear series of the decade was 'Gentle Ben.' Was that you?" "Please, don't confuse me with that liquored-up maniac. 'Gentle' was anything but he was constantly con-stantly late on the set, he growled at the director, and he wrecked two or three of the swampboats they used. He took 'em for joyrides and wrapped 'em around cypress. "The stories I could tell you! How about, sweet, innocent Lassie? Not only was he a female impersonator, imper-sonator, but when he chased cats, it wasn't for the usual reasons, ya know what I mean?" In the late '60s, Hollywood became preoccupied with social protest themes; there wasn't much work for Ben in episodes of "The Mod Squad." But he found work at supermarket openings and car fairSrlike many out-of-work actors.. - -... "My routine was to wait til the crowd gathered, then lope up snarling and standing up on my feet, like I was gonna maul somebody. Then in the nick of time, Adam West as Batman would rush in and punch me in the snout, while Burt Ward as Robin kicked me in the butt. Then I'd cower and whimper and shuffle back in my cage." Ben said he also appeared on talk shows, pretending preten-ding to be a resident of the San Diego zoo. "You mean," I said. "That animals we see on the Johnny Carson's shows aren't really from the zoo?" "Of course not! We were all professional animals. The whole point of those segments is that we nibbled at Johnny a little, so he could act scared and get laughs from the audience. Hell, real zoo animals would have taken his head off ! " In the mid-'70s, Ben began his rise to stardom, as family-oriented nature movies gained box-office box-office popularity. "In 'Adventures of the Wilderness Family,' I had a big scene, chasing the father through the woods. Then in 'Further Adventures Adven-tures of the Wilderness Family' I chased the mother through the woods. And in 'Mountain Family Robinson,' for a change of pace, I fought off another bear who was chasing the little daughter through the woods." This led to his landing the role of Ben in 'Grizzly Adams,' with Schick-Sunn Classic Pictures. And soon, his familiar greeting, "GROWLLOWWWLOARRRRLLLLURRP" became a popular catch-phrase across the country. coun-try. "It was a funny feeling to become a star overnight. over-night. I couldn't lumber into a drugstore or a restaurant anymore without people screaming and getting excited." He had fond memories of his co-stars too. "Dan Haggarty was a fine gentleman, but so unlucky remember the time his beard caught fire in that restaurant? And Denver Pyle taught me a million scene-stealing tricks." But there were regrets too, and opportunities missed. "The word came they were casting the second se-cond 'Star Wars' film, and looking for a new actor to play the Wookiiee. I could have nailed that part cold. I had all sorts of ideas about new shadings and nuances. But Schick-Sunn wouldn't give the time off. "To make up for that, I lobbied hard with Chuck Sellier for the title role on 'In Search of Bigfoot.'" But Chuck turned thumbs down on that, too. Said I shouldn't ruin my image. Right after that, they canceled the series, so what image did I have left, huh?" Ben's TV work tapered off after that, plus he began to make some bad career decisions. "They offered me a series about two vice cops in Miami. One of them would be played by Don Johnson, and would live on a houseboat with a pet bear named Elvis. But I figured the concept would never fly. What a damn jerk I was ! " Ben lives comfortably, though, off the residuals from 'Adams." And he has other projects in mind. "I'm thinking of running for mayor of Heber. Clint Eastwood and Sonny Bono can get elected, why not me? I've got a script in development that I'm going to submit to Robert Redford's Sundance In-. In-. stitute. And I'm talking to Ed Britt about directing for Park City Performances. "I get a few offers for porno films. But I don't believe in working nude unless the script calls for it." I interjected. "But you've always been nude You're a naked bear ! " "Oh yeah! Gee, that's right! Well, maybe I'll reconsider 'Debbie Does Yellowstone.'" Ben concluded with one especially exciting piece of good news. "I just signed to be the public relations representative for the Mayflower Development west of the Jordanelle Dam. I've worked out a new act with some show-business friends of mine and we're taking it on the road to sales conventions and real-estate shows." "Oh, really. What's the act?" "Well, I come loping up to the crowd, snarling and standing on my hind legs. Then Lee Mayors rushed up in slow motion and punches me on the snout, while Lindsay Wagner, in slow motion, kicks me in the butt!" Sitirfilk sa Veto by TEIU ORR The illusive, amusing muse This is one of those weeks. "Do you ever have weeks where you have a hard time coming up with something to write about?" I was talking about the newspaper over at the mid-dle mid-dle school this week and one of the teachers asked ''me that tricky question. And then he asked a whole lot of other questions about process. I look-ed look-ed at my shoes and twisted my hair and pushed my glasses up on my nose. ; "Yeah," I mumbled and stumbled over the words. "There are weeks when the words won't come. "So what do you do? " he pressed. I confessed that sometimes I got in my car, ' opened the sunroof and all the windows and turned the radio up REAL LOUD to drown out all "'pedestrian thoughts and then I drove REAL FAST jup the belt route. The fourth-grade students blink-ded blink-ded rather wide-eyed and the teacher asked if sometimes didn't I just go for a walk. Picking up t3my cue I said "oh sure, of course, sometimes I walk or sit by river or swing in the park." He look- t ed visibly relieved. Then I finished the class, got in my car, rolled 2idown the windows, opened the sunroof, and turned Hip the radio REAL LOUD as I headed for the belt - fi 1 1 j i - l e ii i s rouie. ii was anouier uesparaie searcn iur me u- Ciusivemuse. ; y I grabbed a sandwich and was driving back to itny office when I remembered I was due at a meeting. So I rushed to my appointment only to sit v)n the waiting room while the receptionist asked i jne, "Say, do you ever have weeks when you have gfe hard time coming up with material for your column?" I was beginning to focus on words like conspiracy con-spiracy when my appointment was free and we talked for an hour and then I got to the car and found my hot sandwich cold. I started the car and the radio was blaring and I remembered I still hadn't come up with an idea for a column. So I went back to the office, ate some M&M's and tried reading other people's stories. The phone rang a bunch and instead of having Susan hold my calls I took every one. Then I walked walk-ed across the street to get my millionth Coke of the day and to blow the cobwebs out of my dusty brain. It was raining lightly and it felt good to get a little wet. I thought maybe some flash of brilliance would soak through. You can see it didn't. By the time I got back to my desk I remembered I was late for my son's soccer game. I dashed over to the high school to discover he was sitting out the rest of the game because his injured foot, for which he has spent the past week on crutches, was acting up yet again. Park City was winning (and eventually did) so I didn't stick around for the second se-cond half. I got back to the office and read the letters let-ters to the editor, and then I read the classifieds and then I read the legals. Then I wondered what I was going to write about this week. And it struck a vein with me there are some weeks like this one when I don't find my children amusing or city hall scandalous or my garden fascinating. The exciting part of my good friend's life is unprintable and my dog is still dumb. It's been a quiet week at Paper Wobegon, where the secretaries are all pretty, the sales people peo-ple all clever and the reporters are all of above average in! ?. 5 K. FUN ROM Celebrate health, by joining our FUN RUN! Everyone welcome! Oldsters, Youngsters, Wheelchairs, Strollers! (Times will be issued for those serious runner types). You'll want to have the 3rd Annual 5K T-shirt and get in on all of the FREE PRIZES. Race begins at the bottom of Park City's Main Street (Kimball Art Center Plaza) 10:00 a.m. on Saturday Morning (520) (late registration can be done at 9:30 a.m.) We end at the City Park with more fun and prizes. fA sponsored by: MW Yiar (aBMMllMlfl IM W 0 OR MAIL THIS REGISTRATION SLIP TO: PREVENTION CENTER BOX 680308 PARK CITY, UTAH 84068 S K F U N R U N NAME ADDRESS,. PHONE SHIRT SIZE MEDIUM LARGE D X-LARGE EARLY DEAD UNES Due to the Memorial Day Weekend, Park Record ad deadlines will be as follows: Classifieds, Advertising and Editorial copy Friday May 26th 5:00 p.m. 649-9014 |