Smokey Bear and this man have always been the same person to me.
Some people are just now realizing that Sam Elliott voiced Smokey Bear from 2008 to 2023. In a recent interview, he shared some fun trivia about him and Smokey too. Sam was basically meant to voice Smokey.
He said, “but we were born, I was born on the same day and year that that campaign began. On the exact same day. August 9th, 1944.”
As I also learned growing up. We are all Smokey Bear…because “only you can prevent wildfires.”