Pernell Roberts - Bonanza's Adam Cartwright - Dies from Cancer Aged 81

Pernell Roberts is dead at age 81 from cancer. He is the last of the Cartwrights of Bonanza fame to pass on.

Bonanza - Adam Cartwright - his most successful role

Pernell Roberts played the role of Adam Cartwright, eldest son of Ben and brother to Hoss and Little Joe, from 1959 until the end of the 1964/1965 season. After this he acted in films and resumed his stage career.

Bonanza was our family's favorite TV show -entertainment that everyone could enjoy. Episodes brought laughs and tears to our lounge room. Even today, my brother and I have many episodes of Bonanza on DVD to re-watch time and again. In 2010, it is good to see my brother's two teenagers enjoying Bonanza and other shows we wouldn't miss when we were teens.

Roles prior to Bonanza

Prior to Bonanza becoming a runaway success on TV, Pernell had played roles in many TV shows. Here are just some of these:

1957/1958 - Sugarfoot

1958 - Whirlybirds/ Trackdown/ Have Gun Will Travel/ The Sheepman/ Tombstone Territory/ Matinee Theatre/ Northwest Passage/ Shirley Temple's Storybook/ Zane Grey Theater

1958/1959 - General Electric Theatre

1959 - Ride Lonsome/ Lawman/ Cimaroon City/ Bronco/ 77 Sunset Strip/ Buckskin

1960 - The Detectives

A short biography of Pernell Roberts

Born Pernell Elvin Roberts, Jr. on May 18, 1928, in Waycross, he was singing in local USO shows while still in high school. He attended both Georgia Tech and the University of Maryland but flunked out of both colleges, with a two-year stint in the Marine Corps. stuck somewhere in between. He eventually decided to give acting a go and supported himself as a butcher, forest ranger, and railroad riveter during the lean years while learning the ropes.

On stage from the early 1950s, he gained experience in such productions as "The Adding Machine," "The Firebrand" and "Faith of Our Fathers" before spending a couple of years performing the classics with the renowned Arena Stage Company in Washington, DC. in such productions as "The Taming of the Shrew" (as Petruchio), "The Playboy of the Western Word," "The Glass Menagerie," "The Importance of Being Earnest," and "Twelfth Night." He made his Broadwaydebut in 1955 with "Tonight in Samarkind" and that same year won the "Best Actor" Drama Desk Award for his performance in "Macbeth". Other Broadway plays include "The Lovers" (1956) with Joanne Woodward, "A Clearing in the Woods" (1957) with Kim Stanley, a return to Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" (1957) and "The Duchess of Malfi" (1957).

Pernell Roberts headed for Hollywood and found minor roles in films before landing the role of Ben Cartwright's oldest son Adam in the "Bonanza" (1959). At the peak of his and the TV show's popularity, Pernell suddenly elected not to renew his contract because of artistic differences with writers and producers. He left at the end of the 1964-1965 season. Fans were disappointed, but the show successfully without him. The story line was left open in case Pernell ever decided to return, but this never happened.

After Pernell moved on from Bonanza, he appeared in many stage productions and television shows - Knight Rider, Love Boat, Hawaii Five-O - these are just a few.

The experienced actor decided to focus on singing and the musical stage. He recorded a solo album of folk songs - "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies" and took on a range of stage roles with varying success. During this period he was also an avid civil rights activist and joined other stalwarts such as Dick Gregory, Joan Baez and Harry Belafonte who took part in civil rights demonstrations during the 60s, including the Selma March. Pernell was never to find a solid footing in films, but returned to television in 1979 in the long-running series "Trapper John, M.D." (1979) in which he played the Wayne Rogers"M*A*S*H" (1972) role. The medical drama co-starring Gregory Harrison ran seven seasons.

Pernell Roberts was a heavily principled man and spent a life-time of work fighting racism, segregation, and sexism, notably on TV. He was constantly at odds with the "Bonanza" series writers of his concerns regarding equality. He also kept his private life private. Married and divorced three times, he had one son, Jonathan Christopher by first wife Dr. Vera Mowry, a professor at Washington State University. Jonathan was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1989. In the 1990s, Pernell starred in his last series as host of "FBI: The Untold Stories" (1991) that was a short-lived series. one of his more recent TV guest appearances was in 1999 after which he retired.

An impressive but sketchy body of work

The roles of Adam Cartwright in Bonanza and Trapper John MD were his most significant roles. Otherwise, his career consisted of parts in stage plays and one-off appearances in a large number of series television programs.

Sources:

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26636486-5012980,00.html

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731490/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731490/bio

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