TLDR: Bonanza premiered on NBC on September 12, 1959, reached number one in the Nielsen ratings in 1964, and ran for 14 seasons and 431 episodes before being cancelled in January 1973.
The show was originally saved from cancellation by RCA, which needed it to sell color television sets. Of the four original Cartwrights, three died of cancer or complications from surgery.
The only surviving prominent cast members today are Mitch Vogel and Tim Matheson. The show streams on Paramount+, Pluto TV, and Freevee.
When Bonanza premiered in 1959 it was almost cancelled after its first season. It was ranked number 45 in the Nielsen ratings, airing opposite Perry Mason on Saturday nights and losing badly.
The reason it survived had nothing to do with its storytelling. It survived because RCA needed to sell color television sets.
How a Television Set Company Saved the Show
Bonanza was one of the first prime-time series filmed and broadcast entirely in color. NBC’s corporate parent RCA was selling color television consoles at approximately $399 each in the early 1960s, equivalent to roughly $3,800 today, and needed compelling color programming to justify that price to consumers.
Bonanza, filmed against the spectacular scenery of Lake Tahoe, Nevada, was the perfect showcase. RCA fully financed and sponsored the show’s first two seasons to drive adoption of its hardware.
The strategy worked beyond anyone’s expectations. By 1965, NBC became the first network to transition entirely to color programming. CBS and ABC were caught flatfooted, spending the next two years converting their own catalogs.
Nielsen data showed that households with color sets watched NBC almost exclusively during this period.
The show’s ratings turnaround came in the fall of 1961 when NBC moved it to Sunday evenings at 9:00 PM, replacing The Dinah Shore Chevy Show with Chevrolet as the new primary sponsor.
Bonanza rose from seventeenth place to second in a single season. By 1964 it reached number one, holding that position for three consecutive seasons from 1964 to 1967 and spending nine consecutive seasons in the top five.
The end came abruptly. Dan Blocker died suddenly on May 13, 1972, at age 43. The show attempted to continue without him but never recovered. It was cancelled on January 16, 1973, after 431 episodes.
Lorne Greene Was the Voice of Doom Before He Was Ben Cartwright
Lorne Greene was born in Ottawa, Canada, on February 12, 1915. His older brother died during the 1918 flu epidemic, leaving him an only child. He attended Queen’s University from 1932 to 1937, initially studying chemical engineering before switching to languages to allow more time for the drama guild, where he produced, directed, and performed.
He then attended the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York.
Returning to Canada in 1939, he was hired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a news announcer. His deep baritone delivery of wartime dispatches, including the nightly reading of Canadian soldiers killed in action, earned him the nickname “The Voice of Doom.”
As Allied fortunes improved after 1942, the CBC rebranded him as “The Voice of Canada.” He also invented a reverse chronometer to help radio announcers time their programs to the exact second.
He established the Lorne Greene Academy of Radio Arts, which trained future Hollywood figures including Leslie Nielsen, and co-founded the Jupiter Theatre repertory group. A guest appearance on Wagon Train caught the attention of producer David Dortort, leading to his 14-year run as Ben Cartwright.
Greene was also a recording artist, achieving a number-one Billboard hit in 1964 with the spoken-word Western single “Ringo” on RCA’s label.
After Bonanza, he played Commander Adama in Battlestar Galactica and hosted the nature program Lorne Greene’s New Wilderness from 1982 to 1986. He was married twice and had three children. He died on September 11, 1987, from complications following surgery. He was 72.
Pernell Roberts Left at the Peak and Never Apologized for It
Pernell Roberts was born on May 18, 1928, in Waycross, Georgia. He played horn in high school, served two years in the Marine Corps Band, worked as a butcher and a forest ranger, and eventually established a stage career in New York before arriving in Hollywood in 1958.
He was a classical actor with serious theatrical ambitions, and Bonanza put those ambitions in a box.
His frustrations were specific and articulately expressed. He described Bonanza as “junk” and accused NBC of “perpetuating banality and contributing to the dehumanization of the industry.”
He questioned the fundamental absurdity of his character: “Isn’t it a bit silly for three adult males to have to ask father’s permission for everything they do?”
He felt his character, a college-educated architectural engineer in his thirties, was psychologically impotent. He was also a committed civil rights activist who marched in the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965 and pressured NBC to stop casting white actors in makeup to play non-white characters.
He left after Season 6 in 1965 at the height of the show’s popularity. He spent years in dinner theater and guest television appearances before making a prime-time comeback in 1979 as Dr. John McIntyre in Trapper John, M.D., which ran until 1986.
He was married four times and had one child. After his former co-stars all died before him, he referred to himself routinely as “the last one.”
He was not the last one. Pernell Roberts died of pancreatic cancer in Malibu, California, on January 24, 2010. He was 81. More on his story is covered in the full Adam Cartwright article.
Dan Blocker Had a Master’s Degree and Was Working Toward a PhD
Dan Blocker was born Bobby Dan Davis Blocker on December 10, 1928, in DeKalb, Texas. He weighed 14 pounds at birth, the largest baby ever recorded in Bowie County. He remained extraordinary in size throughout his life, eventually standing 6 foot 4 and weighing upwards of 280 pounds.
What most fans never knew was that Blocker was one of the most educated men on the set of any Western on television. He earned a Bachelor’s degree from Sul Ross State Teachers College in Alpine, Texas, where he was first cast in a production of Arsenic and Old Lace because the crew needed someone his size to physically carry the victims.
He served as an infantry sergeant in the Korean War with the 45th Infantry Division, returned to Sul Ross to earn a Master’s degree in dramatic arts, then moved to California in 1956 to begin a PhD in Dramatic Arts at UCLA.
He was working as a substitute teacher to support his wife Dolphia and their four children while auditioning for roles.
He found steady work quickly in television Westerns including Gunsmoke and The Rifleman before landing Hoss in 1959. He was privately terrified by the scale of the show’s global audience, estimated at 500 million weekly viewers, and the loss of personal privacy that came with it.
His personal philosophy was defined by a quote from the 18th-century Quaker missionary Stephen Grellet: “We shall pass this way on Earth but once; if there is any kindness we can show, or good act we can do, let us do it now, for we will never pass this way again.”
On May 13, 1972, Blocker died suddenly from a post-operative pulmonary embolism following routine gallbladder surgery. He was 43 years old.
His death devastated the cast, the audience, and effectively ended the show. A monument and museum in O’Donnell, Texas, preserve his legacy. More on his story is covered in the full Hoss Cartwright article.
Michael Landon Survived a Childhood That Would Have Broken Most People
Michael Landon was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz on October 31, 1936, in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. His father was a Jewish actor and publicist. His mother was a Roman Catholic Broadway actress who suffered from profound depression and made frequent suicide attempts.
During a family beach vacation, a young Landon had to physically pull his mother from the water as she attempted to drown herself.
He later described it as the worst experience of his life.
His mother’s cruelty extended into his teenage years. He struggled with chronic bedwetting caused by his domestic trauma. She routinely hung his soiled bedsheets out of his bedroom window for classmates and neighbors to see.
He ran home from school every day to pull them down before his peers could spot them. He turned these experiences into the semi-autobiographical 1976 television film The Loneliest Runner, which he wrote, produced, and directed.
He grew up in Collingswood, New Jersey, as one of only two Jewish families in a working-class town, enduring anti-Semitic abuse throughout his youth.
He excelled in track and field, setting javelin records that earned him a college scholarship, before an injury ended his athletic career.
He chose his professional name from a telephone directory and began acting. He was cast in Bonanza at age 22.
On set he was known for emotional intensity. After shooting difficult scenes he would retreat behind the studio water cooler to recover.
When his stepdaughter Cheryl survived a near-fatal car crash in 1974, Landon made a private vow that if she lived he would dedicate his career to creating work that made the world better.
She survived. He kept the promise, going on to write, produce, and star in Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven.
Michael Landon was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in April 1991. He appeared on The Tonight Show to discuss his diagnosis publicly rather than allow rumors to circulate.
He died on July 1, 1991, at age 54. He was married three times and had nine children. More on his story and his Little Joe character is covered in the dedicated Little Joe article.
Victor Sen Yung Was Shot During a Hijacking and Died Alone
Victor Sen Yung played Hop Sing, the Cartwrights’ ranch cook, for all 14 seasons across 107 episodes. Born Victor Cheung Young in San Francisco to Chinese immigrants, his mother died during the 1919 flu epidemic and his father placed him in a children’s shelter before returning to China to remarry.
Yung later attended the University of California, Berkeley, earning a degree in economics and animal husbandry.
He entered show business in 1938, succeeding Keye Luke in the Charlie Chan film series, and earned genuine critical praise for his dramatic performance in the 1940 Bette Davis film The Letter.
He served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II before returning to Hollywood and eventually landing Hop Sing in 1959.
In 1972, Yung was aboard Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 710 during a violent hijacking. During an FBI assault on the runway in San Francisco, he was shot in the lower back. He survived.
Another passenger and both hijackers were killed, marking the first passenger casualties in a U.S. aircraft hijacking. He later appeared on To Tell the Truth to recount the incident. None of the celebrity panelists recognized him.
In his later years Yung faced severe financial hardship, running a small mail-order Chinese pottery business from his North Hollywood home.
In late October 1980, while using a gas oven to cure clayware, he died of accidental natural gas poisoning from a faulty space heater. His body was discovered on November 9, having been dead for approximately ten days. He was 65.
Pernell Roberts, the cast member who had walked away from the show fifteen years earlier, personally paid all of Yung’s funeral expenses and delivered his eulogy.
His memory is honored annually by the Chinese Alumni Association of UC Berkeley through the Victor Sen Young Memorial Scholarship.
The Cast Members Who Are Still Alive
David Canary joined the cast in 1967 as Candy Canaday, the rugged ranch foreman, appearing in roughly 80 episodes. He temporarily left in 1971 during a contract dispute and was rehired for the final season to help fill the void left by Blocker’s death.
He went on to a prolific daytime television career, winning multiple Emmy Awards. He died of natural causes on November 16, 2015.
Mitch Vogel joined in 1970 as Jamie Hunter, the teenage orphan Ben Cartwright adopted as his fourth son. He had earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance alongside Steve McQueen in The Reivers (1969) before joining the show.
After a few late 1970s roles, he left Hollywood permanently, moved to Pittsburgh, raised two daughters, and formed a rock band. He is now back in Southern California, directing church plays and attending Bonanza conventions. He is 70 years old.
Tim Matheson joined in the final season as Griff King, a rehabilitated ex-convict. He has maintained a prolific Hollywood acting and directing career since. He is 78 years old.
Mitch Vogel and Tim Matheson are the only surviving prominent cast members of the series.
Where to Watch Bonanza
Bonanza is currently available on Paramount+, Pluto TV, and Amazon Freevee. The complete 431-episode run spans 14 seasons and remains one of the most extensively available classic Western series in the streaming era.
Why did Bonanza end?
Bonanza ended on January 16, 1973, primarily because of the sudden death of Dan Blocker, who played Hoss Cartwright, on May 13, 1972. Blocker died at age 43 from a pulmonary embolism following routine gallbladder surgery. His death devastated the cast and audience, and the show never recovered its ratings momentum. NBC cancelled it midway through its fourteenth season.
Who played the four Cartwright sons on Bonanza?
The four Cartwright sons were played by Pernell Roberts as Adam, Dan Blocker as Hoss, Michael Landon as Little Joe, and Lorne Greene as patriarch Ben. Pernell Roberts left after Season 6 in 1965. Dan Blocker died in 1972 before the show’s final season. Michael Landon and Lorne Greene remained with the show through its cancellation in 1973.
Is anyone from the Bonanza cast still alive?
The only surviving prominent cast members of Bonanza are Mitch Vogel, who played adopted son Jamie Hunter Cartwright in the final three seasons, and Tim Matheson, who played Griff King in the final season. Mitch Vogel is 70 and lives in Southern California. Tim Matheson is 78 and remains active in Hollywood as an actor and director.
Why did Pernell Roberts leave Bonanza?
Pernell Roberts left Bonanza after Season 6 in 1965 because he was deeply frustrated with the show’s creative limitations. He described Bonanza as ‘junk’ and felt his character, a college-educated architectural engineer in his thirties, was psychologically impotent, constantly deferring to his father’s wishes. He was also a committed civil rights activist who clashed with NBC over its casting practices. Despite the show’s massive ratings and financial rewards, he chose his principles over the paycheck.
How did Dan Blocker die?
Dan Blocker died on May 13, 1972, at age 43, from a pulmonary embolism following routine gallbladder surgery. His death was sudden and unexpected. He had been in good health and the surgery was considered routine. His passing devastated the Bonanza cast and audience and effectively ended the show, which was cancelled less than a year later.
Where can I watch Bonanza?
Bonanza is available to stream on Paramount+, Pluto TV, and Amazon Freevee. The complete 431-episode run across 14 seasons is available across these platforms.
