Posted on 01/25/2010 2:29:51 PM PST by DukeBillie
Pernell Roberts, an original cast member of one of television's classic westerns, "Bonanza," died at his Malibu home Sunday. He was 81.
His death from cancer was confirmed by his wife, Eleanor Criswell.
Roberts was known to fans as the handsome and smart eldest son of the Cartwright clan, Adam. He played the role from its inception in 1959, but tired of the role after six years and left the show to act in films and resume a stage career that had brought him a 1955 Drama Desk Award for best actor in a production of "Macbeth." In 1979, he returned to series television in the popular "Trapper John, M.D.," playing the title character, Dr. John McIntyre, for the show's entire seven seasons.
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Where would those be ? Because Mr RB and I were trying to explain these shows to our teens. We sang the Bonzana song. They cringed. But these westerns are really part of our cultural heritage and I would like them to see one.
But Candy lives on as the patriarch of some daytime soap.
Mosey on over to www.youtube.com type in Bonanza in the you tube search box. You’ll find everything from whole episodes, to clips, and fan tributes. There are also fan sites on the internet with photos and trivia.
I thought someone might mention that. ;d
I’ve never see a Jamie episode.
“I’ve heard that “Have Gun Will Travel” doesn’t
get aired even on cable because “it’s too violent”.
It is on every week on a local channel. Also Bat Masterson. Probably part of the same syndication package.
As I recall, Adam went to San Francisco to sail the Pacific. The writers had him feeling too cooped up and conflicted with his father and brothers on the Ponderosa. He probably took his share of the Ponderosa and bought an entire shipping fleet. I don’t recall any mention of him dying.
I remember commercials with Dan Blocker dressed up as Hoss selling Chevy pick-up trucks.
I loved Bonanza.. and had a crush on Adam..
I remember Clint Walker was in Centennial with Robert Conrad, the Dirty Dozen with Lee Marvin, Ernie Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, etc.
Pernell Roberts was also in Centennial and played General Asher along another famous TV Doctors in Chad Everett and Gregory Harrison his younger surgeon Gonzo on Trapper John MD, and the late Richard Crenna, who did some westerns as well and Colonel Trautman in the Rambo Series.
I didn't list a lot of 'good ones' Gunsmoke, The Rebel, Sons of Will Sonnet, High Chaparral
Of those, only Gunsmoke was genuine quality. (The Guns of Will Sonnett could have been a contender, but I think its half-hour format tied its hands behind its back; its animating storyline was one that lent itself to deeper development and, if it had gone for it, it could have survived.) But even there, I never thought any television Western was quite as good as those which hit radio in its final decade, now that I've had a good chance to hear most of them: Gunsmoke, Frontier Gentleman, The Six Shooter (I never understood why this understated series---with James Stewart in the title role---didn't survive more than one season: it was coolly written and coolly acted and sounded), Fort Laramie (Raymond Burr just before he broke big as Perry Mason; incidentally, this show had nothing to do with the eventual television hit Laramie, which was a pretty decent Western when all was said and done). Mind you, I was born as the old-time radio era was dying in earnest, and picked up on those shows only within the past decade, as I began an earnest interest in old-time radio that's grown into a passion---not for nostalgia, it isn't my nostalgia, but as living, breathing art.
The television Western you really left out: The Virginian. It was my parents' favourite Western; they used to let me stay up a little later Wednesday nights to watch it in full. (It ran for 90 minutes.) Remarkable and, in several ways, superior to just about all of them.
As for Pernell Roberts, I think he had it pretty right when he scoffed at the idea of adult men still needing Father's permission to do just about anything. Just a little too unrealistic even as solid (if slightly hackneyed, after awhile) as Bonanza was. (The unreality of adult men still bent to Father's will was something you could also say in later years about Dallas if you thought about it---even ol' amoral J.R. shrunk at the mere crook of his daddy's finger.) Roberts was a solid actor with a wry wit that served him well when he took up the elder Trapper John, M.D. for a few seasons.
Aw, that’s a shame. RIP.
Didn’t we discuss one reason P.R. left the show was because he was sick of having to wear the rug with the producers made him wear so he wouldn’t look older than fellow rug-wearer Lorne Greene.
You’re right. They just wrote him out but left his ultimate fate unspecified. I was always a fan of Little Joe anyway, but something was never quite the same. As the eldest son, Adam always had a slightly different standing with Ben.
Loved Bonanza!
RIP, Mr.Roberts.
Are you kidding? NONE of them ended up married........to me, that is a lucky thing. LOL!
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