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"Bonanza" creator David Dortort dies
David Dortort: This name may not mean much to many TV viewers circa 2010, but - as the saying goes - "back in the day," he was a giant.
Dortort, who created "Bonanza" and a handful of other westerns that haven't passed down in the popular imagination or culture quite as pleasingly, has died. He was 93.
I would direct you to a nice Mike Barnes obit in the Hollywood Reporter, and you may also wish to read this most excellent Susan King Los Angeles Times' piece from a year ago. (Thanks, Susan.) She caught up with him at an industry function...
"For 14 seasons, viewers turned in every week to "Bonanza," the first prime-time network western in color. Fans tapped their toes to the now-classic theme song by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, and the Cartwrights -- Ben, Adam, Hoss and Little Joe -- were as familiar to audiences as their own families.
And now the series, which was No. 1 in the ratings from 1964-67, is celebrating its 50th anniversary in style. Earlier this week, CBS Home Entertainment released the first season of the NBC show complete with pristine transfers and fun extras such as an alternate ending to the pilot episode, which features the Cartwrights singing the title tune.
of CBS Home Entertainment. "We wanted to give it the right treatment."On Sunday, the Autry National Center of the American West is holding a "Bonanza" day, which not only celebrates the series but also the career achievements of its creator, David Dortort. In addition to Q&As and panel discussions with the Dortort family and experts, the museum will screen episodes of the show on a continual loop.
"Bonanza" revolved around the rugged, macho Cartwright family, who lived on the 1,000-square-mile Ponderosa ranch on the shore of Lake Tahoe in Nevada near Virginia City. Lorne Greene played patriarch Ben Cartwright, who had sons by each of his three late wives: the urbane Adam (Pernell Roberts); the lovable giant Hoss (Dan Blocker); and the young, impetuous and hot-headed Little Joe (Michael Landon). Victor Sen Yung played the cook, Chinese immigrant Hop Sing.Despite its immense popularity during its long on-air run and subsequent decades in syndication, "Bonanza" wasn't an instant hit. The pilot episode was generally regarded as "pretty bad," according to "Bonanza" expert and head of the series' estate, Andrew J. Klyde.
he had certain people in mind." The Cartwrights were initially much more a family of toughs who aimed to shoot anybody that came upon their land -- a veritable Corleones of the Comstock Lode. "It was an evolution," Klyde says of the show. "If you would watch the pilot today, the characters are unrecognizable." That's because Dortort was under the gun to deliver the first script. "He was producing 'The Restless Gun' during the day and going to NBC at night to write the script," Klyde says. "I remember Lorne complained that they got the script maybe two days before they started filming." During the first season, the four actors had a meeting with Dortort to see if he could make the Cartwrights a little friendlier. As Klyde notes, "Lorne said. 'Why are we always pointing a pistol at someone?' "
Tags: david dortort , bonanza , nbc
