In a revelation that’s rocked classic Hollywood to its core, newly uncovered documents belonging to Bonanza legend Pernell Roberts have exposed a hidden list of five actors the outspoken star claimed “betrayed the art of acting.” Found among personal letters and recordings in an estate archive recently made public, the documents reveal a dark and volatile side to the actor once hailed as one of television’s most principled performers.
At the top of Roberts’ list is his Bonanza co-star Michael Landon, the man he once called “the smiling assassin.” Roberts accused Landon of “rewriting scripts in his favor and turning Bonanza into a one-man show.” According to the journals, Roberts confronted him on set in 1964, shouting,
“You’re not building a family — you’re building a shrine to yourself!”
Crew members later recalled a heated altercation that allegedly ended with Roberts storming off the set and vowing never to return. Their feud, insiders now confirm, continued off-camera for years, long after Roberts left the series.
The second name on his list — Dan Blocker, who played Hoss Cartwright — shocked fans even more. Roberts wrote that he once admired Blocker’s loyalty but grew disgusted when the gentle giant refused to support him during his contract dispute. “He chose silence over truth,” Roberts lamented in one entry. “And silence is betrayal.”
Even more startling is Roberts’ grudge against Chuck Connors of The Rifleman. In a previously unknown 1972 incident at a Hollywood charity gala, the two reportedly clashed in front of stunned onlookers after Roberts accused Connors of “selling the cowboy myth to the highest bidder.” The confrontation escalated so quickly that security was called to separate them. Connors allegedly sneered, “You’re jealous because you’ll never be me,” to which Roberts replied, “No — I’ll never pretend to be something I’m not.”
His tension with Lorne Greene, who played his on-screen father, reveals the emotional pain behind his decision to leave Bonanza. Roberts wrote that Greene “became the face of everything I fought against — comfort, conformity, and compromise.” The journal entry ends chillingly with:
“I walked off that set because I couldn’t call a hypocrite ‘Pa’ anymore.”
The final name on the list — James Drury, star of The Virginian — highlights Roberts’ deep disdain for Hollywood’s silence during the turbulent 1960s. He accused Drury of “hiding behind the curtain of neutrality” instead of using his platform for social change. “Art without conscience is cowardice,” he wrote.
Hollywood historians are calling the discovery “one of the most candid and explosive confessions ever unearthed from a classic television star.” The letters, described as “part rage, part poetry,” are now being archived for a forthcoming documentary titled “Pernell Roberts: The Rebel of Bonanza.”
