The Archive is saddened to learn actor, Pernell Roberts, the last surviving Cartwright from Television's Bonanza died yesterday (Sunday) evening. The actor was 81 years old.
Roberts, the last surviving member of the classic Western's cast, died of cancer Sunday at his Malibu home.
Although he rocketed to fame in 1959 as Adam Cartwright, eldest son of a Nevada ranching family led by Lorne Greene's patriarchal Ben Cartwright, Roberts chafed at the limitations he felt his "Bonanza" character was given.
"They told me the four characters (Greene, himself and Dan Blocker and Michael Landon as his brothers) would be carefully defined and the scripts carefully prepared," he complained to The Associated Press in 1964. "None of it ever happened."
It particularly distressed him that his character, a man in his 30s, had to continually defer to the wishes of his widowed father.
"Doesn't it seem a bit silly for three adult males to get Father's permission for everything they do?" he once asked a reporter.
Roberts agreed to fulfill his six-year contract but refused to extend it, and when he left the series in 1965, his character was eliminated with the explanation that he had simply moved away.
6 comments:
I was sad to hear this as well, although he wasn't my favorite character on the show. I'm wondering what else he did after Bonanza.
I bawled like crazy--it just hit me--last night when the reality of Pernell Roberts' death sunk in.
Since I was a kid, Pernell was a hero of mine. But back then it was because I was impressed by how cool he was. I appreciate him even more now as an adult because I learned how he was a champion of civil rights and a sturdy man of conviction in every endeavor, just like Adam Cartwright. He may have grown tired of the show and what he saw as its limitations, but Pernell himself embodied the very best qualities of his character.
As for his post-Bonanza credits, Roberts appeared in about every single TV drama on American television. He has a tremendous guest role in "The Virginian" episode "The Long Way Home" and he really gets to show his range in that one.
He also starred for a number of years as Trapper John, M.D., the M*A*S*H character in civilain life.
I totally forgot about Trapper John MD. My bad.
The L.A. Times has a good obit for him this morning.
It took a lot of years for me to completely forgive Pernell Roberts for leaving Bonanza. I actually didn't like him for that, but I've long since gotten over it and am sorry to hear of his death. Wow, the whole bunch is gone. How sad.
Another notable role that preceded BONANZA, Randolph Scott's partner-by-circumstance in Budd Boetticher's RIDE LONESOME. Up until the end of the movie, the viewer never quite knows whether Roberts is going to doublecross Scott. I'd forgotten, until I glanced at his bio on IMDB, that Roberts was a highly public champion of Civil Rights and social equality.
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