One actor you might recall was Pernell Elvin Roberts. Oh, – might not know his name, but he was Adam Cartwright (the oldest son) who appeared on the famous Bonanza series. Dark hair, 6'2", he was the sullen mysterious one who really helped make the show what it was. Many knew his time on the series as the glory days.
Pernell Roberts was born May 18, 1928, in Waycross, Georgia and the only son of Pernell and Betty Roberts. He has had various jobs from forest ranger, butcher, and tombstone-maker while he scouted around for off-Broadway jobs.
Early on he served in the marines and two colleges: Georgia Tech and the University of Maryland with out success. He found the stage of off Broadway in classic stage productions like The Taming of the Shrew, The Glass Menagerie, The Importance of Being Earnest and Twelfth Night.
By 1957 he was beginning to appear on TV in such shows like Gunsmoke, General Electric Theater, Zane Grey Theater and The Virginian. His first movie appearance was with Sophia Loren where he played the part of Peter Cabot in Under the Elms (1958).
Bonanza was his mainstay for some time when he first appeared in 1959-1965 as the sullen character of Adam Cartwright. It was said he had differences with the writers and the show in general and never renewed his contract and finally left the hit TV series. He went back to Broadway and still managed to make movie appearances.
A few titles were Dead Man On The Run (1975), The Deadly Tower (1975) and even Alien Lover (1975). One you may know is the famous mini-series Captains and the Kings(1976), Centennial (1978) and Around the World in 80 Days (1989) in which he played some minor roles.
Pernell landed his own series Trapper John MD (which lasted from 1979-1986) where he played Chief of Surgery at San Francisco Memorial Hospital, a take off of the M*A*S*H character.
His personal life seems to be just that – personal. He has been married and divorced three times. He had one son with his first wife, Dr.Vera Mowry, a professor at Washington State University. His son, Jonathan Christopher Roberts died in 1989 due to a motorcycle accident.
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