What can you tell me about Lorne Greene from Bonanza?
—Raymond M., Michigan
Lorne Greene was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in 1915 and got his start in radio working with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. during World War II. Because his deep voice delivered depressing news, he soon earned the nickname "The Voice of Doom." He left Canada in the early 1950s to pursue his acting dreams. In 1959, at age 44, he won the role of the Ponderosa patriarch, Ben Cartwright, on Bonanza, which ran until 1973. His voice brought him a different kind of fame when he had a No.1 hit with a song called Ringo in 1964. His other lengthy role was in the sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica. He had agreed to play Cartwright in a TV movie just before his death in 1987. Greene was married twice and had a daughter with his second wife, Nancy Deale.
