Roberts played Ben Cartwright's eldest son, Adam, in the Western television series Bonanza — an architectural engineer with a university education, unlike his brothers. Adam has been variously described as urbane, intense, introspective, quiet, sullen and serious.
Roberts, having largely been "a stage actor, accustomed as he was to a rigorous diet of the classics" (Playbill January 26, 2010) and to freely move about from part to part, found the "transition to a television series," playing the same character, "without costume changes," a difficult one ("Bonanza" and "Trapper John" Star dies, January 25, 2010, Alan Duke, CNN). "It was perhaps not surprising that, despite enormous success, he bolted from "Bonanza" after the 1964-65 season, criticizing the show's simple-minded content and lack of minority actors..." . It particularly distressed him that his character, a man in his 30's, had to defer continually to the wishes of his widowed father and he reportedly disliked the series itself, calling it — "junk" television and accused NBC of "perpetuating banality and contributing to the dehumanization of the industry." The equally self-critical Roberts ("I guess I'll never be satisfied with my own work"-Chicago Tribune, August 19, 1965), "had long disdained the medium's commercialization of his craft and its mass production, assembly-line mindset" (The Tidi Tudorancea Bulletin, English Edition, October 6, 2010- web).
Frustrated with Bonanza and angry, he told a reporter in 1965, "I feel I'm an aristocrat in my field of endeavor. My being part of Bonanza was like Isaac Stern sitting in with Lawrence Welk" (Ponderosa Gold Under A Painted Sky, Joanne Stang, p. 305 in "Popular Culture," by David Manning, 1975).
In much later interviews, Roberts denied statements about Bonanza attributed to him. "I did not enjoy Bonanza anymore...but I never said those things people said I said." (The Pittsburgh Press, 1979). He was however, "too smart not to recognize its weaknesses" (TV Guide, 1982). In a 1963 Washington Post interview, he asked a reporter, "Isn't it a bit silly for three adult males to have to ask father's permission for everything they do?" (Washington Post, January 25, 2010). "They told me the four characters (Lorne Greene, patriarch Ben, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon as his brothers) would be carefully defined and the scripts carefully prepared, none of it ever happened," he complained to The Associated Press in 1964. He objected to how Bonanza portrayed the relationship between the "father" and adult "sons," describing it as adolescent ((Mike Douglas Show, 1966), lacking in "truth" and lacking in "reality" ("Weekly World News, August 4, 1981, page 29).
Roberts acknowledged reasons for Bonanza's appeal, but pointed to his personal need for story lines with greater social relevance, adult themes and dialogue. He wanted Bonanza to be "a little more grown up," (Mike Douglas Show, 1966). He also noted too that he was not suited to the "procedural" and "confining aspect" of series television, another reason for his dissatisfaction, while on the show (Mike Douglas Show, 1966).
Roberts, had had high hopes for what he could contribute to Bonanza, was disappointed with the direction of the show, the limitations imposed on his Bonanza character and on his acting range. In a newspaper interview he said, "I haven't grown at all since the series began...I have an impotent role. Wherever I turn there's the father image," (This Time Pernell Won't Need a Tuba, Washington Post, May 1, 1963, Lawrence Laurent).
Finally, after disagreements with writers and producers over the quality of the scripts, characterization, and Bonanza's refusal to allow him to perform elsewhere while on contract, Roberts "turned his back on Hollywood wisdom and well-meant advice," and left, largely to return to legitimate theater (Washington Post, January 25, 2010; New York Daily News January 26, 2010, Mike Douglas Show, 1965, 1966), Henry Darrow Archival Interview; USA Today, January 25, 2010).
Roberts fulfilled but did not extend his six-year contract for Bonanza, and when he left the series, his character was eliminated with the explanation that Adam had "moved away." Later episodes suggested variously that Adam was "at sea", had moved to Europe, or was on the East Coast, running that end of the family business. The last episode Pernell Roberts worked on was "Dead and Gone", air date April 4, 1965. He appeared in the next two that aired which were filmed prior to "Dead and Gone" — "A Good Night's Rest", air date April 11, 1965 and "To Own The World", air date April 18, 1965. The story line was kept open in case Roberts wished to return, but he never did. In television interviews, Roberts said that he would have stayed with Bonanza, had he been allowed to do so on a part-time basis to enable him to return to theater (Mike Douglas Show, 1966). Bonanza producer David Dortort described Roberts as "rebellious, outspoken... and aloof," but, as one who "could make any scene he was in better..." (Archive Interview-web). In a later archive interview, he regretted not having insisted on a "marriage for Adam" and having Roberts continue on the show as a semi-regular. He added, "I must confess..I was "too hard on him. I did not appreciate him. I knew he was good, but I didn't realize he was that good...none better." (Archive Interview 2002; Bonanza, The Official First Season, Volume 1, Feature, CBS/Paramount, 2009). In the last two "Bonanza" movies that aired on NBC in the early 1990s, the story line stated that Adam, now in Australia, had equaled his father's success, dominating the engineering/construction business.
Roberts was the only accomplished singer of the original cast, though David Canary, who joined Bonanza in 1967, had a background in voice and performed on Broadway. During Roberts' Bonanza years, he recorded Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies, a folk music album which Allmusic calls "...the softer, lyrical side of folk music — pleasant and not challenging, but quite rewarding in its unassuming way." The album, released by RCA Victor and arranged by Dick Rosmini, is available on compact disc only as part of the fourth disc of the Bonanza 4-CD boxed set on Bear Family Records.
On the Bonanza box set albums, Roberts also sings "Early One Morning", "In the Pines", "The New Born King", "The Bold Soldier", "Mary Ann", "They Call the Wind Mariah", "Sylvie", "Lily of the West", "The Water is Wide", "Rake and a Ramblin Boy", "A Quiet Girl", "Shady Grove", "Alberta", and "Empty Pocket Blues".
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