Pernell Roberts

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Pernell Elven Roberts Jr. (May 18, 1928 – January 24, 2010) was an American stage, film, and television actor, as well as a singer.

In addition to guesting on over 60 television series, he was best known for his roles as Ben Cartwright's oldest son Adam Cartwright (1959–1965) and chief surgeon Dr. Jeremy Cartwright.

Trapper John, M.D., is John McIntyre, the title character on Trapper John, M.D. (1979-1986) Roberts was also known for his lifelong activism, which included his appearance in the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965 and lobbying NBC to refrain from employing whites to portray minority characters.

Early life

Roberts was born in 1928 in Waycross, Georgia, the only child of Pernell Elven Roberts Sr., a Dr Pepper salesman, and Minnie (Betty) Morgan Roberts. Pernell performed the horn, appeared in school and church performances, and appeared in local USO shows during his youth. He attended but did not graduate from Georgia Tech, but did not graduate from there. He served in the United States Marine Corps for two years before enlisting in 1946. He was a member of the Marine Corps Band who played tuba and horn, and he was also an excellent at playing the sousaphone and percussion. He then attended the University of Maryland, where he had his first exposure to classical theatre, although not graduating. He appeared in four productions as an undergraduate, including Othello and Antigone, but then decided against enrolling in summer classes.

In 1949, he made his professional debut with Moss Hart and Kitty Carlisle in The Man Who Came to Dinner at the Olney Theatre in Olney, Maryland. Later, he spent eight weeks at the Bryn Mawr College Theatre in Philadelphia, portraying Dan in Emlyn Williams' Night Must Fall and Alfred Doolittle in Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.

Roberts performed in front of the Equity Library Theatre and later in Broadway in Samarkand (also in Washington, DC), and A Clearing in the Woods opposite Joanne Woodward. In 1955, he received a Drama Desk Award for his role in an off-Broadway version of Macbeth, which was followed by the role of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. At the American Shakespeare Festival, he appeared in Twelfth Night, Dr. Faustus, and The Taming of the Shrew, as well as on Broadway. He appeared in St. Joan (1954, Cleveland), Down in the Valley (at the Provincetown Playhouse), The Duchess of Malfi, Measure for Measure, and King John.

Roberts returned to the Olney Theatre in 1956, starring Jan Farrand in Much Ado About Nothing with the Players, Inc. company. Roberts made his television debut in the Kraft Television Theater's "Shadow of Suspicion" episode in 2004, followed by guest-starring roles in Whirlybirds, Gunsmoke, Cimarron City, Buckskin, Sugarfoot, and Cheyenne.

In Desire Under the Elms (1958), Roberts signed a 1957 contract with Columbia Pictures, making his film debut a year later as one of Burl Ives' choppy sons. The film was nominated for the Best Cinematography Academy Award. He also performed in The Sheepman (1958), opposite Glenn Ford and Shirley MacLaine, and "The Sleeping Beauty"), the live-broadcast Matinee Theater, where he appeared in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and "The Heart's Desire. This was followed by appearances in Trackdown, Buckskin, and Zane Grey Theater episodes. Captain Jacques Chavez appeared on NBC's adventure series Northwest Passage (1958). In the 31st episode ("Hey Boy's Revenge") of Have Gun – Will Travel, he appeared alongside fellow guest star Fay Spain in the 1958 episode "Pick Up the Gun" of Tombstone Territory. He played the lead villain.

Roberts appeared in episodes of GM Electric Theater, Cimarron City, Sugarfoot, Lawman, One Step Beyond, Bronco, 77 Sunset Strip, and House Call in 1959. He appeared in Ride Lonesome in 1959 as well as in 1959. "If Roberts felt stereotyped by Westerns, they also played his finest part in this film, possibly the best of the B-movies starring Randolph Scott and directed by Budd Boetticher." Roberts acknowledged the film's classic structure; his acting outlaw, Sam Boone, responds to Scott's granite-faced Ben Brigade, retaining the mystery of whether they will collaborate or clash. Whit's quiet sidekick, James Coburn, was similarly played on film debut. He was cast in Bonanza this year.

Personal life and death

Roberts married four times, first to Vera Mowry, a professor of theatre history at Washington State University and later Hunter College, as well as professor emerita of the PhD program in theatre at City University of New York, with whom he had his only child (Jonathan Christopher "Chris" Roberts). Roberts and his first wife were divorced later. Chris Roberts attended Franconia College. In 1989, he died as a result of a motorcycle crash.

On October 15, 1962, Roberts married Judith LeBrecque; they divorced in 1971. Kara Knack married Kara Knack in 1972, divorced in 1996, and he remarried in 1996.

Roberts was married to Eleanor Criswell at the time of his pancreatic cancer death on January 24, 2010.

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