Frederick "Fred" Bedderhead is a member of an all-bear country rock band called the Country Bears, and one of the main protagonists in Disney's 2002 movie The Country Bears.
Role in the film[]
Fred Bedderhead is first seen performing "Let It Ride" at a concert with The Country Bears; including his older brother, Ted (The Country Bears' leader), flipping over, and stage diving in 1991 at Country Bear Hall before the band broke up. During a TV commentary, Fred admits that he misses the old days at Country Bear Hall, how he and his friends were different, and that "at Country Bear Hall, you could be different and still fit in. Yup. Different."
During the beginning of the story, at Country Bear Hall, Fred is seen in Henry Dixon Taylor's (The Country Bears' former manager) imagination; performing with The Country Bears "Where Nobody Knows My Name."
11 years after the band broke up, Fred has been working as a Security Guard and backstage supervisor at a company. When Krystal asks Fred for help, he politely states that she has to be part of the video shoot. After Krystal replies that she "kind of is the video shoot," Fred quickly realizes and recognizes her and apologizes. Krystal asks him to help her with her stuff for the video shoot. While Fred helps, she asks him what he's been up to and the only thing he's been doing is nothing more than just playing his harmonica. Before Fred can state that he was actually a Country Bear when Krystal asks him if he plays, he accidentally bumps some of her stuff against a pole and drops his harmonica. When Krystal picks up his harmonica and notices the name "The Fred", she quickly realizes that he is Fred Bedderhead who was once a Country Bear. Fred confirms it.
Impressed by his former occupation, harmonica playing talent, and his stage dive invention and despite being a bit old for anything, Krystal invites him to join in the video shoot while playing his harmonica. Fred agrees and starts to play his harmonica and dance with the rest of the performers and dancers as Krystal begins to play an instrument and sing "The Kid In You" in a cool way.
At the finale, remembering the old days at Country Bear Hall, Fred stage dives but is disappointed to land badly on the ground rather than in an audience. Krystal asks if he's alright and he confirms it. Krystal tells Fred that she has to get back to the video shoot and states that it was fun having him on board. Fred agrees that it was fun but wishes he could play some more. His wish is finally granted when Henry and Beary (The Country Bears' nb. 1 fan and the reason why the band is getting back together to save their Hall from demolition by Reed Thimple) appear and offer to help him.
Fred is intrigued about the idea of getting the band back together but Beary reminds him who he is to which Fred politely replies: "Uh, who is this guy?" (since Fred hasn't been fully introduced to Beary). Henry introduces Beary to Fred and states that Beary is right about what he told Fred. Fred then asks about how is Henry going to get lots of people to come and see the concert show to which Beary suggests calling Rip Holland to promote the show; much to Henry's shock since Rip was the guy who stole the band from him, nevertheless, Henry calls up Rip, puts aside their old differences, and they agree for the show's promotion on Saturday night at 8:00 p.m..
Fred is later seen riding in The Country Bear Tour Bus driven by the band's human drummer, Roadie, and his chicken, "Mr. Chicken." Henry asks Fred if he knows where any of the other boys are and Fred replies that Zeb Zoober (The Country Bears' former fiddle player) never gave up the honey and hangs out at a bar in Nuttville. Fred is somewhat impressed by Beary's scrapbook of The Country Bears which took him years to work on. Beary even states that Fred used to have a lot of hair back then when seeing a favorite picture of him. Fred then notices a picture of part of a newspaper where The Country Bears beat a 15-year old arm musician named Benny Bogswaggle in a talent show 30 years ago. Fred says he was really talented (but a bad loser according to Henry) when playing the 1812 Overture with armpit fart noises (badly) but when he lost the talent show to The Country Bears, he got so angry that he threw an angry tantrum and hit Zeb with a chair.
At the bar, they find Zeb getting his back scratched by a bark back scratcher. To Zeb's surprise, he is delighted to see the boys again. Unfortunately, Zeb can't leave town and even if he wanted to, he owes 500$ to the bartender he keeps calling "Cha-Cha". Fred even tries to naively order some salmon fingers or twigs and berries but fails. Beary makes a wager with Cha-Cha; if Zeb, with his fiddle, wins a music duel against her house band, he won't owe her anything but if he loses, she can keep their tour bus; much to The Country Bears' shock. At first, things turn bad for Zeb but in the end, Zeb finally gets his fiddle playing talent back and finally wins the duel.
On the bus, Fred is seen playing his harmonica while Zeb plays his fiddle. Fred tells Beary that his harmonica is the harp his daddy gave him. Later, Henry asks Zeb whatever happened to Tennessee O'Neal (The Country Bears' former banjo player) to which Zeb replies that he saw him a few years ago, is still the same cry-baby, psycho, and heart-broken guy, and now works as a marriage counselor.
The Bears find Tennessee, after "solving" a married couple's problem, crying hysterically in his office. To Tennessee's surprise, he finds his friends in his office and asks: "Don't tell me we're getting the band back together?" to which Henry replies yes.
At a restaurant, Tennessee says that he can't do it; especially not without his ex-girlfriend, Trixie St. Claire, who broke up with him to date a wealthy panda to which Fred replies: "What's with the pandas? They get everything." Tennessee even wonders the same thing and says that even if he wanted to join the band again, nobody cares or knows The Country Bears anymore. Tennessee is proven wrong when a waitress gives them their menus and finally recognizes them with joy and amazement. The waitress admits that she was inspired by the Country Bears to start working to become a famous singer. Fred asks: "Did you make it?" to which Zeb sarcastically replies: "Yeah, Fred, she made it. She just works here for the free uniform.", thus, causing Fred to growl at him. Zeb apologizes with no offense to the waitress. The waitress accepts his apology and admits that she's still working on it and that she even does one of their songs, "Kick It Into Gear." The Bears laugh about that song of theirs and Fred suggests: "Blow the dust off that one." The waitress then tells them that she's got her own arrangement and starts to sing part of it in a cool way to which the Bears find it actually cool. After the people who work at the restaurant hear her beautiful singing voice, they insist she continues singing that song and starts making musical noises with some kitchen stuff. The waitress continues singing the song so much that even The Country Bears begin to like it so much and dance along.
At the finale, the Bears stare at the waitress with mouths open as she asks them how they want their eggs to which Zeb replies: "Hot." and Fred adds: "Like us." The Bears then see a news bulletin saying that Beary has been "kidnapped" (since Beary ran away from home) by Henry with Fred, Roadie, and "Mr. Chicken" as his "accomplices" (since Big Al, the property caretaker for The Country Bear Hall, gives the police the wrong idea about Beary and The Country Bears). When Beary points out that they have a problem with 2 cops (Officer Hamm and Cheets who have been called by Beary's foster parents to help find their son and have been searching for him since the beginning of the story) entering the restaurant, the Bears gasp in shock and leave quickly and inconspicuously with the waitress' help through an exit and straight to the bus. Beary even thanks her for her help. Unfortunately, the cops are able to spot them from a window and go after them.
During a bus chase, with Fred being scared a bit, Roadie is able to shake the cops by hiding in a car wash. After outrunning the cops, who end up being washed and having their hairs dried up in a ridiculous way and uniforms shrunk, at a motel, the Bears watch a lame baby cartoon version T.V. show of The Country Bears fighting off a one-eyed alien shooting a ray gun at them with cartoon Fred's harmonica to destroy him.
After Tennessee is finally reunited with Trixie again (with Fred crying at this cute moment (mistaken for blubbering by Henry) while the rest watch it happen), who recently worked as a singer at a bar, with Beary's help, Henry calls up Fred's older brother, Ted, who is now supposedly rich. When Henry tells him that he's getting the band back together, Ted fakes a phone connection failure and hangs up; stating that he refuses to do it. Henry regretfully lies to everyone when he tells them that Ted's in.
On their way, Henry suggests that he should do the talking since Ted might be a little "surprised" to see them. Fred asks: "I thought you said he knew we was comin'?" but Henry says yes but he should do it just so as not to "embarrass him in front of his rich friends." At his home, when Henry speaks through an interphone about seeing Ted, Fred comes along and fools around by ordering 2 orders of French fries and a shake and laughing in a goofy way. When the bears spot a gardener, they ask him if Ted's home and the gardener reply that Ted is probably still at the country club for a wedding. After the gardener recognizes the Bears and before finishing, Henry interrupts him by telling him that he knows that he's a big fan and thank you... but they have to go. Zeb seems to recognize the gardener as Elton John but Fred states that Elton John is taller.
At the country club, Henry asks Fred to go find his brother, and Fred agrees but naively suggests to get something to eat 1st to which Zeb agrees to as well while Tennessee and Trixie dance during the party and Henry and Beary search for Ted on their own. Fred and Zeb are seen sitting between an elderly lady with blue hair and eating fish. They even compliment her hair. When Ted spots Henry and Beary, Ted gets angry. Ted approaches them and asks what they're doing here. Before Henry can explain, Beary gets excited to finally meet Ted Bedderhead and that he's going to perform at the show. Shocked by this news, Ted gets even more angry and suspicious of Henry. Before Henry can continue what he has to say the moment he says "we all," Ted starts asking if the rest of the gang is here and looks around to find his brother, Fred, and Zeb having fun with the lady and Tennessee and Trixie dancing during the party. After Zeb tells a joke, Fred, Zeb, and the lady start laughing until Ted interrupts them. Despite saying hello to him, Ted shooes them away (causing Fred to accidentally drop a napkin on the lady) to speak to them in private. Ted tells them that when he said he was finished, he meant it. When Beary tells him how important the situation is, Ted replies: "Now, listen, kid. I... Uh, who is this guy?" (since Ted hasn't been fully introduced to Beary). Henry and the rest introduce Beary to him then Ted explains his reason for not going back with the band and then tells them to leave as he leaves to join the people who are waiting for him.
Everyone leaves except Fred; stating "this ain't right." So, Fred goes back to reason with his brother only to find him singing Tom Jones' It's Not Unusual song at the wedding as a wedding singer. Shocked at this sight, Fred approaches his brother and asks him questions which lead to Ted finally telling the truth about himself and despite still refusing to join the band, Fred states "he's family and he's going," thus, knocking Ted down and dragging him with the band.
Moments later, in the bus, Ted reveals that he was never rich, the gardener was actually Elton John, he's been his temporary roommate, he lost everything, and he's been making a buck by singing at weddings and birthday parties. Fred assures him everything will be alright now that the band is all together again but then Ted says that just because he's telling the truth doesn't mean he's dumb and he tells Roadie to stop the bus.
Outside the bus, Ted asks them if they rehearsed, what songs they're gonna play, and who's doing sound but the band hadn't really thought about it yet. "Same Old Country Bears" says Ted but then Zeb claims Ted kind of owes them since he was the reason for the breakup, but Ted claims to be the reason he held them together and no one was grateful for his attempts to control Zeb's drinking addiction, Tennessee's blubbering, and Fred's staring into space. Beary reminds them that they claimed each other to be family, but Ted claims it to be meaningless publicity. Beary realizes the real meaning of family and returns home.
After various petty arguments, Fred finds that Beary left his stuff on the bus and starts reading his school essay about his hero(es), namely The Country Bears, and they realize that Beary was right and decide that they must do the concert. After Ted apologizes to Beary and tells him that they will only do the concert with him, Reed Thimple (the villainous banker) unfortunately kidnaps the rest of The Country Bears (except Roadie and "Mr. Chicken") and steals the bus. Reed drags them into a cage by gun force and when Fred asks him why he's doing this to them, Reed states that The Country Bears ruined his life but they don't know what he's talking about. Reed finally reveals to the Bears that he is actually Benny Bogswaggle; the once 15-year old arm musician who lost a talent show to The Country Bears, thus, resulting him hitting Zeb with a chair, when playing the 1812 Overture with armpit fart noises (badly again) and is wreaking his vengeance on the Bears for stealing his one chance at fame. Then, Reed locks them up and leaves them. Beary, his family, and Ted track down and rescue the band and head to the concert together when using part of Beary's tracking device to find them.
When they get to Country Bear Hall, they find out that Reed Thimple has paid Rip not to promote the show, so the concert appears to be headed for failure. Rip even explains his reasons involving business with him ending with the fact that some of it were Reed Thimple's idea. As the other Country Bears restrain Henry from attacking Rip, Big Al arrives and asks if the Country Bears are doing their show tonight. When Fred states that nobody showed up, Big Al reveals that everyone was just out in the backfield and that he didn't want anyone parking out on the front lawn. Big Al then opens the doors and a surge of people rush in as Reed Thimple is flushed out vowing to The Country Bears that their feud isn't over. The money raised from the concert is revealed to be enough to save the Hall and The Country Bears perform "Straight to the Heart of Love" with Beary as a new member of the band. Then, they perform "Where Nobody Knows My Name" as the story ends.
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