Story highlights Dan Haggerty was best known as TV's "Grizzly Adams"

Like mountain man character, Haggerty loved animals and outdoors

(CNN) Dan Haggerty, who played mountain man Grizzly Adams in a hit movie followed by a TV show in the 1970s, has died. He was 74.

Haggerty died Friday morning at a Burbank, California, hospital after battling cancer for five months. Doctors discovered the cancer after he had surgery for back pain, Haggerty's family said in a statement.

Haggerty died surrounded by his family, said his manager, Terry Bomar.

The actor started taking chemo last summer for a spinal tumor, said Bomar, who was friends with the star for nearly 20 years and had been his manager most of that time.. Haggerty thought his condition was improving, but doctors later found a spot on his lung, he said.

"I talked to him yesterday and told him we're praying for him," Bomar said. "I told him 'I love you, man.' The last thing I heard him say was "I love you.' "

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