Were The Cartwrights Cursed?
A long-running joke on the show “Bonanza” is about the Cartwright curse. Fans and cast members alike all knew about this unspoken curse. Anytime someone from the Cartwright family fell in love, the woman would end up dead or leaving. This quickly became known as the Cartwright curse.
Fans of the show really wanted to witness a marriage that lasted. But apparently, the show’s creators wanted this famous father figure to raise his children alone. Maybe they were trying to prove his strength, and show he did not need a woman by his side.
Adam Cartwright Could Have Been Played By Zorro
When you are an actor, sometimes you are faced with the difficult decision of having to decide between two roles. The role of Adam Cartwright was initially offered to actor Guy Williams. Guy turned down the offer and instead accepted the role of Zorro.
Even though he turned down the role of Adam Cartwright, he did appear on “Bonanza” in five episodes. He came on to play the role of Will Cartwright, who was Adam's cousin. The role was actually created to replace Pernell Roberts, in case he walked off set. They knew that he was volatile, so they had to be safe.
Hoss Was A Nickname
The character of Hoss Cartwright was actually just a nickname! The real character’s name was Eric Haas Cartwright. The other characters on “Bonanza”, including his family, called him by the nickname Hoss. It may have seemed like a strange nickname, but it is actually just a variation of his middle name, Hoss.
Eric “Hoss” Cartwright was played by the actor Dan Blocker. The character was gentle and kind, despite Blocker’s enormous stature. The nickname was also said to refer to Hoss being big, but friendly. The writers explain the nickname in an episode flashback, where the brothers give him a nickname to see what sticks.
Not Their Real Hair
Do you think you could spot real hair from fake hair? You may be surprised to learn that most of the actors on the show “Bonanza” wore toupees. Some of the actors that wore a toupee were Blocker, Roberts, and Green. Landon’s hair, on the other hand, was very real. Some men started to wear them as the series went on, since their hair started to thin. After all, the series ran over a decade!
Not only did some men wear toupees on the show, but some even had their heads painted to look like they had hair! See if you notice next time you watch the show!
Screen Time For All
“Bonanza” is one of the greatest shows of all time. Not only was it the very first show broadcast in color, but it also portrayed the male characters in a different light. The writers made sure to make all of the men very likable. Not dim-witted, like other male characters from shows during this time.
Not only that, the writers wanted to make sure that all four male characters in the show had equal screen time. They did not want one to shine over the others. The scripts were all inspected to make sure every episode was equal. This balance was one of the things that must have made the show so successful.