Pernell Roberts - After Bonanza

After Bonanza

After Bonanza, Roberts played the straw hat circuit, regional theaters, and episodic TV, which gave him the opportunity to play a wide variety of roles. He toured with musicals such as The King and I, "Kiss me Kate," Camelot and The Music Man and dramas such as Tiny Alice. He played Jigger in an ABC television presentation of Carousel and was featured in a CBS Playhouse production, Dear Friends.

In 1967, Roberts starred in the lavish, but short - lived David Merrick production of Mata Hari, directed by Vincente Minnelli. The show had a much publicized "chaotic" preview performance due to technical problems stemming from lack of rehearsal time at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., where the preview performance took place. "What was offered the people of Washington was a dress rehearsal. David Merrick spoke to the audience beforehand warning them of this". Problems were corrected by the official opening night, when the show received good reviews for Roberts, musical score and lyrics, stage design and costumes, but poor reviews for its co-star and other aspects of the production. The show, nevertheless was thought to have the potential to continue to Broadway. "Mata Hari was a show with a great story, two fascinating characters and some accessory mess that could have easily been tidied up by anyone but Vincente Minnelli." But Merrick, "instead of bringing someone to clean house closed the production down" ("Opening A New Window: The Broadway Musical in the 1960s," p. 205 Ethan Morrden, October 29, 2002).

In 1972, Roberts returned to Broadway and toured with Ingrid Bergman in Captain Brassbound's Conversion, in which he played the title role. "Particularly helpful is Pernell Roberts in the acted upon title role... This actor is a sturdy, not unamusing leading- man type and may his appearance as a Bergman costar be rewarded beyond Bonanza."

In 1973, Roberts was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for his performance in Welcome Home, at the Ivanhoe Theatre in Chicago.

The same year, Roberts starred as Rhett Butler opposite Lesley Ann Warren, in another major production, Gone with the Wind, at the Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, again receiving good personal reviews, amidst weak reviews for the rest of the show.

Additional stage credits after Bonanza include Two for the Seesaw, A Thousand Clowns, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Any Wednesday and The Sound of Music (as Captain von Trapp).

He did The Night of the Iguana while still playing in Bonanza in 1963.

Roberts guest starred in TV shows such as The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., The Virginian, The Big Valley, Lancer, Mission: Impossible, Marcus Welby, M.D., The Wild Wild West, Ironside, The Rockford Files, Gunsmoke, Mannix, Vega$, The Odd Couple, Hawaii Five-O, The Love Boat, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, San Francisco International, Nakia, Night Gallery, The Bold Ones, The Quest, Police Story, Most Wanted, Westside Medical, Man From Atlantis, Jigsaw John, Sixth Sense, Quincy, M.E, Feather and Father Gang, Hawkins, Men from Shiloh, Perry Mason, Wide World of Mystery, Six Million Dollar Man, and appeared in mini-series, including Captain and the Kings, Centennial, Hotel, The Immigrants, and Around the World in Eighty Days. He starred in two cult films, Four Rode Out and Kashmiri Run, directed by the veteran TV director John Peyser, and made some feature films, including The Magic of Lassie. He co-starred or was featured in several TV movies, including, The Adventures of Nick Carter, Dead Man on the Run, The Night Rider, The Silent Gun, The Lives of Jenny Dolan, The Deadly Tower, Hot Rod, Desperado (TV Movie), The Bravos, High Noon, Part II, and Assignment Munich.

In 1979, Roberts again achieved "superstar" status (TV Guide, 1982) as the lead in Trapper John, M.D. (1979–86), receiving an Emmy nomination in 1981; and playing the character twice as long as Wayne Rogers had (1972–1975) on the CBS M*A*S*H series. Roberts told TV Guide (1979) that he chose to return to weekly television after watching his father age, and realizing that it was a vulnerable time to be without financial security. "The show allowed Roberts to both use his dramatic range and address issues," wrote The Independent.

Of the period between series, Roberts said he enjoyed moving around and playing different characters. During that time, he also toured university campuses conducting seminars on play production, acting and poetry.

In 1988, Roberts co-starred with Milla Jovovich in the TV movie The Night Train to Kathmandu.

He guest starred as Hezekiah Horn in the powerful Young Riders episode, "Requiem for a Hero," for which he won a Western Heritage Award in 1991.

In interviews, Roberts had described television as a "director's and film cutter's medium" (Pittsburgh Press, April 28, 1967), but he himself was described as a "born television actor........low key" (TV Guide, 1982).

In the 1980s and 1990s, playing off his Trapper John M.D. persona, Roberts acted as TV spokesman for Ecotrin, a brand of analgesic tablets.

Recent roles included Donor (thriller, 1990) with Melissa Gilbert and Checkered Flag (action, 1990).

He appeared as captain of the CBS teams for Battle of the Network Stars 11 and 12.

He narrated documentaries, including the National Geographic episode, "Alaska, The Great Land," in 1965; "In the Realm of the Alligator," in 1986; the TV special Code One, about the work of paramedics, 1989 and, "The Mountain Men" episode of the History Channel, 1999.

From 1991–1993, in his last venture into series television, Roberts lent his distinctive voice to host and narrate the TV anthology series, FBI: The Untold Stories.

He made his last TV appearance in 2001 on an episode of Diagnosis: Murder, updating a Mannix character he had portrayed decades before.

In his later life, and after the death of all of his former Bonanza co-stars, Roberts "jokingly referred to himself as, "Pernell--The--Last--One--Roberts," (New York Times, January 26, 2010; Cowboydirectory.com). He read Bonanza Gold Magazine, which was like looking at an old family album he said, and watched reruns of Bonanza when he wanted to see old friends (Bonanza Gold Magazine, 2005).