The High Chaparral was a Western-themed television series which aired on NBC from 1967 to 1971. The show was created by David Dortort, who had previously created the hit Bonanza for the network. Theme song was also written and conducted by Bonanza scorer David Rose. The show starred Leif Erickson as "Big" John Cannon, a rancher who lived in the Arizona Territory in the 1870s. He ran the ranch with his brother Buck (Cameron Mitchell) and son Billy Blue (Mark Slade). Billy Blue's mother (Joan Caulfield) was killed in the first episode, and to ensure his future, John Cannon courted and later married Victoria (Linda Cristal), the daughter of the powerful Don Sebastián Montoya. His marriage to Victoria Montoya brought her brother Manolito (Henry Darrow) into the picture, and he also came to live with the family. The High Chaparral was Dortort's brainchild, and he left the day-to-day running of Bonanza in the spring of 1967 so he could focus all of his energies on The High Chaparral. After the show's cancellation in 1971, Dortort did not return to Bonanza, but retired instead.
Trivia
- When David Dortort was casting The High Chaparral in 1967, Nino Cochise asked for the part of Cochise. Nino was the grandson of the Cochise of the Apache wars. Born in 1874, Nino was 92 years old at his casting call, missing one leg, and needed to be helped into and out of the saddle; but he won the role. [1]
