BONANZA
Sunday, Pernell Roberts, the last of the 4 main stars of probably the greatest* Western TV series of all times, Bonanza, died of pancreatic cancer. . Pernell Roberts left after the 6th season. The story was that he moved to Europe & for a few of the episodes after he left he was occasionally refered to.
In his honor here is the theme from the series with the lyrics sung by Lorne Greene. Yes, there are lyrics. This is followed by the 1st episode, A Rose for Lotta, the pilot. (FYI, on the 1st show of the series, A Rose for Lotta, the 4 stars were to sing a version of the song at the end. It was dropped from initial showing but does occasionally show up elsewhere.)
* OK, I know this is debatable. There were many good Westerns I enjoyed growing up, Maverick, The Wild Wild West, The Big Valley, The High Chaparell, Here Come the Brides, Roy Rogers, among others. Then there is the only Western that I could arguable make the case that was Bonanza's equal, Gunsmoke. But for so many reasons, Bonanza has the most happy memories related to it. Sunday night, homemade pizza, Grandpa, etc. That alone enables me to put it at the top.
posted by Al @ 2:53 AM
4 Comments:
At 26/1/10 10:45 PM ,
Robert Simms said...
After hearing the lyrics, I can understand why they decided on an instrumental theme.
I enjoyed Bonanza but I think Gunsmoke was the better of the two.
Rawhide was one of my favorites, though it wasn't on the air as long as some of the others.
At 27/1/10 1:33 PM ,
Al said...
As I said, Gunsmoke is the only 1 I could argue was it's equal. I enjoyed them both. I think it is the scenery that puts Bonanza over the top for me.
At 27/1/10 9:53 PM ,
TH2 said...
Lorne Greene was a Canadian. Now that's cool, eh?
At 29/1/10 12:21 AM ,
Al said...
TH2, I knew you would have to comment about Lorne Greene being Canadian. He was a great actor. Enjoyed him as Adama in the original version of Battlestar Galactica as well.
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