The following is a list of individual bears (other than individual giant pandas) which garnered national or worldwide attention. For a list of fictional bears, see List of fictional bears.
Actors Bart the Bear, a male Alaskan Kodiak bear, played the leading role in the 1988 wilderness drama, The Bear. Between 1980 and his death in 2000, he also appeared in many other films, including White Fang, Legends of the Fall, and The Edge, and was called "the John Wayne of Bears". Bart the Bear 2 (named after the original Bart the Bear, also called "Little Bart"), a male interior Alaskan brown bear, has appeared in several films including An Unfinished Life, Into the Wild, and We Bought a Zoo, and TV shows including CSI, Scrubs, and Game of Thrones. He and his sister Honey Bump were also featured in the TV documentaries Growing Up Grizzly and Growing Up Grizzly 2 on the Animal Planet network."Vital Ground: Bart the Bear II and Honey Bump" , Vitalground.org, accessed May 15, 2015. Bonkers, a 650-pound male American black bear, has been in films like The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story and as the title character, "Gentle Ben", in the remake, Gentle Ben (2002), and Gentle Ben 2. Bonkers starred in a 2004 movie called A Bear Named Winnie as the adult Winnie, starring Michael Fassbender as Colebourn. He was in a commercial for the Black Bear Casino Resort.Welcome to bearwithus.biz Bozo, a female Kodiak bear, had a co-starring role in the NBC TV series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams from 1977 to 1978. She played "Benjamin Franklin" aka "Ben", the constant companion of "Grizzly Adams" (played by Dan Haggerty). She also appeared in the films The Night of the Grizzly (1966) and King of the Grizzlies (1970).Beck, Ken, and Jim Clark. The Encyclopedia of TV Pets: A Complete History of Television's Greatest Animal Stars. Rutledge Hill Press, 2002, p. 160-161. . Brody, a male Kodiak bear, has appeared in numerous films, television shows, commercials, and print ads. He has worked with wildlife photographers and appeared on the cover of National Geographic Magazine. Brody and his owner, Jeff Watson, have appeared throughout the United States for educational programs focusing on bears and safety. Bruno, a male American black bear, appeared as the primary bear actor in the lead role of "Ben" in the 1967 feature film Gentle Giant and the subsequent U.S. television series Gentle Ben from 1967 to 1969. In 1968 he won two PATSY Awards for his work on the film and series.Beck, Ken, and Jim Clark. The Encyclopedia of TV Pets: A Complete History of Television's Greatest Animal Stars. Rutledge Hill Press, 2002, p. 241-242. . He later received positive reviews for his performance as "Watch Bear" opposite Paul Newman in the 1972 film The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean."Ronald Oxley, 46, Trainer of TV and Movie Animals, Dies." Los Angeles Times, Dec. 30, 1985, available online at latimes.com, accessed May 19, 2015.Anderson, George. "'Train Robbers' at Fulton, 'Judge Roy Bean' at Warner" (movie review), Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Feb. 8, 1973, p. 7.Billington, Dave. "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean: Some Life! Some Times!" (movie review), Montreal Gazette, Feb. 17, 1973, accessed May 19, 2015. Hercules, a male grizzly bear born in captivity in Scotland and originally trained as a wrestling bear, became a regular star of British children's television and appeared in the James Bond film Octopussy. He made news in 1980 when he escaped from his trainer and owner, Andy Robin, while filming a Kleenex commercial in Scotland. Brutus, a male grizzly bear who is the companion of naturalist and television presenter Casey Anderson, appeared with Anderson in the syndicated Nat Geo documentary television series Expedition Wild. Brutus has had small roles in two feature films, Iron Ridge (2008) and Pretty Ugly People (2008), as well as appearing in numerous educational bear videos. Rocky, a male grizzly bear trained by Randy Miller, appeared in the 2008 film Semi-Pro as "Dewey the Killer Bear", in which he wrestled Will Ferrell's body double. On April 22, 2008, Rocky killed trainer Stephan Miller while the two were filming a bear wrestling stunt for a promotional video. The death was later ruled accidental and Rocky was allowed to continue to live under restrictions. Teddy, a male Kodiak bear, starred in the 1976 film Grizzly where he portrayed a killer grizzly bear. Whopper, a male Kodiak bear, has appeared in films including Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Grizzly Falls, Air Bud: Golden Receiver, Escape to Grizzly Mountain and The Last Trapper. He is known for his scary bear act where he stands on his hind legs and does a simulated roar.
Wrestlers and performers Hercules, a male grizzly bear owned and trained by Scottish wrestler Andy Robin, appeared on the UK wrestling circuit before becoming known as an actor. Sackerson, the most famous bear used in the beargardens of Elizabethan England. It is rumoured, though unlikely, that Sackerson or a bear of his ilk played the part of the bear in A Winter's Tale. Terrible Ted, a male American black bear from Canada trained by Canadian wrestler Dave McKigney, wrestled regularly for various North American promotions from the 1950s until the 1970s. Victor the Wrestling Bear, a male American black bear (reported by some sources as an Alaskan brown bear) from Canada trained by American wrestler Tuffy Truesdell, wrestled for various North American promotions and also as an attraction at ABA games, sports shows and fairs, starting in the late 1950s. Victor also made several TV appearances including The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and was in the 1969 film Paint Your Wagon with Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin. The original Victor died in the mid-1970s from a heart attack and Truesdell, who owned and trained a number of bears, transferred the name to another bear and continued the act until the mid-1980s. Truesdell may also have had several bears working under the "Victor" name.Pincus, David. "The Amazing True Story of Victor, the Wrestling Bear." Deadspin.com, Feb. 27, 2014, accessed May 22, 2015.
Mascots
Bruno II was a male Brown Bear who served as a live mascot for Brown University from 1921 to 1928. Bruno II was one in a series of live bear mascots from Helen in 1903 through the 1960s. Later, he had a brief theatrical career in a play, where they rewrote the part to allow a bear to appear instead of a lamb. Hotfoot, later renamed Smokey, a male American black bear cub, was discovered in the 1950 Capitan Gap forest fire in New Mexico, and became the original incarnation of the 1944 Smokey Bear advertising poster created by the Advertising Council's Rudy Wendelin. Joa, possibly named after the initials of American meat packing magnate J. Ogden Armour, was the best known real bear mascot of the Chicago Cubs. Joa was first displayed by the team on June 20, 1916 and served as a successor to previous mascots until its sale to the Lincoln Park Zoo. Juno, a captive polar bear at the Toronto Zoo, was made the mascot of the Canadian Army and given the rank of Honorary Master Corporal. Rocky (originally named Rakkasan), a female Asian black bear, was purchased as a cub for 40,000 yen (approximately $111) by members of the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team (United States) from a zoo in Kumamoto, Japan, where they were stationed during the Korean War. She made five parachute jumps, which allowed her to qualify as a paratrooper, and received a Purple Heart after being injured by shell fragments under enemy artillery fire. In 1954, at the age of 16 months, she was sent to live at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.Rosenthal, Mark, et al. The Ark in the Park: The Story of Lincoln Park Zoo. Univ. of Illinois, 2003, p. 79. ."Parachuting Bear Leaves Army For Zoo," Tuscaloosa News, Oct. 24, 1954, p. 26. Touchdown was the unofficial mascot of Cornell University. The Cornell University Athletic Association acquired this black bear cub in the fall of 1915. Touchdown appeared at all of the games played by the Cornell football team that year. At the games, Touchdown was tethered to a stepladder so that he could climb on the home sideline of the field. He also climbed a goal post before each game, which quickly became a tradition for the fans. This year also marked the first year Cornell football went undefeated, which led to fans believing that Touchdown was a good omen. Wojtek, a male Syrian brown bear, was adopted by a Polish army unit stationed in Iran during World War II. In order for Wojtek to accompany the unit when they sailed from Egypt to Italy, he was drafted into the Polish army as a Private. He took part in the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944 by carrying artillery ammunition. After the war he lived in Edinburgh Zoo, Scotland. See List of monuments and memorials to Wojtek. Winnipeg, a female American black bear, was purchased as a cub at a train stop in Ontario, Canada, by a member of the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps (CAVC), who named her after his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba. She became the CAVC mascot and accompanied the unit to England. When the unit transferred to France for combat, she was given to the London Zoo, where she lived from 1915 to 1934. Winnipeg is best known today as the inspiration for the name of the character Winnie-the-Pooh in A. A. Milne's classic children's books.
Companion bears Benjamin Franklin aka "Ben", a male grizzly bear, was a companion of American mountain man James "Grizzly" Adams and named after American statesman and founding father Benjamin Franklin. Brutus, a male grizzly bear, was the "best friend" of naturalist Casey Anderson and lived with other bears at the Montana Grizzly Encounter bear sanctuary founded by Anderson. Brutus sometimes ate dinner at the table with Anderson's family and was best man at Anderson's wedding.
Wild bears BB-12, a male American black bear who lived in the Santa Monica Mountains, was GPS-tracked by the National Park Service, and was killed in a wildlife-vehicle collision in 2023 Bear 71, a female grizzly bear who lived in Banff National Park, was collared at the age of three and was watched her whole life via trail cameras in the park. She is the subject of a 2011 National Film Board of Canada web documentary Bear 71, which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Bear 122 (also called The Boss) is a male grizzly bear residing in Banff National Park. Estimated to weigh between 600 and 700 pounds, Bear 122 has been the most dominant bear in the park for many years. 122 has survived being hit by a train, he has killed and eaten black bears, and he is known to have fathered numerous cubs in the region. Bear 141, a large male coastal brown bear that resided in Katmai National Park that killed and partially devoured naturalist and bear-enthusiast Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard in 2003. Bear 141 was shot and killed by park rangers on October 6, 2003, to allow retrieval of the bodies. The events leading up to the deaths are documented in the film Grizzly Man. Bear 480 (also called Otis) was a male brown bear that lived in Alaska's Katmai National Park. Bear 480 was recognized in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2021 as part of a campaign on the park's social media accounts as the park's fattest bear. Through the use of Lidar scanning technology, 480 Otis was estimated to weigh over 900 pounds in autumn.