rdfs:comment
| - Roberts played Ben Cartwright's urbane eldest son Adam. Unlike his brothers, Adam was a university educated architectural engineer. Roberts had had high hopes for what he could contribute to Bonanza, and 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).
|
abstract
| - Roberts played Ben Cartwright's urbane eldest son Adam. Unlike his brothers, Adam was a university educated architectural engineer. Roberts had had high hopes for what he could contribute to Bonanza, and 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). 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. Adam Cartwright was mentioned on occasion in the series (including a 1967 episode which did not air until April 4, 1971 ("Kingdom of Fear").
|