should've made a whole goddamn movie with him.

They did! In Search of a Golden Sky (1984)

I ran across it at the library around 4 years ago and then bought it on DVD. I think it is OOP now and I can't even find a mention of it on Youtube, not even a trailer.

Only this link that includes a promo for it.

https://www.videodetective.com/movies/in-search-of-a-golden-sky/49

It's been a while since I watched it, but I think he wrote and produced it as well. Apparently he was big on wildlife and nature preservation/conservation.

Now, it is corny as hell. It's a sentimental kid's/family movie. He has a semi tame pet bear named "Bear" that pretty much understands what he is saying and behaves accordingly. I really like it though . It takes me back. Highly recommended if you can find it somewhere.

He play Uncle Zep, a Great Uncle IIRC, to 3 kids that lose their parents in a plane crash. Zep is a mountain man type character. He hunts and fishes and knows a helluva lot about the woods and all the fauna and critters that live there.

He lives in a log cabin with no electricity. Busybody dogooders from the county decide he and his simple self sufficient lifestyle is not fit to raise kids and that they would be better off in foster care. He does not live too far out of civilization mind you, the school bus picks the kids up and takes them to school each day.

Anyway, threatened with seperation, Zep and the kids head off to hide out at his fishing shack further up in the mountains and wilderness.

Do they make it and get to remain a family? It is worth a watch to find out. There is also conflict with an asshole that has it in for Bear and doesn't like Zep much either; so said asshole heads out with his shotgun.

The ending is a bit cliche, but not in the way you think its going to be.

It's a nice feel good movie that like I said, really takes me back to a simpler time growing up.

No, 41, but I don't feel like it, look like it or act it.

Two months ago a new coworker and I were talking and she thought I was in my late 20s.