Michael Landon kicked action master William Witney off ‘Bonanza’

Publicizing the soon-to-be-open Ponderosa Ranch theme park in Incline Village are Dan Blocker, Lorne Greene, and Michael Landon, in character as Hoss Cartwright, Ben “Pa” Cartwright, and Little Joe Cartwright circa Sept. 22–28, 1967, during the filming of the thrilling “Bonanza” episode “Showdown at Tahoe.” Prior to shooting, Landon attended a Lake Tahoe press conference where he brazenly asked series creator David Dortort when could he direct an episode of “Bonanza” [he had already supplied six scripts to the series since 1962]. An embarrassed Dortort rose to the challenge and promised Landon that his desire would be granted. Later during that ninth season of “Bonanza,” Dortort stayed true to his word, and the hunky Jewish cowboy wrote and directed the Greene-David Canary showcase “To Die in Darkness.” In research uncovered by “Bonanza” archivist-consultant Andy Klyde, the Nevada replica of the Ponderosa sold this image as a postcard for years. Image Credit: Bonanza Ventures

“William Witney is the greatest action director, underrated guy of all time.” So swears Brad Pitt’s badass stuntman Cliff Booth while screening flicks alongside washed-up TV cowboy Rick Dalton [Leonardo DiCaprio] in Quentin Tarantino’s latter-day buddy epic Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Since the late ‘90s Tarantino, who drafted the afore-mentioned dialogue, has sung the praises of the World War II combat cameraman turned wide prairie auteur who coaxed gritty performances out of Roy Rogers, Audie Murphy, Charles Bronson, and even Cleveland Browns icon Jim Brown.

Witney effortlessly weaved amongst the big and small screens, hitting his stride commandeering 27 color episodes of ratings colossus Bonanza from 1961–1967. Ranked fifth on the list of Bonanza’s most frequent directors, Witney seemed destined for more Ponderosa hijinks until meeting his Waterloo in a clash with the multihyphenate Michael Landon, already churning out scripts and just eight months away from submitting his directorial bow, “To Die in Darkness.”

Andrew J. “Andy” Klyde, executive producer of Bonanza: The Official Complete Series, a gigantic DVD box set whose remastered episode prints and buyer-enticing bonus content surpasses most any classic TV series imaginable, bridges the gaps of the ruptured Witney-Landon alliance in the second…