Fact-Checking Pernell Roberts' Ethnicity: Did the 'Bonanza' Star Have Indigenous Roots?
After leaving Bonanza, Roberts spent nearly fifteen years working primarily in summer stock theater, off-Broadway productions, and high-profile television guest spots. He deliberately chose complex, morally ambiguous roles that challenged typical heroic archetypes.
In 1978, he joined the cast of NBC’s massive 12-episode adaptation of James A. Michener’s Centennial. Roberts played General Asher, a military officer whose narrative intersected directly with the displacement and violent conflicts between the U.S. Army and Plains tribes. The role highlighted Roberts' nuanced grasp of American frontier history, a history he felt typical television series completely sanitized.
A year later, in 1979, he returned to weekly series television as Dr. "Trapper" John McIntyre in Trapper John, M.D., which ran successfully for seven seasons until 1986. Roberts brought gravity, gray-bearded maturity, and quiet humor to the role, earning an Emmy nomination and finally shedding the shadow of Adam Cartwright. Throughout his later career, he remained deeply private, rarely addressing Hollywood gossip or internet-era ancestry forums before his death from pancreatic cancer on January 24, 2010, at age 81.
