January 26, 2010

Prolific Actor Pernell Roberts Passes at 81

Best known as star of Bonanza and Trapper John, M.D.

Actor Pernell Roberts, who rose to fame as one of the stars of the television western Bonanza, and later returned to prominence in the title role of the 1980s drama Trapper John, M.D., died of cancer on January 24, 2010, at his home in Malibu, California. He was 81.

Roberts was the last surviving member of the Bonanza cast. Although he achieved rapid fame when the series debuted in 1959, Roberts left Bonanza when his initial six-year contract expired. According to news reports, he felt that his character, Adam Cartwright, was limited by the dominance of the Cartwright family patriarch, Ben, played by Lorne Greene.

When Roberts left Bonanza in 1965, Adam Cartwright was phased out with the explanation that he had simply moved away. With its other stars, Greene, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon, in place, Bonanza remained on the air until 1973, making it second to Gunsmoke as the longest-running western on TV.

For many years afterward, Roberts made many television appearances on series such as The Virginian, Hawaii Five-O, Mission: Impossible, Marcus Welby, M.D., Banacek, Ironside and Mannix. He also toured with stage musicals such as The King and I, Camelot and The Music Man.

In 1979, Roberts regained some stature as the star of Trapper John, M.D., the title character of which was borrowed from the long-running comedy M*A*S*H, in which Wayne Rogers had played the army surgeon Dr. “Trapper John” McIntire opposite Alan Alda’s Dr. Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce.

In Trapper John, M.D., the character was chief of surgery at a San Francisco hospital. It aired until 1986.

Roberts also had another regular series presence as host and narrator and host of FBI: The Untold Stories, which aired from 1991-1993).

He was born May 18, 1928, in Waycross, Georgia. He pursued a variety of jobs, ranging from tombstone maker to railroad riveter, before he became an actor.

After establishing himself as a stage performer in New York City, he moved to Los Angeles, where he found work in both feature films and television before his break in Bonanza.

Roberts was married four times. He is survived by his widow, Eleanor Criswell. His only child, son Chris, from his first marriage, died in 1989.

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