Pernell Roberts~Fugitive From The Ponderosa
TV Guide~August 6, 1966

     Still On The Move, Pernell Roberts Stops Long Enough To Sound Off About Vietnam, Money, Survival, The Truth--And, Oh Yes, 'Bonanza'

     Pernell Roberts, bearded and barefoot, was prowling around the cluttered room.  "Let's face it, man," he said heavily, "I've got a problem."

     There were seconds of silence as he contemplated a Pisa-like tower of books.  There was hopelessness in his gesture, in his tone.

     "Everyday the load gets heavier," intoned TV's most celebrated real-life fugitive."  My big problem now is...."

     His interviewer cocked his ballpoint and awaited the revelation.

     "....how and the hell I am going to get all this (obscenity) packed in time to catch the cruise ship.  Judy and I have been living like gypsies, accumulating all this stuff as we go."  All fugitives should have such problems.

     Since blowing the Ponderosa in February 1965, thus renouncing further claim to the 'Bonanza' bonanza, the erstwhile Adam Cartwright has been as accessible to interviews, as say, Howard Hughes.

     "Look, I didn't solicit this little chat," he said with the ingratiating tact that had endeared him to the rest of the Cartwright clan.  "I happen to like and trust Danny Burack, and that's why you're here.  He said you were an okay guy."

     Danny Burack was the owner of the Galen Beach Hotel, in Key Biscayne, Florida, where the Robertses had checked in a month before for a two-week stay--the tenure of Roberts' reign as the party of the first part in "The King and I" at Miami's Coconut Grove Playhouse.  Nobody, until now, had been bugging him at his oceanfront villa, so he and his attractive Judy had stayed and stayed.  And now they were going to Port Everglades, Nassau, Jamaica, Haiti, to keep the vacation going.  Then back to the States to Milwaukee to pick up a $7500, custom-made Excalibur SS sports car, then home to Hollywood's 99 North Sycamore Ave.  And then?

     "I shall look for employment."
     Another television series?

     The Florida sun was burning brightly, but the temperature in the Roberts villa suddenly plunged like a barometer in a hurricane.

     "There are other opportunities open to actors," he said, as frost formed on near-by fronds.  "The stage, the screen."  Any bookings?

     "Look, I live day to day and deal with things as they come.  There is no program, no grand design.  When I'm not working, I'll be pondering."  Pondering what?  "Man's inhumanity to man."  Could you be a little more specific?

     "Look, I've said it all before.  It's seen in TV Guide and elsewhere.  I see no point in going through the whole shtick again."

     OK.  OK.  What about such mundane things as daily bread?

     "I'm not exactly hungry.  I've got $25,000 in the bank and there's that $500 every week in deferred payments from 'Bonanza', for the next five years.  And they do pay me, you know, for appearing on the stage."

     And how much was he making in 'Bonanza' when he quit?

     "Same as the others.  Ten thousand an episode, for 36 episodes.  Or was it 33 episodes, Judy?  I forget."

     Had he viewed 'Bonanza' since his self-imposed exile?

     "Funny you should ask that.  Just last Sunday night when we were in the sack and the TV was on, and there it was.  Man, was it funny."

     Was it supposed to be funny?

     "No, I don't think so, but it was funnier n' hell.  There was another funny show later that night, 'Under Two Flags', and that broke me up, too, especially when Claudette Colbert kept that rendezvous out there in the desert with Ronald Coleman.  I could see it again."

     "Yeah, I thought how fortunate I am not being with it.  It's amazing how I managed to survive six years of utter frustration.  It really was a crusher for me, mentally.  I even went to a doctor for help.  I had to get out."

     What bugged him most?

     "The plots, the godawful plots.  They take a plot and write it six different ways for six different Sundays.  One week it's lawyer night.  Next week it's rancher night.  You change the protagonist, but it's the same old plot.  And the writing, Gad!"

     There was silence as Roberts soulsearched the ocean, pondered, than padded his way into the kitchen to build another round of drinks.

     "Look, I've no desire to throw anymore brickbats.  If I hadn't seen the show accidentally on Sunday night, you wouldn't even have got me to talk about it.  Why talk about things that don't even matter?  There are big things happening, like Vietnam."

     What about Vietnam?

     "I think it's a tragic farce.  When I hear and read about our country's need to 'save face', I don't know whether to laugh or cry.  What the hell, if I'm wrong, I admit it, period.  It's a schizophrenic thing.  Actually, what it all boils down to is that there is no altruism in the world, and therein lies the great tragedy.  God, I wish I could be more articulate.  So much is happening in the world today."

     If Pernell Roberts could do a one-sentence broadcast to the world, what would be his message?  There wasn't a split-beat of hesitation.

     "I would tell all of humanity to stop hating, start loving."

     Judy Roberts, who has trudged alongside her husband in the Selma march, beamed happily: "I like the slogan.  Let's make love, not war."

     "Beautiul, beautiful", Pernell said.  "I would want my message to be beamed mainly to the young people, to make them understand real values.  I would love to address student organizations, engage in campus debates, make them see the truth."

     And what is The Truth?

     "That there's a helluva lot more to life than making money.  I sometimes think that people don't care about anything except making the (obscenity) dollar."

     Isn't money necessary to survive?

     "Look, myself, I have a strong sense of survival.  I try to behave in such a way that I cannot be victimized or destroyed, literally or figuratively by the conscious hysteria of the society in which we live."

     Is anyone seeking to victimize or destroy him?

     "Let's just say that I haven't been able to prove anything--not yet, anyway--and let it go at that.  My lawyers know what's happening.  I'm not about to be intimidated by anyone, no powerful he may imagine himself to be."

     Could he name names?
     Someone high in the network?

     "I could, but I won't.  Let's see how things develop."

     It was time to dine.

     "You must try pompano amandine a la' Galen," Pernell Roberts said.  "It's truly superb.  But first a Margarita."  He summoned the bartender.

     "Remember now, one and one-half parts tequila, one part lemon juice, one-half part Triple Sec or Cointeau.  Make sure the glass is thoroughly chilled and rimmed with salt."

     "Yes, sir", the bartender burbled, grabbing for bottles.  "One Pernell Roberts Special coming up."


     ~By Jerry Kobrin