Lorne Greene

Lorne Greene married Rita Hands of Toronto in 1938. The couple divorced in 1960. Their twins—Charles Greene and Belinda Susan Greene (now called Linda Greene Bennett)—were born in 1945.

Lorne married Nancy Deale in 1961, and was married to her till his death. They had a daughter named Gillian Dania Greene.

In 1960, Lorne built The Ponderosa II House in Mesa, Arizona, now listed in the Mesa Historic Property Register. It is a replica of the ‘Bonanza’ set house.

Lorne Greene was born on February 12, 1915, in Ottawa, Ontario, to Dora and Daniel Green, a shoemaker. His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. Lorne was named Lyon Himan Green at his birth, but it is not known when he began using ‘Lorne’, or when he added an ‘e’ to Green.

He attended Queen's University in Kingston, where he took an interest in broadcasting for the campus radio station CFRC. He gave up on a career in chemical engineering to follow his dream career in acting.

After studying acting at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, he returned to Canada in 1939. During the World War II, he served as a Flying Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Lorne Greene began acting while studying in Queen's University. He was the drama instructor at Camp Arowhon, a summer camp in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada.

After graduation, he joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as a radio broadcaster. He became the principal newsreader on CBC National News. At CBC, he was called ‘The Voice of Canada’. However, since he used to announce the list of soldiers who were killed in the World War II with his deep, resonant voice, many listeners called him ‘The Voice of Doom’.

At CBC, he also narrated documentaries produced by the National Film Board of Canada like ‘Churchill’s Island’ in 1941 and ‘Fighting Norway’ in 1943.

In 1945, he opened the Academy of Radio Arts in Toronto, which was a school for writers, actors, directors, and production personnel. Some of the school’s alumni were James Doohan of Star Trek fame, TV and film actor Leslie Nielsen, and TV actor and writer Gordie Tapp.

In 1953, he did the lead role in a one-hour adaptation of Shakespeare's ‘Othello’. In 1954, he made his Hollywood debut in ‘The Silver Chalice’. In 1955, he was featured in an episode of ‘You Are There’.

Lorne Greene became widely popular for his two television series, ‘Bonanza’ and the science fiction series ‘Battlestar Galactica’. Despite stiff competition from other shows, ‘Bonanza’ proved to be hugely successful. In 2007, TV Guide named his ‘Bonanza’ character Ben Cartwright as the nation's second most popular ‘TV Father’, behind Cliff Huxtable. Although ‘Battlestar Galactica’ failed to air for long, Lorne’s performance as Commander Adama was applauded.