Charles E. Sellier Jr., producer of Christian films and creator of the book and television series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams from the late 1970s, died unexpectedly Jan. 31 at his home near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He was 67.

Darryl Howard, director of research and 3-D sales for Sellier's production company, declined to specify the cause of death.

President and CEO of Grizzly Adams Productions, Sellier produced dozens of family-friendly films and television shows, including In Search of Noah's Ark and Mark Twain's America. In 1980, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on the children's show The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

But he was perhaps best known for creating Grizzly Adams, a fictional book and television character who flees bounty hunters and rescues a bear cub that grows into a companion. Dan Haggerty played the role in the NBC series, which ran from 1977-78.

Sellier—who produced more than 30 feature films and 230 television shows over four decades—was "both an artist and a computer geek," said David Balsiger, Grizzly Adams Productions' vice president of marketing and senior producer. "He could write an original screenplay, produce the movie and then market the show, generating amazing audience enthusiasm. Chuck was an industry pioneer in pre-testing film projects using sophisticated research techniques—opinion polling, generational science and neuromarketing."

Sellier was developing a new feature film installment of the Grizzly Adams franchise during the months leading up to his death.

• Prev
• Next