120 Fun Facts About Bonanza

Bonanza, the Western about the Cartwright family, ran from 1959 to 1973 on which US network?

NBC aired Bonanza for all 14 seasons, from September 1959 to January 1973, making it the network's longest-running Western.

What is the name of the Cartwright family ranch?

The Ponderosa takes its name from the ponderosa pine, the tall yellow pine common across the mountain West and the Sierra Nevada.

Who played patriarch Ben Cartwright?

Lorne Greene played Ben Cartwright for all 14 seasons; he was 44 when the series began, only 13 years older than Pernell Roberts, who played his eldest son.

Which real Nevada town was the closest to the Cartwright ranch?

Virginia City, the real Nevada boomtown, was the Cartwrights' nearest town; they rode in to see the sheriff, and the show's original town set was modeled on it.

The Cartwrights' thousand-square-mile ranch in Bonanza sat on the eastern shore of which body of water?

Lake Tahoe is the body of water; the fictional ranch covered the Nevada side east of the lake, and the opening map burns away to reveal the Cartwrights riding out of its pines.

What was Hoss Cartwright's real first name?

Eric was his given name on the show; the nickname was explained as an old-country term for a big, friendly man, which suited Dan Blocker's 6-foot-4 frame.

How many sons did Ben Cartwright have when Bonanza began in 1959?

Three sons rode with Ben at the start, each by a different wife; he had been widowed three times before the series began.

Which Cartwright son was the architect who built the ranch house?

Adam was written as a university-educated architectural engineer, unlike his brothers.

Who played the family's cook, Hop Sing?

Victor Sen Yung played Hop Sing; he was already familiar to film audiences as Jimmy Chan, the number two son in the Charlie Chan movies.

Where was Bonanza's title term borrowed from?

Miners' slang for a rich vein of silver ore gave the show its title, a nod to the 1859 Comstock Lode strike beneath the Cartwrights' nearest town.

How many episodes of Bonanza were made?

Bonanza made 431 episodes across 14 seasons between 1959 and 1973, second only to one other network Western in longevity.

Which Western is the only one that ran longer than Bonanza on American network TV?

Gunsmoke ran on CBS for 20 seasons.

Which set of ancestries was given to the mothers of Ben Cartwright's sons?

English, Swedish and French Creole: Elizabeth Stoddard of New England, Inger Borgstrom from Sweden and Marie from New Orleans, each profiled in a flashback episode.

Why did NBC keep Bonanza despite its weak ratings in the early seasons?

It was filmed in color and helped RCA sell color TV sets; RCA, the network's parent, was also the show's primary sponsor for the first two seasons.

Which sponsor took over when Bonanza moved to Sunday nights for its third season?

Chevrolet became the sponsor when Bonanza moved to Sunday at 9 pm in 1961; the Cartwrights appeared in Chevrolet commercials, and the Sunday slot sent the ratings soaring.

Between which years was Bonanza the number one show in the Nielsen ratings?

From 1964 to 1967 Bonanza was television's top-rated show every season, part of a nine-season run in the Nielsen top five.

Which sitcom was Bonanza scheduled against in the fall of 1972, hastening its cancellation?

Maude, the new CBS hit, was Bonanza's Tuesday-night opponent in fall 1972; the move from Sunday plus the loss of Dan Blocker sent ratings plunging and the network cancelled it in January 1973.

What was the name of Ben Cartwright's horse on Bonanza?

Buck was Ben Cartwright's buckskin; his sons' mounts were Chub, the pinto Cochise and Sport.

Who wrote Bonanza's famous theme song?

Jay Livingston and Ray Evans wrote the theme; the pair also wrote 'Que Sera, Sera' and 'Mona Lisa', and David Rose scored the series and arranged their theme for television.

What happened to the scene of the Cartwrights singing the theme song at the end of the pilot?

It was cut before broadcast as too campy; the footage of the four Cartwrights singing the lyrics as they rode off survived and resurfaced decades later on home video.

Whose orchestra took an instrumental Bonanza theme to No. 19 on the Hot 100 in 1961?

Al Caiola's guitar-led orchestra took an instrumental 'Bonanza' to No. 19 on the Hot 100 in 1961, the same year his 'The Magnificent Seven' theme also charted.

Which country star recorded a version of the Bonanza theme with rewritten lyrics for a 1962 single?

Johnny Cash recorded 'Bonanza!' in 1962 with words he co-wrote with Johnny Western; the series never used his version.

Ben Cartwright's actor had a 1964 spoken-word number one about which real Old West outlaw?

Johnny Ringo, the Arizona gunman, was the subject of 'Ringo', the 1964 spoken-word ballad by Ben Cartwright's actor that topped the Billboard Hot 100 that December.

In which country was Ben Cartwright's actor born?

Canada: he was born in Ottawa in 1915, and as a CBC radio newsreader during the war his grim delivery earned him the nickname 'The Voice of Doom'.

Ben Cartwright's actor later played which role in the original Battlestar Galactica?

Commander Adama, leader of the fugitive fleet in the 1978 Battlestar Galactica, gave the actor a second famous patriarch role, which he reprised in Galactica 1980.

Which sport did Dan Blocker star in at Sul Ross State in Texas?

Football: Dan Blocker played on the Sul Ross State line before graduating in 1950 with a degree in speech and drama, and he taught school before acting.

In which war did Dan Blocker serve as an infantry sergeant, earning a Purple Heart?

Korean War: Dan Blocker served as an infantry sergeant with the 45th Infantry Division from December 1951 to August 1952 and was awarded a Purple Heart.

Which restaurant chain did Dan Blocker part-own and promote in character as Hoss?

Bonanza Steakhouse, founded in 1963, gave Dan Blocker a stake in return for promoting it in character; the chain later came under the same owner as a rival named for the Cartwright ranch.

What caused Dan Blocker's death in May 1972?

A pulmonary embolism after gallbladder surgery killed Dan Blocker at 43; Robert Altman had just cast him in The Long Goodbye and dedicated the film to him.

Who was Little Joe's bride, murdered soon after the wedding, in the 1972 episode 'Forever'?

Alice Harper, played by Bonnie Bedelia, marries Joe in 'Forever' and is killed by her brother's gambling creditors, sending Joe on a revenge hunt.

Little Joe's actor was born under what name?

Eugene Maurice Orowitz was the birth name of Little Joe's actor; his 1954 javelin throw was the longest by any US high schooler that year and won him a USC scholarship.

Which 1957 horror film made Little Joe's actor a teen sensation before Bonanza?

I Was a Teenage Werewolf, released in 1957 by American International Pictures, made him a teen sensation two years before Bonanza premiered.

How old was the actor playing Little Joe when Bonanza began in 1959?

He was 22, born October 31, 1936; the youngest Cartwright drew the most fan mail and used that leverage to write and direct episodes.

Which series did the actor playing Joe Cartwright star in the year after Bonanza was cancelled?

Little House on the Prairie premiered in 1974, with Little Joe's actor as Charles Ingalls opposite nine-year-old Melissa Gilbert in the pilot.

Little Joe's 1972 two-hour wedding episode was originally written with which character as the groom?

Hoss was the intended groom; Little Joe's actor rewrote his own 'Forever' script after Dan Blocker died in May 1972, giving the wedding to Joe instead.

Pernell Roberts left Bonanza at the end of which TV season?

The 1964-65 season, the sixth, was his last; he fulfilled his six-year contract but refused to extend it, unhappy with the scripts and his character's deference to his father.

Which later series gave Pernell Roberts its title role as a chief surgeon?

Trapper John, M.D. starred him as chief of surgery John McIntyre from 1979 to 1986; he was the last surviving original Cartwright when he died in 2010.

How was Adam's absence explained after Roberts left the show?

He had 'moved away' was all the show offered at first; later episodes variously put him at sea, in Europe or on the East Coast.

Which former TV Zorro was added in 1964 as Ben's nephew Will Cartwright?

Guy Williams, Disney's TV Zorro, played Will Cartwright in five 1964 episodes; slated as a permanent lead, he was written out when Roberts agreed to stay another year.

What was the name of the ranch foreman played by David Canary from 1967?

Candy Canaday was David Canary's ranch foreman; producer David Dortort cast him after seeing him in the 1967 Paul Newman Western Hombre.

David Canary later won five Daytime Emmys for playing Adam Chandler on which soap opera?

All My Children was the soap; Canary played both Adam Chandler and the character's meek twin Stuart from 1983 and left the show in 2010.

Red-haired orphan Jamie Hunter, adopted by Ben in the final seasons, was played by which child actor?

Mitch Vogel played Jamie; he had earned a Golden Globe nomination for The Reivers before joining the cast at 14 in 1970.

Which future Animal House star played parolee Griff King in Bonanza's final season?

Tim Matheson, five years before Animal House, played Griff King, a parolee placed in Ben's custody to attract younger viewers before the series was cancelled in January 1973.

Who played Sheriff Roy Coffee?

Ray Teal played Sheriff Roy Coffee in 98 episodes; he had played lawmen on screen for decades, including the sheriff in Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole.

The actor who played Deputy Clem Foster was the father of which Hollywood star?

Kurt Russell is the son of Bing Russell, who played Deputy Clem; Bing later played Vernon Presley opposite Kurt's Elvis in the 1979 TV film.

In 1972 the actor who played Hop Sing was shot in the back during what incident?

The hijacking of a Pacific Southwest Airlines flight in July 1972 ended with an FBI assault in which he was shot in the back; he recovered and kept acting.

Hop Sing's actor, a skilled chef, published which book in 1974?

The Great Wok Cookbook, published in 1974, came from a genuine skill: Hop Sing's actor was an accomplished cook who gave Chinese cooking demonstrations.

Which studio backlot held Bonanza's original town set from 1959 to 1970?

Paramount's Western street housed the town set from 1959 until 1970, when production moved to the cheaper Burbank Studios lot.

How did the 1970 season-12 premiere allow the show to switch to a cheaper studio?

It echoed a real 1875 fire that destroyed three-quarters of Virginia City.

From the third season, why did the Cartwrights wear the same clothes in nearly every episode?

So stock footage and stunt doubles could be reused: identical outfits, like Little Joe's green jacket and Ben's tan coat, let editors splice in earlier riding footage.

Which original cast member was the only one who never wore a hairpiece on the series?

Michael Landon alone kept his own hair; Blocker began wearing a toupee in 1968 as he neared 40, and the other two original leads also wore hairpieces.

In which Nevada community was the Bonanza theme park located?

Incline Village, Nevada, held the theme park, which ran for more than thirty years with a replica of the Cartwright ranch house and a Western town for tourists.

How many Bonanza episodes were actually filmed at the Nevada theme park?

Shuttling cast and crew to Lake Tahoe every week proved too expensive, so most ranch scenes were shot on a Paramount sound stage.

Bonanza creator David Dortort also produced which other NBC Western that ran from 1967 to 1971?

The High Chaparral, set in Arizona Territory, ran from 1967 to 1971 on the same network; Dortort's attention shifted to it, leaving Bonanza largely to his associates in its last years.

What was the first of the three reunion TV movies, aired in 1988?

Bonanza: The Next Generation, a 1988 syndicated TV movie, introduced Ben's brother Aaron, played by John Ireland, running the ranch after Ben's death.

In the 1993 film Bonanza: The Return, Adam is revealed to have emigrated to which country?

His son A.C. visits the Ponderosa and explains that recurring malaria kept his elderly father from travelling.

Who played Ben Cartwright in the 2001 prequel series about the young Cartwrights?

Daniel Hugh Kelly, earlier of Hardcastle and McCormick, played a younger Ben Cartwright in the 2001 PAX prequel, which followed the family's first years in Nevada.

Which Star Trek actor played outlaw Frank James in the 1995 movie Bonanza: Under Attack?

Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek's Spock, played the outlaw Frank James in the 1995 TV movie Bonanza: Under Attack, the last of the reunion films.

Which future Nobel physicist appears as a bullied Jewish schoolboy in the episode 'Look to the Stars'?

Albert Michelson, who really did grow up in the Comstock boomtown before winning the 1907 Nobel Prize in Physics, is the schoolboy Ben helps toward the Naval Academy.

Where was Hoss born, according to the family backstory?

On a wagon train in Nebraska: he was born during the family's trek west, and his mother Inger was killed by an arrow at Ash Hollow soon afterward.

What did Ben Cartwright do for a living before heading west?

He was a seaman: Ben sailed under Captain Abel Stoddard and married the captain's daughter Elizabeth, who died soon after giving birth to their son.

Which company made the saddles the Bonanza cast rode?

The show's horses were rented from Idyllwild Stables during the first season.

Bonanza is set roughly from 1861 to 1867, a stretch that coincides with Nevada Territory becoming what?

Nevada joined the Union as a US state in that window, so the stories unfold during and just after the American Civil War.

Who played Little Joe's son Benji in the reunion TV movies?

Michael Landon Jr. played Benji, Little Joe's son, in the reunion films; he and Dirk Blocker also co-hosted the 1993 retrospective Back to Bonanza.

Which CBS legal drama did Bonanza face on Saturday nights in its first season?

Perry Mason, CBS's Saturday-night courtroom hit, usually beat Bonanza in its first season, until the 1961 move to Sundays sent the Western's ratings soaring.

In 'Enter Thomas Bowers', what is the profession of the freedman the Cartwrights defend?

Opera singer: Thomas Bowers, played by William Marshall, comes to town to perform and is jailed as a runaway slave before the Cartwrights clear him.

In which year was the Ponderosa Ranch tourist attraction in Nevada finally sold?

2004: software billionaire David Duffield bought the ranch attraction that year and closed it; the recreated ranch house had drawn visitors since opening in 1967.

Where did TV Guide rank Bonanza on its 2002 list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time?

No. 43 was Bonanza's spot on TV Guide's 2002 list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, one of the few Westerns to make the ranking.

At which California reservoir was the opening scene for the first season shot?

The reservoir sits in California's San Jacinto Mountains, where extra horses were also rented from stables in Idyllwild.

To which company did NBC sell the rights to Bonanza, along with its pre-1973 library, in 1973?

National Telefilm Associates bought Bonanza with the network's pre-1973 library in 1973; NTA renamed itself Republic Pictures in 1984 and later became part of Spelling Entertainment.

Which object is seen ablaze in Bonanza's opening titles, just as the Cartwrights appear on horseback?

A map of the ranch blazes on screen as the theme begins, and autographed copies of it were sold as souvenirs at the Nevada theme park for decades.

In a 1963 comic episode of Bonanza, Hoss Cartwright brings home a strongbox of gold that he says belongs to whom?

Leprechauns get the credit, and once a newly arrived Irish professor confirms that the creatures are real, the whole town goes out searching for them.

Which rival Western spoofed Bonanza with rancher Joe Wheelwright of the Subrosa and sons Aaron, Moose and Small Paul?

Maverick did it in the episode Three Queens Full, where Jim Backus plays Wheelwright and blackmails gambler Bart into escorting mail-order brides for the three sons.

Howard Duff guest-starred on early Bonanza as which future literary giant, then a crusading young journalist out West?

Mark Twain appears under his birth name, Samuel Clemens, as a satirical newspaperman in an episode titled Enter Mark Twain.

Which young performer, later a Las Vegas institution, acted and sang on Bonanza as Andy, a baby-faced ranch hand?

Wayne Newton played Andy Walker in two episodes, and it was during the filming of Bonanza that he first met Elvis Presley, who became a good friend.

Dirk Blocker, son of Bonanza's Hoss actor, later spent years as Detective Hitchcock on which police sitcom?

Brooklyn Nine-Nine kept him busy from 2013 to 2021, and he also turned up in two Bonanza reunion movies, cast as a newspaper reporter instead of a Cartwright.

Which Golden Girls star co-hosted Macy's Thanksgiving parade for nearly a decade with Bonanza's Ben Cartwright actor?

Betty White was his parade partner for nearly a decade. In later years he turned to wildlife television, hosting and narrating the nature series New Wilderness.

David Rose, who scored Bonanza's episodes and won an Emmy for it, also wrote which chart-topping 1962 instrumental?

The Stripper was written in 1958 for a television special saluting burlesque and only became a hit four years later. Rose's Emmy for Bonanza followed in 1971.

The Cartwright family ranch on Bonanza takes its name from a species of which tree, common across the American West?

Pine trees named the Ponderosa: producer David Dortort said he was inspired by the many ponderosa pines that grow at the ranch's fictional site.

In which later series did Bonanza's Little Joe actor play Jonathan Smith, an angel on probation sent to help people?

Highway to Heaven was the only show he ever owned outright, and he created it to keep a promise he made while his daughter lay in a coma.

The songwriters behind Bonanza's theme won an Oscar for which song from Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much?

Que Sera, Sera brought the pair the third of their Best Song Oscars, and they also wrote the theme tune for the sitcom Mister Ed.

The daughter of Bonanza's Ben Cartwright actor, seen in a reunion movie, married which horror director in 1993?

Sam Raimi, maker of The Evil Dead and later the Spider-Man trilogy, married her in 1993. In the 1988 reunion film she plays the love interest of Little Joe's son.

Bonanza's Ben Cartwright actor spent the 1970s as the television spokesman for which brand of dog food?

Alpo put him in its commercials through the 1970s, and those adverts are one suggested origin of the business phrase about eating your own dog food.

After Bonanza wrote out Ben's nephew Will Cartwright, the actor went on to lead which science fiction series?

Lost in Space cast him as the father of the Robinson family in 1965, after his star billing on Bonanza led nowhere once the eldest son's actor chose to stay another year.

Bonanza's original Western town set, in use until 1970, also turned up in episodes of which family sitcom?

The Brady Bunch borrowed the standing street, as did Mannix and Have Gun, Will Travel, before Bonanza left it for a cheaper studio in its final seasons.

Four years after Bonanza ended, its Ben Cartwright actor played John Reynolds in which landmark television miniseries?

Roots cast him as John Reynolds, the first master of the enslaved Kunta Kinte, a sharp change from the kindly patriarch of the Ponderosa.

Which game show host turned actor to play a man named Mort in the 1960 Bonanza episode 'Denver McKee'?

Bob Barker was already hosting Truth or Consequences when he played Mort, one of the very few times he appeared on screen as anyone but himself.

The actor who played Bonanza parolee Griff King had earlier voiced which animated boy adventurer of the 1960s?

Jonny Quest was a part he recorded as a teenager, and decades later he played Vice President John Hoynes in The West Wing.

Before 1861, the real-life site of Bonanza's Cartwright ranch was officially part of which larger territory?

Utah Territory covered the land until Nevada Territory split away in 1861, which makes the 2001 prequel, set in Nevada Territory in 1849, an anachronism.

Beth Sullivan, who oversaw the 2001 Bonanza prequel about the young Cartwrights, had created which 1990s frontier drama?

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was her creation, and her hiring is credited with giving the prequel a softer edge, with less gunfire and brawling than the original.

Jonathan Harris guest-starred on Bonanza in 1963 as which visiting British novelist, whose arrogance riles the town?

Charles Dickens arrives in the episode A Passion for Justice and is soon embroiled in controversy with the locals.

Which star of The Ten Commandments played entertainer Lotta Crabtree in the very first episode of Bonanza?

Yvonne De Carlo, later Lily in The Munsters, plays a real stage star who is hired to lure Little Joe away so that he can be held for ransom.

Which Robert Altman film is dedicated to Bonanza's Dan Blocker, who died before he could play its Roger Wade?

The Long Goodbye went ahead with Sterling Hayden in the part. Altman had befriended Blocker years earlier while directing episodes of Bonanza.

In the Bonanza reunion movies, Little Joe Cartwright is said to have died fighting in which conflict?

Spanish–American War service is the fate the sequels give him; his son Benj appears in all three films and his daughter Sarah in the later two.

Which future Alien and Top Gun actor played the deranged soldier who stalks Little Joe in Bonanza's final episode?

Tom Skerritt plays Corporal Bill Tanner in The Hunter, an episode both written and directed by the star who played Little Joe.

A first-season Bonanza episode dramatises which real invention by German-born mining engineer Philip Deidesheimer?

Square-set timbering, inspired by honeycombs, braced weak ground with heavy timber cubes. John Beal plays the engineer in the 1959 episode named after him.

Bonanza's creator wrote its pilot script at night while spending his days producing which John Payne Western?

The Restless Gun also gave early work to two future Cartwrights: Little Joe's actor appeared in its pilot and Dan Blocker played several roles across five episodes.

Which actor and civil rights activist guest-starred as a freed slave helped by Hoss in the Bonanza episode 'The Wish'?

Ossie Davis starred in the 1969 episode, which was written and directed by Little Joe's actor and won a Bronze Wrangler at the Western Heritage Awards.

The young actor behind Bonanza's Jamie Hunter earned a Golden Globe nomination for which film of a Faulkner novel?

The Reivers put him opposite Steve McQueen in 1969, the year before he arrived on the Ponderosa as a red-haired orphan.

Four years before Bonanza, Pernell Roberts won a Drama Desk Award off-Broadway in which Shakespeare tragedy?

Macbeth won him the award in 1955, and he went on to play Mercutio and to appear at the American Shakespeare Festival before television came calling.

Before acting, Bonanza's Pernell Roberts played tuba and horn in the band of which branch of the US military?

The Marines had him for two years from 1946, and besides tuba and horn he was also skilled on the sousaphone and percussion.

Stanley Kubrick approached Bonanza's Dan Blocker for a part in which film, only for his agent to reject the script?

Dr. Strangelove missed out when his agent turned the script down, and the part went to Slim Pickens, who made the ride down on the bomb famous.

What was Dan Blocker's profession in Texas and New Mexico before he was cast as Hoss on Bonanza?

Schoolteacher was his trade: he taught high-school drama in Sonora, then sixth grade in Carlsbad, and he held a master's degree in the dramatic arts.

Which track and field event won Bonanza's Little Joe actor a scholarship to the University of Southern California?

Javelin was his event: his 1954 throw was the longest by any American high schooler that year, but torn shoulder ligaments ended his days as a college athlete.

Reading the wartime news on the radio earned Bonanza's future Ben Cartwright which nickname?

The Voice of Doom stuck as his deep, resonant delivery carried ever more distressing war news. He also invented a countdown stopwatch for radio announcers.

David Canary, who joined Bonanza as a ranch foreman, was reputedly a great-great-nephew of which frontierswoman?

Calamity Jane was born Martha Jane Canary, and the actor and his two brothers were said to be her great-great-nephews.

Before Bonanza, the actor who played Hop Sing was known as Jimmy, the number two son of which film detective?

Charlie Chan had him as son Jimmy in eleven films between 1938 and 1942, after Keye Luke, who played the number one son, left the series.

On Bonanza, Hoss Cartwright's nickname is explained as his mother's endearing term for what kind of man?

Big and friendly is the meaning, a nod to his ample girth. His given name, chosen to honour his mother's father, is hardly ever used.

What was the first name of Hoss Cartwright's mother, the second wife Ben married in Illinois on the journey west?

Inger Borgstrom is killed in an attack at the Ash Hollow station on the way west, leaving Ben to carry on to Nevada with two boys.

In Bonanza's backstory, what killed Little Joe Cartwright's mother when the boy was only five years old?

A fall from a horse killed Ben's third wife outside the family home. The 2001 prequel rewrote her death, having her killed in town instead.

On a trip to sell beaver pelts, Ben Cartwright of Bonanza met and married his third wife in which Southern port?

New Orleans was home to his third wife, a widow whose first husband is given three different names across two episodes and a spin-off song.

The Bonanza reunion movies finally explained Hoss Cartwright's absence from the last season: how had he died?

He drowned while trying to save another person's life, a detail given only in the 1988 film. The series itself merely implied that he had died.

From Bonanza's third season on, Little Joe Cartwright wore a corduroy jacket of which shade in nearly every episode?

Green corduroy became his trademark, and the jacket later hung on display beside his brother's suede vest at the Nevada theme park.

TV Guide's 2004 list of the 50 greatest TV dads put Bonanza's Ben Cartwright second, behind which sitcom father?

Cliff Huxtable of The Cosby Show took first place. Ben, three times a widower and raising sons by each of his late wives, came second.

Jamie Hunter, the young orphan Ben Cartwright adopts on Bonanza, was the son of a travelling what?

Rainmaker was the family trade, and the boy tries it himself during a drought before Ben takes him in and later adopts him.

On Bonanza, Griff King is paroled into Ben Cartwright's custody after nearly killing which abusive relative?

His stepfather was the victim. The character first appears in an episode where Ben inspects the Nevada State Prison and its inmates take him hostage.

During a 1960s contract dispute, Bonanza's David Canary was shortlisted to take over which Star Trek role?

Mr. Spock nearly needed a new actor during the dispute, and the producers' list of possible replacements included Canary, as two of them later revealed in a book.

Which tough-guy film star played the unhinged prospector who enslaves Adam Cartwright in Bonanza's 'The Crucible'?

Lee Marvin plays Peter Kane, who has Adam at his mercy in the desert and works him like a slave in the hope of driving him to murder.

Where did Bonanza's Little Joe actor find the stage name he adopted on a Los Angeles talent agent's advice?

A telephone book supplied the new name while he was working at a gas station across from the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank.

In which state did Bonanza's Ben Cartwright actor build himself a replica of the show's ranch house?

Arizona is home to the Ponderosa II House, which he built in the town of Mesa and which now appears on its register of historic properties.