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Bonanza
''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on U.S. network television (behind CBS's '' Gunsmoke''), and within the top 10 longest-running, live-action American series. The show continues to air in syndication. The show is set in the 1860s and centers on the wealthy Cartwright family, who live in the vicinity of Virginia City, Nevada, bordering Lake Tahoe. The series initially starred Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon and later featured (at various times) Guy Williams, David Canary, Mitch Vogel and Tim Matheson. The show is known for presenting pressing moral dilemmas. The title "Bonanza" is a term used by miners in regard to a large vein or deposit of silver ore, from Spanish ''bonanza'' (prosperity) and commonly refers to the 1859 revelation of ...
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Pernell Roberts
Pernell Elven Roberts Jr. (May 18, 1928 – January 24, 2010) was an American stage, film, and television actor, activist, and singer. In addition to guest-starring in over 60 television series, he was best known for his roles as Ben Cartwright's eldest son Adam Cartwright on the Western television series ''Bonanza'' (1959–1965), and as chief surgeon Dr. John McIntyre, the title character on ''Trapper John, M.D.'' (1979–1986). Roberts was also known for his lifelong activism, which included participation in the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965 and pressuring NBC to refrain from hiring white people to portray minority characters. Early life Roberts was born in 1928 in Waycross, Georgia, the only child of Pernell Elven Roberts Sr., a Dr Pepper salesman, and Minnie (Betty) Myrtle Morgan Roberts. During his high-school years, Pernell played the horn, acted in school and church plays, and sang in local USO shows. He attended, but did not graduate from, Georgia Tech. E ...
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Michael Landon
Michael Landon (born Eugene Maurice Orowitz; October 31, 1936 – July 1, 1991) was an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in '' Bonanza'' (1959–1973), Charles Ingalls in '' Little House on the Prairie'' (1974–1983), and Jonathan Smith in ''Highway to Heaven'' (1984–1989). Landon appeared on the cover of ''TV Guide'' 22 times, second only to Lucille Ball. Early life Landon was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz on October 31, 1936, in Forest Hills, a neighborhood of Queens, New York. His parents were Peggy (née O'Neill; a dancer and comedian) and Eli Maurice Orowitz. His father was Jewish, and his mother was Roman Catholic. Eugene was the Orowitz family's second child; their daughter, Evelyn, was born three years earlier, in 1933. In 1941, when Landon was four years old, he and his family moved to the borough of Collingswood, New Jersey. He attended, and celebrated his bar mitzvah at Temple Beth Sholom. His family recalls that ...
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Dan Blocker
Bobby Dan Davis Blocker (December 10, 1928 – May 13, 1972) was an American television actor and Korean War veteran, who played Hoss Cartwright in the long-running NBC Western television series ''Bonanza''. Biography Early life Blocker was born in De Kalb, Texas, United States, the son of Ora "Shack" Blocker and Mary Arizona Blocker, née Davis. As a boy, he attended Texas Military Institute. In 1940, he enrolled in Hardin-Simmons University and Sul Ross State University and earned a degree in speech and drama. In 1946, he played football at Southern Baptist-affiliated Hardin–Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. In 1947, he transferred to Sul Ross State Teacher's College in Alpine, Texas, where he was a star football player, and graduated in 1950. After two years of military service, he earned a master's degree in the dramatic arts. He worked as a rodeo performer and a bouncer in a bar while a student. He is remembered from his school days for his height of and weig ...
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Ponderosa (TV Series)
''The Ponderosa'' is a television series developed by ''Bonanza'' creator David Dortort for PAX TV that ran for the 2001–2002 television season. Envisioned as a prequel to the NBC series ''Bonanza'', covering the time when the Cartwrights first arrived at the Ponderosa, when Adam and Hoss were teenagers and Joe a little boy, it had less gunfire, brawling and other traditional western elements than the original. ''Bonanza'' creator David Dortort approved PAX TV's decision to hire Beth Sullivan, creator and executive producer of '' Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman'', to oversee scripts and executive produce, which some believe gave the series a softer edge. ''The Ponderosa'' was canceled after one season, in part because of disappointing ratings and high production costs. Although Sullivan had hoped to film the series in and around Los Angeles, PAX decided to film in Australia to reduce costs. The series should not be confused with ''Ponderosa'', the title used for ''Bonanza'' re ...
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Lorne Greene
Lorne Hyman Greene (born Lyon Himan Green; 12 February 1915 – 11 September 1987) was a Canadian actor, musician, singer and radio personality. His notable television roles include Ben Cartwright on the Western ''Bonanza'' and Commander Adama in the original science-fiction television series ''Battlestar Galactica'' and ''Galactica 1980''. He also worked on the Canadian television nature documentary series ''Lorne Greene's New Wilderness'' and in television commercials. Early life and career in Canada Greene was born Lyon Himan Green in Ottawa, Ontario, to Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire, Dora (née Grinovsky) and Daniel Green, a shoemaker. He was called "Chaim" by his mother, and his name is shown as "Hyman" on his school report cards. In a biography of him, written by his daughter Linda Greene Bennett, she wrote that it was unknown when he began using the name Lorne, nor when he added an "e" to Green. Greene was the drama instructor at Camp Arowhon, a summe ...
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Ray Evans
Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and song-writing duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films. Evans wrote the lyrics and Livingston wrote the music.Ray Evans papers, 1921-2012
Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.


Biography

Evans was born to a Jewish family in Salamanca, New York, to Philip and Frances Lipsitz Evans. He was valedictorian of his high school class, where he played clarinet in the band. The ...
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David Dortort
David Dortort (born David Solomon Katz; October 23, 1916 – September 5, 2010) was a Hollywood screenwriter and producer, widely known for his role as producer in two successful NBC television series: ''Bonanza'' (1959–73) and ''The High Chaparral'' (1967–71). Dortort's focus shifted in the late 1960s to the newer series, leaving the production of ''Bonanza'' largely to his associates during its last five and a half years (1967–1973). From 1954–55, Dortort was involved in directing and writing for ''The Public Defender''. He produced '' The Restless Gun'' (1957–59), ''The Cowboys'' television version (1974), and a prequel series featuring younger versions of the ''Bonanza'' characters called '' Ponderosa'' (2001), which was produced with Beth Sullivan. In 1979–1980, he created the 13-week CBS miniseries, '' The Chisholms''. Michael Landon appeared in a supporting role in the pilot for ''The Restless Gun'', starring John Payne, aired on March 19, 1957, as an episod ...
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David Canary
David Hoyt Canary (August 25, 1938 – November 16, 2015) was an American actor. Canary is best known for his role as ranch foreman Candy Canaday in the NBC Western drama ''Bonanza'', and as Adam Chandler in the television soap opera ''All My Children'', for which he received 16 Daytime Emmy Award nominations and won five times. Early life Canary was born in Elwood, Indiana, but grew up in Massillon, Ohio. He was the middle son of Hillary Canary and Lorena Heal. His brothers are actor John Canary, who once had a role on ''All My Children'', and writer Hilary Glenn Canary (1934–2008). The brothers are purportedly great-great-nephews of Martha Jane Canary, Calamity Jane. Football Canary starred as an end on both offense and defense at Massillon Washington High School, where he graduated in 1956. The school honored him as a Distinguished Citizen 35 years later in 1991. He earned a football scholarship to the University of Cincinnati, where he was a three-year letterman fr ...
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Mitch Vogel
Mitchel L Vogel (born January 17, 1956) is an American former child actor, musician and director. As of 2021, he is one of two surviving main cast members from ''Bonanza'', next to Tim Matheson. Having begun his professional acting career at age ten, Vogel is widely known for his role as the red-headed orphan, Jamie Hunter-Cartwright on the NBC western series '' Bonanza'', as well as for his feature film roles: as Tommy North in '' Yours, Mine and Ours'' and as Lucius McCaslin in '' The Reivers''. Biography Early life and career Born in Alhambra, California, Vogel began his acting career at the age of ten, appearing in stage productions of ''Tom Sawyer'', ''Heidi'', ''Peter Pan'' and '' The Wizard of Oz''. As his acting career progressed, he attended Heinz Kaiser Junior High School in Costa Mesa, California, from 1969 to 1970 and later attended Jordan Junior High School in Burbank, California. Acting career Vogel made his feature film debut at the age of 12, appearing in ...
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Victor Sen Yung
Sen Yung, later known professionally as Victor Sen Young (born Sen Yew Cheung; October 18, 1914 – c. November 9, 1980); one source lists his given name as Victor Cheung Young with the birth year 1915)) was an American character actor, best known for playing Jimmy Chan in the Charlie Chan films and Hop Sing in the western series ''Bonanza''. He was born in San Francisco, California to Gum Yung Sen and his first wife, both immigrants from China. When his mother died during the flu epidemic of 1919, his father placed Victor and his younger sister, Rosemary, in a children's shelter, and returned to his homeland to seek another wife. He returned in 1922 with his new wife, Lovi Shee, once again forming a household with his two children. Career Sen Yung made his first significant acting debut in the 1938 film ''Charlie Chan in Honolulu'', as the Chinese detective's "number two son", Jimmy Chan. In this movie, Sidney Toler replaced the recently deceased Warner Oland as Charlie Chan ...
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Virginia City, Nevada
Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Virginia City developed as a boomtown with the 1859 discovery of the Comstock Lode, the first major silver deposit discovery in the United States, with numerous mines opening. The population peaked in the mid-1870s, with an estimated 25,000 residents. The mines' output declined after 1878, and the population declined as a result. As of the 2020 Census, the population of Virginia City was 787. History Peter O'Riley and Patrick McLaughlin are credited with the discovery of the Comstock Lode. Henry T. P. Comstock's name was associated with the discovery through his own machinations. According to folklore, James Fennimore, nicknamed Old Virginny Finney, christened the town when he tripped and broke a bottle of whiskey at a saloon entrance in the northern section of Go ...
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Ray Teal
Ray Elgin Teal (January 12, 1902 – April 2, 1976) was an American actor.The book ''Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory'' gives Teal's birth date as January 12, 1908. His most famous role was as Sheriff Roy Coffee on the television series ''Bonanza'' (1959–1972), which was only one of dozens of sheriffs on television and in movies that he played during his long and prolific career stretching from 1937 to 1970. He appeared in pictures such as ''Western Jamboree'' (1938) with Gene Autry, ''The Best Years of Our Lives'' (1946) with Fredric March and Myrna Loy, '' The Black Arrow'' (1948), Billy Wilder's '' Ace in the Hole'' (1951) and ''Judgment at Nuremberg'' (1961) with Spencer Tracy and Burt Lancaster. Early life Teal was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A saxophone player, he worked his way through the University of California, Los Angeles as a bandleader before becoming an actor. Acting career His longest-running role was as Sheriff Roy Coffee, a law-abiding ...
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