Gentle Ben

Overview

Gentle Ben is an American family series that aired on CBS from September 10, 1967 to April 27, 1969. The series follows the adventures, in the Florida Everglades, of a game warden, Tom Wedloe, his wife Ellen, his son Mark and Ben the grizzly bear.

Episodes

Hurricane Coming

S01E01 Hurricane Coming

September 10, 1967 30 min
Mark befriends a boy whose family is vacationing on a houseboat in the river. While out on an adventure together a hurricane quickly comes in. They get the boy's mother from the houseboat and Ben...

S01E02 Green Eyed Bear

September 17, 1967 30 min
As Tom and Mark are watching a mother bear play with its cub the mother gets shot by a swamp hunter. Tom issues as citation to the hunter and takes the cub. Ben appears to...

S01E03 Fish and Chips

September 24, 1967 30 min
Ben and Mark stumble upon fish poachers and their illegal smokehouse. The men threaten to kill Ben if Mark tells his father. Later Ben wanders off and Mark follows him onto the poachers' boat; they...

S01E04 Gator Man

October 1, 1967 30 min
Mark befriends shoeless Jenny Maddox at school. However, when Tom drops her off at her father's dock in the airboat, he discovers that Jenny's father is the alligator poacher he has been looking for. Before...

S01E05 Voice From the Wilderness

October 8, 1967 30 min
Mark gets Tom to put a radio transmitter on Ben so he can hear what he's doing when he's away. After Ben wanders off a plane carrying exotic animals crashes in the bush. Ben runs...

S01E06 Invasion of Willie Sam Gopher

October 15, 1968 30 min
Mark is mocked at school and on the school boat when he is the only child in his class that didn't bring in an Indian artifact for show and tell. He decides to go to...

S01E07 Restless Bear

October 22, 1967 30 min
Ben gets restless when wild bears come near the Wedloe home during mating season. Tom explains to Mark Ben's natural instincts and Mark agrees Ben should be allowed to wander off to have a family....

S01E08 Battle of Wedloe Woods

October 29, 1967 30 min
Developer Philip Garrett wants to clear cut and burn the brush to build a housing development on 60 acres of land adjacent to the game reserve. Concerned about all the animals that will die in...

S01E09 Warden For Man and Beast

November 5, 1967 30 min
Professor Hugo brings his performing bear Victor to the Wedloe home. He has bought a bungalow in a retirement community and wants to release Victor into the wild. Hugo is unable to adapt to the...

S01E10 A Waste of Honey

November 12, 1967 30 min
Mark leads some thieves to Boomhauer's honey farm and overhears them saying they will kill the game warden if he catches on. They notice Mark has heard them and tell him that if he says...

S01E11 Jennifer

November 19, 1967 30 min
A little girl gets lost in the Everglades. There is also an injured wildcat roaming the same area. Against his father's orders, Mark and Ben join in the search. Just as the girl is cornered...

S01E12 Warden in the Bear Pit

November 26, 1967 30 min
A couple of con artists try to steal Ben to gamble on him in fights against dogs. Unable to get Ben, they find another bear. Tom and Ben break up the illegal bear-baiting ring.

S01E13 A Medal For Ben

December 3, 1967 30 min
A group of Seminole children approach Mark for help in attending his school, having been impressed by him getting Jimmie Boy into the school in the earlier episode ""The Invasion of Willie Sam Gopher"". Their...

S01E14 The Ransom

December 17, 1967 30 min
Tom offers Packy Benner some work, but he decides he can make more money more easily by stealing Ben and waiting for a reward. Tom is on to him and runs into Packy at the...

S01E15 The Wayward Bear Part 1

December 24, 1967 30 min
While on a shopping trip, Ben climbs into a delivery truck and gets separated from the Mark and Ellen. Subsequently Ben has a number of solo adventures including licking the shaving cream off of a...

S01E16 The Wayward Bear Part 2

December 31, 1967 30 min
An injured Ben wanders into the camp of a couple of old carneys whose own bear is too old to perform anymore. They are going to keep Ben and train him but an announcement on...

S01E17 The Opportunist

January 7, 1968 30 min
Poachers are stealing the animals from a newly repopulated island. As they try to get away with their live cargo they also load Ben onto the truck, but he is spotted by Mark. The poachers...

S01E18 The Battle of Birthday Bay

January 14, 1968 30 min
Mark and Tom have a surprise for Ellen's birthday. They are going to a cabin deep in the woods to spend a few days. When they get there they discover that the cabin has been...

S01E19 Trophy Bear

January 21, 1968 30 min
Hunting guide Joe Cardigan takes rich Miami big game hunter John Coberly into the swamp looking for a bear. Messing up on his first attempt and enticed by the promise of $1000 for a big...

S01E20 Mama Jolie

January 28, 1968 30 min
Mark takes Ben to Mama Jolie, a woman with alleged magical powers, to seek a remedy for Ben's lack of appetite. Ultimately, Mark and Tom help her son Geoffrey who is in the country illegally-...

S01E21 Batter Up

February 4, 1968 30 min
St. Louis Carndinals star pitcher Bob Gibson is vacationing in the Everglades. When his small boat capsizes, Tom comes along in the airboat and gets him out of the water. Gibson agrees to give Mark...

S01E22 Growing Pains

February 11, 1968 30 min
Mark befriends an older boy with a minibike, Steve, and ignores Ben, who stops eating. Mark punishes Ben for being a nuisance and Ben runs away. Mark realizes that Ben is his only true friend...

S01E23 Fire in the Glades

February 18, 1968 30 min
Looking for an injured deer they saw the day before, Mark and Ben hitch a ride directly into the area which becomes engulfed in a wildfire. The instinctively go to the river to seek refuge...

S01E24 Take a Giant Step

February 25, 1968 30 min
Feeling neglected by his hard-working father, Mark's friend Jamie runs away from home. He hides in a shipwreck but it is in danger of being washed out to sea in a fierce storm. Based on...

S01E25 Survival in the Swamp

March 3, 1968 30 min
Two armed criminals run into the swamp to elude the police after robbing a jewellery store. Tom, Mark and Ben are camping in the same area. While Mark and Ben are elsewhere, the fugitives force...

S01E26 Who's Afraid?

March 10, 1968 30 min
Right after Mark has been teased by girls on the school boat, his cousin Virginia comes to stay with the Wedloes for the weekend. Mark tries to entertain her but she is reluctant to do...

S01E27 Greener Pastures

March 17, 1968 30 min
Tom's boss visits and offers him the job of District Manager, which means more money, no danger, and a move to the big city. The family visits the city and are impressed by the parks,...

S01E28 Ol' Joe's Gotta Go

March 24, 1968 30 min
Farmer Lloyd Larkin thinks local alligator Ol' Joe has turned rogue and is eating his pigs and chickens. Tom offers to catch him and move him away, enlisting the help of champion alligator wrestler Boomhauer....

Cast

Dennis Weaver
Dennis Weaver
Tom Wedloe
Rance Howard
Rance Howard
Henry Boomhauer
Beth Brickell
Beth Brickell
Clint Howard
Clint Howard
Mark Wedloe
Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Jerry
Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Jody Cutler
Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Pilot

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