Question The reason I watch Bonanza is because of Pernell Roberts. I read about his reasons for leaving the show and can relate to him feeling that the "job" was below his talents/standards.
But everyone, famous and otherwise, has delt with jobs/tasks they weren't crazy about as a means to get to the things they really wanted. How many famous people started out working at McDonalds? Or doing all kinds of odd jobs waiting to get their big break?
I often see in the episodes how he rolls his eyes in the background or how he looks sort of unimpressed in the beginning when it shows all the starring actors (by the way, Dan, Michael and Lorne are all smiling).
With any goal, it's rare that we acheive what we want the first time. And sometimes you must cut your losses and move on.
But was Pernell really getting a raw deal with Bonanza, or was he just being snobbish and acting like a big baby because he wasn't able to get what he wanted when he wanted it? Is Pernell overly sensitive?
Answer Rebecca
Pernell was getting the same deal as the other three cast members were getting. In fact he was the most popular of the four in terms of fan mail received. He would have had a lot more leverage when negotiating his contract than the others in some respects. But he was unhappy and left when his contract expired. In fact the others who stayed negotiated phenomenal deals for year 7 - which in those days was the bogie for syndication type deals- and went on to become phenomenally wealthy. One story I heard was that the other three called the show the product - and approached it as business men - and reaped the benefits.
