Tom Skerritt: Bonanza Roles

One of the coolest things about watching old “Bonanza” reruns is checking out the guest stars. Many well-known actors who went on to have extraordinary careers have a least one “Bonanza” episode on their resume. They were all on the Ponderosa with Ben, Adam, Hoss and Little Joe, and later with Candy and Jamie. Many are alive and well and still acting, and Tom Skerritt is one of them. The very versatile and talented Mr. Skerritt appeared on “Bonanza” twice, and in one of those roles, he was not a very nice guy.

In 1964 at the age of 31, Skerritt played Jerry, a guy whose girl, Sue Miller (Linda Foster), has big eyes for Rory Calhoun, as a charming rogue but bad guy, Tom Wilson. In “Thanks for Everything, Friend”, Wilson saves Adam Cartwright’s life making Adam blind to his bad character. Adam defends the rounder when he is cheating at cards and flirting back with misguided Sue. When Sue’s dad ends up dead, Adam is skeptical of Jerry’s claim that Tom Wilson did it, and even more so when Sue says she did it. Jerry has to find a way to show that Wilson is using Sue and he isn’t just jealous.

In 1973, Skerritt appeared in the episode known as “Hunter.” He played Corporal Bill Tanner, a psychopath who gets his jollies by making a game out of killing people, randomly picking victims. Little Joe (Michael Landon) has the misfortune to cross paths with him, becoming his latest prey.

David Canary, as ranch hand “Candy” was appearing on the series at this time. Canary would go on to become famous in a dual role on “All My Children” as identical twins, Adam and Stuart Chandler. Pernell Roberts (“Adam”) had already left the show, and Dan Blocker (“Hoss”) passed away the year before this episode.

Throughout his career, Tom Skerritt has appeared in an amazing variety of television shows. He actually had more roles on “Gunsmoke” than he did on “Bonanza”. In the late 80s, he appeared in 6 episodes of “Cheers”. In 1994, he was rewarded with an Emmy for his work as Sheriff Brock in “Picket Fences.” In 2014, he guest starred in two episodes of “The Good Wife”.

One very notable TV appearance was in an episode entitled “Poison” in Season 5 (2004) of “Law and Order: SVU”. Skerritt played a pompous and crazy judge named Oliver Taft who is prejudiced against poor defendants and convicts them even if they are innocent. He lets rich ones off the hook because he thinks they are good people. Asst. D.A. Casey Novak (Diane Neal) makes it her mission to have the judge removed from the bench. The cross-examination of Taft was just a great scene and a powerful characterization of a corrupt judge.

TOP 10 TOM SKERRITT FILMS

Here are some historical roles he has taken on: General William Westmoreland in 2002, Joe Kennedy in 2000 and Sam Houston in a 1998 TV movie "Two for Texas." (Peter Coyote played Jim Bowie). Most recently, he played Ulysses S. Grant in the 2014 film “Field of Lost Shoes”. He has appeared in over 40 films and more than 200 television episodes.

Tom Skerritt once had this to say about his career: “… What it comes down to is what someone told me years ago — if you have one hit and the next two are not successful, then you have to start from scratch again. That’s what happened to me. It’s like a game, I suppose, and I’ve been doing OK.” At the age of 81 and still going strong, he sure has.