‘Bonanza’: Michael Landon Says There Were Rumors That the Cartwrights Were Gay

NBC’s hit series Bonanza was one of the longest-running Westerns ever, and it starred Michael Landon as Little Joe Cartwright. The Cartwright family has wealth, and the show features their lives in Virginia City, Nevada. Unfortunately, many of the Cartwrights couldn’t hang on to a relationship with the women — and Landon said it led to rumors that the Cartwright men might be gay.

Many of the Cartwright family members in ‘Bonanza’ didn’t have long-lasting relationships

The Cartwrights always had each other in Bonanza, as they certainly couldn’t depend on having a long-lasting relationship. According to Outsider, the “Cartwright Curse” was named after the family. The curse meant that the main character in a series doesn’t get to have a close relationship with the person they’re in love with either dying or leaving.

Lorne Greene played Ben Cartwright, and Ben had three wives throughout his lifetime. Elizabeth Stoddard died during childbirth, Inger Borgstrom was shot with an arrow by a Native American, and Marie DeMarigny fell off a horse and died.

Aside from Ben, Hoss Cartwright, played by Dan Blocker, was also unlucky in love. Emily Pennington fell in love with Hoss, but she’s suffering from a fatal illness. She leaves without telling Hoss what’s going on, and he later learns the truth from the other Cartwrights.

Michael Landon’s character, Little Joe Cartwright, also deals with tragedy. His wife, Alice Harper, died from a henchman.

Michael Landon said there were rumors that the Cartwrights were gay

With so much death and disappointment in the lives of the Cartwrights, Michael Landon said it led some fans to wonder if the Cartwright men were interested in pursuing women.

“You guys never had any girlfriends in there at all, did you?” Johnny Carson asked Landon regarding the characters in Bonanza. “You’re four grown men and you never had any girlfriends.”

“A lot of rumors about that,” Landon joked. “There were! There were a lot of rumors about the Cartwrights being homosexual. Landon noted he was there to “set the record straight” with Carson. “We were not,” he said, but he joked that “Hop Sing was.” Hop Sing cooked for the Cartwrights in their household and was very influential in their lives. The Cartwrights considered him a close family member rather than just the chef in the house.

Michael Landon had multiple wives in his lifetime

While the Cartwright’s relationships didn’t always dominate the Bonanza storylines, Michael Landon had several marriages of his own. In 1956, he married his first wife, Dodie Levy-Fraser. They divorced in 1962, and in 1963, he married actor Marjorie Lynn Noe. Their marriage ended in 1982 after reports suggested Landon was having an affair with the Little House on the Prairie makeup artist.

Less than a year after his divorce from Noe, Landon married the makeup artist Cindy Clerico. The two stayed together through Landon’s death in 1991.

Landon encouraged Clerico to date after his death. In 1992, Clerico said she hadn’t dated, as she wasn’t open to romance then. She never remarried after Landon died.

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