If you’ve got a beard chances are someone has called you Grizzly Adams at least once. The character personified a kind of rugged manliness that connected with with the wild without any tough guy posturing. This was a dude whose best friend was a grizzly bear. It doesn’t get tougher than that.

Dan Haggerty, who was most famous for playing Grizzly Adams, passed away on 15 January, 2016, after a long and adventurous life.

Aside from his most famous role, here are some amazing facts from Haggerty’s life.

He originally studied to be a priest before taking a job training animals for Hollywood

He worked as a stunt man but got his first character role as a bodybuilder in Muscle Beach Party

He built the motorcycles used in Easy Rider 

He got the role of Grizzly Adams when a producer saw him chase a tiger across a frozen lake

He once did time for selling cocaine to undercover cops

He made it through a coma after a bad motorcycle accident and went on kicking another 25 years.

So long, Dan Haggerty / Grizzly Adams, wherever you are.

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