Lorne Greene

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Lorne Greene, 1942
Lorne Greene, 1969
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Welcome To The Ponderosa
  US 35 01/30/1965 (19 weeks)
Singles
Ringo
  UK 22nd December 19, 1964 (8 weeks)
  US 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link October 31, 1964 (12 weeks)
The Man
  US 72 01/30/1965 (3 weeks)

Lorne Greene (* 12. February 1915 in Ottawa as Lyon Himan Green , † 11. September 1987 in Santa Monica , California , United States ) was a Canadian actor . He became known worldwide in the role of Ben Cartwright in the television series Bonanza .

Career

Greene, who was descended from Eastern European Jewish immigrants, began acting while studying. His sonorous voice helped him to work as a newscaster on the Canadian state radio CBC ("Canadian Broadcasting Corporation"). There he soon became the chief spokesperson and the most popular news anchor in Canada. During the Second World War he was called "The Voice of Canada". Even then he was a spokesperson for documentaries, an activity that has accompanied him throughout his career.

In the 1950s he went to the United States to pursue a career as a film actor in Hollywood . At first he took on minor roles in B-Movies , but he got his chance with a television series that became one of the most successful in US television history: in 1959 he got the role of Ben Cartwright in the television series Bonanza . With the role of the father of the Cartwright family, which he played until the series was discontinued in January 1973, Greene remained forever connected.

In 1964 the LP Welcome to the Ponderosa was released. Lorne Greene recorded the song Ringo for the album, which made it an international bestseller (US # 1, UK # 22). The Man LP followed in 1965 .

Even the great success with Kampfstern Galactica as a series (1978–1980) and as a feature film (1980) could not match that of Bonanza . His last role in the episode "The Apparition" within the television series An Angel on Earth brought him together again in 1985 with his former son from Bonanza , Michael Landon .

With his white hair, his sonorous voice and his calm, superior charisma, Greene specialized in portraying morally infallible authority figures. His distinctive German dubbing voice was that of the well-known film and stage actor Friedrich Schütter .

Private

Greene was married to Rita Hands from 1938 to 1960 and had two children. In 1961 he married Nancy Deale, with whom he had another child.

He was close friends with the actors Dan Blocker and Michael Landon , two of his sons in Bonanza .

His daughter Linda Greene Bennett wrote a biography about him called My Father's Voice: The Biography of Lorne Greene .

death

Lorne Greene died in September 1987, 72 years after a pneumonia to heart failure . He was buried in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City , California . His film name is also immortalized on his tombstone. The epitaph reads:

Lorne H. Greene
The world's best loved father
Ben Cartwright
The great voice of Canada
Finally stilled, but never silenced
The dear voice of our loving
husband father and grandfather
will sing in our hearts
forever
1915-1987

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Lorne Greene  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Chart sources: UK US
  2. ↑ For more information on the song, see Bronson, Fred: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits , 3rd, revised and expanded edition, New York: Billboard Publications, 1992, p. 161
  3. ↑ grave inscription from find a grave.com
personal data
SURNAME Greene, Lorne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Green, Lyon Hyman (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian actor
DATE OF BIRTH February 12, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Ottawa
DATE OF DEATH September 11, 1987
Place of death Santa Monica , California , United States