The CBS television series Gentle Ben premiered September 10, 1967, and ran until August 31, 1969, airing a total of 58 episodes in two seasons. The series chronicled the adventures of young Mark Wedloe (played by Clint Howard) and his lovable 650-to-750 lb (290-to-340 kg) black bear named Ben. Gentle Ben was produced by Ivan Tors, who also produced the Gentle Giant pilot film. Tors was an established producer of successful TV series, including Sea Hunt, Flipper and Daktari. Like the Gentle Giant film, the TV series Gentle Ben was set in Florida (allowing Tors to use his own studio facilities there) rather than Alaska, and Ben was a large black bear instead of the brown bear of the original novel. The TV series picked up the story where Gentle Giant left off, with Mark's father Tom Wedloe already a wildlife officer in the Everglades, and Ben an adult bear and established family pet living outside (or sometimes inside) the Wedloes' house. Cast of the TV series The TV series had few regular characters, consisting of the Wedloe family and their friend and neighbor Henry Boomhauer. Clint Howard and Dennis Weaver continued their roles from the Gentle Giant film. The role of Ellen Wedloe, played in Gentle Giant by Vera Miles, was recast for the TV series with Beth Brickell. The Boomhauer character appeared in several of the episodes and was played by Clint's real-life father Rance Howard (who also wrote episodes for the show). Other recurring characters included Hank Minegar, a squatter played by Robertson White (who had a different small role in Gentle Giant) and Willie, a friend of Mark's, played by Angelo Rutherford. Notable guest stars included Burt Reynolds, Jay Silverheels, Strother Martin, Slim Pickens, Victor French, and Clint Howard's brother Ron Howard. Although several black bears were used to play Ben, depending on what behavior was required for a particular scene, the role was played primarily by Bruno the Bear. Musician and voice actor Candy Candido provided the voice of Ben. Although the network wanted to have Ben speak like a human on the show, Tors disliked the idea, so Ben made only animal noises. Checkout the other #Worzle platforms/channels https://bit.ly/WTDB-Youtube https://t.me/WorzlesMiniSeries/1833 https://t.me/WorzlesTVMovies https://t.me/WorzleTDBclassicTV/1447 https://t.me/WorzlesChristmasSpecials https://t.me/WorzlesChristmasMovies https://bit.ly/WTDB-Odysee Support my efforts https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Worzle ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLwvM1he8jc