The beloved show Bonanza remains NBC’s longest-running Western and the second-longest-running Western series on U.S. network TV (second only to CBS’s Gunsmoke). Bonanza premiered in September 1959 and ended in January 1973. Most shows today are lucky to get a second or third season, so Bonanza’s 14 seasons are especially impressive. And the series had a massive fan base back in the day. But one cast member — Lorne Greene — was not subtle about his wishes that Bonanza not last too long. The actor once revealed that although he loved his time on the show, he didn’t want it to last forever.
‘Bonanza’ had a few claims to fame
Bonanza followed the Cartwright family of ranchers who lived near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in the mid-1800s. Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) was the patriarch, a three-time widower with a son from each marriage.
The plot in the early seasons concentrated on conflicts among the three half-brothers, who were wildly different. But in later episodes, the focus shifted toward issues related to mining and managing the Cartwright ranch, the Ponderosa.
Bonanza had a few claims to fame, including being the first hourlong Western series filmed in color. Sadly, not all its firsts were positive: In 1972, Dan Blocker, who played Ben’s middle son, Hoss, died unexpectedly of a pulmonary embolism following gallbladder surgery. The Bonanza writers took the unusual step of referencing the character’s death in the storyline, marking the first time a show had done such a thing.
Actor Pernell Roberts, who played Ben’s oldest son, had left Bonanza several years earlier. Ratings suffered after another son’s departure, and NBC canceled the show the following January.
Why didn’t Lorne Greene want ‘Bonanza’ to last too long?
Every actor’s dream is steady work, so it seems odd that Lorne Greene admitted he didn’t want Bonanza to last. But after eight seasons, the actor sat down for a 1967 interview in which he was asked if he wanted the show to last another eight seasons. Surprisingly, Greene said no.
“I must be very frank,” he replied (via The Bobbie Wygant Archive). “I think when you have a long run on any kind of show, you get to the point where there are other things that you feel that you must do before it’s too late to do any of the things that you have in mind.”
Greene added that he had another four years in his contract with NBC and was happy to fulfill it.
Greene had plenty of work aside from ‘Bonanza’
Of course, the show didn’t last another eight seasons, but it continued for another six. When Bonanza went off the air, it didn’t mark the end of Lorne Greene’s career. He soon joined Ben Murphy in the ABC crime drama Griff and then appeared in the 1977 miniseries Roots. He was also well known for his role as Commander Adama in Battlestar Galactica.
And for many years before and during his time on Bonanza, he co-hosted the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC with Betty White. Lorne Greene died in 1987 at age 72, leaving an impressive legacy. In 2007, TV Guide named Ben Cartwright one of the greatest TV dads of all time.