Dan Haggerty Biography Death, Children, Wife, Net worth

Publish date: 2024-06-18

The heavily bearded Dan Haggerty would forever be in the hearts of lovers in the 1974 TV movie “The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams,” whose success spawned a short-lived series that aired on NBC from 1977 to 1978.

The actor died in early 2016 after a brief bout with spinal cancer. With a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Haggerty’s legacy lives on. Follow us as we tell you how Dan spent his 73 years on planet Earth.

Dan Haggerty Biography / Facts – Early Life

Daniel Francis Haggerty was born on November 19, 1942, in Los Angeles, California, other sources claim his birthplace was Pound, Wisconsin. His parents separated when he was three, but remained active in his life. They had wanted him to become a priest and had sent him to the Franciscan Seminary in Culver City, California, but Dan had other plans in mind.

After refusing to train as a priest, his father, who was a union leader of film technicians, then sent him to a military school, but Dan, with a wild behavior, escaped several times.

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Contrary to popular belief, Dan’s parents owned and operated a wildlife attraction. His relationship with animals began when he got a job on a ranch in the San Fernando Valley, where he trained animals in movies, becoming an animal handler. Additionally, Dan tried his hand at other trades by becoming a metalworker and leather craftsman.

Career

While working on the ranch, Dan became acquainted with some film producers, and soon began appearing in films as an animal handler. Dan also trained as a stuntman and earned stunt credits in the 1966 television series Tarzan.

Although working with animals was what exposed him for the film industry, it was Dan’s athletic training that landed him his first role, albeit in a non-talking movie in Muscle Beach Party. and The Girl Happy, two films from 1964.

Dan soon discovered a new interest in motorcycles which led to him appearing in several biker films including Easy Rider (1969), Angels Die Hard (1970) and many more later in his career. .

His handler skills came in handy in “When the North Wind Blows,” where he was forced to train a boar, white tigers, and wolverines.

While working on this film, Dan was forced to chase a tiger across a frozen lake. Luckily for him, a colleague on set recorded the episode and this clip would put Dan in the role of Grizzly Adams in The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, based on a novel by Charles E Seller and loosely based on lived experiences. of a Californian trapper named James Capen Adams.

The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams became a major box office hit, propelling Dan to stardom. He then appeared in several animal-friendly films and reprized his role as Adams in the sequels The Capture of Grizzly Adams (1982), Grizzly Mountain (1995) and Escape to Grizzly Mountain (2000).

In the later years of his career, Dan appeared in Big Stan (2007), The Book of Ruth: The Journey of Faith (2009) and Casa de Mi Padre (2012).

Apart from acting, Dan has tried his hand at other businesses such as catering. He also bought Cajun barbecue sauce.

While Dan was doing well in Hollywood, his personal life was not without problems. In 1977, Dan’s bushy beard bursts into flames after being followed by a villain carrying a cocktail flame. As a result, he suffered third degree burns which he survived.

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His first experience with the law as a star came in 1985, when he sold cocaine to undercover cops. Dan was sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years probation.

He then suffered serious injuries after a motorcycle accident. Again in 1991, Dan had another gruesome motorcycle accident that left him in a coma. He broke his pelvis and needed about 200 stitches to repair his forehead injury. In the end, he survived. Perhaps, in part thanking him, was a response to a letter he had written to Pope John Paul II about his health.

Dead

After surviving two fatal motorcycle crashes, one might be forced to think that Dan Haggerty was invincible. However, cancer became his downfall. In August 2015, after undergoing back surgery, Dan was diagnosed with spinal cancer. About five months later, in January 2016, Dan succumbed to the disease and died surrounded by his family in Burbank, California.

children, wife

Dan has been married twice. His first wife, Diane Rooker, married when she was 17, much to her father’s disapproval. Their marriage lasted 25 years, from 1959 to 1984. With Diane, Dan had three children. a son named Don and two daughters named Tracey and Tammy.

In 1984, the same year he finished divorcing Diane, Dan married Samantha Hilton and with her two sons, Dylan and Cody, and a daughter, Megan, bringing Dan’s number of children to 6.

Unfortunately, Dan lost his wife Samantha in a motorcycle accident on August 10, 2008. He never remarried, remaining a single man until his death.

Dan Haggerty Net Worth: $2.5M