Bonanza: Season 6

1964 · 34 episodes

What Season 6 of Bonanza

The season opens with the Cartwright family settled on the Ponderosa, a ranch near Virginia City, Nevada, during the 1860s. Ben, widowed three times, lives with his sons Adam, Hoss and Little Joe, each from a different marriage. Joe teaches a young man how to handle a gun for self-defense, without imagining the consequences that will follow. Outlaws kidnap Ben and demand a ransom, and the brothers must come up with a plan before it's too late. Conflicts multiply with a con man who tries to swindle them with a fake land sale and a bounty hunter who tracks a former convict. Each week, the family must make tough decisions.

34episodes

Sep 20, 1964premiered

May 23, 1965latest episode

27.8 hrtotal runtime

Season 6 Episodes

6x01 Invention of a Gunfighter
Sep 20, 1964 · 49 min
Joe teaches Johnny Chapman how to use a gun for defense. What Joe doesn't see is the deadly consequences that it has in the long run when Johnny becomes a gunfighter.
Starring: Valerie Allen, Ray Teal
6x02 The Hostage
Sep 27, 1964 · 49 min
Outlaws capture Ben and hide him in an abandoned mine, holding him for a ransom. The boys must come up with a plan to save him before it's too late.
Starring: Jacqueline Scott, Harold J. Stone
6x03 The Wild One
Oct 4, 1964 · 49 min
Lafe Jessup doesn't really want to be married, and now he's about to be a father! The horse wrangler finds a fight with Hoss at his reluctance to perform his duties.
Starring: Kathryn Hays
6x04 Thanks for Everything, Friend
Oct 11, 1964 · 49 min
After inadvertantly falling into the river, Adam is rescued by Tom Wilson. Wilson has feelings for Sue Miller, which bring him into trouble after her father is killed.
Directed by: Christian Nyby · Starring: Rory Calhoun, Linda Foster, Tom Skerritt, Ray Teal
6x05 Logan's Treasure
Oct 18, 1964 · 49 min
Sam Logan is released from jail after serving his twenty year sentence for stealing $100,000 worth of gold dust. He is followed by a bounty hunter who believes Sam will lead him to where the gold is buried.
Starring: Ray Teal, John Kellogg, Virginia Gregg
6x06 The Scapegoat
Oct 25, 1964 · 49 min
Hoss hires Waldo as a ranch hand after keeping Waldo from killing himself. Hoss soon learns that Waldo is lousy at his job and only causes problems for everyone else due to his clumsiness. Although Hoss is willing to defend him, he soon finds out a secret about Waldo.
Starring: George Kennedy, Sandra Warner, Richard Devon, Troy Melton
6x07 A Dime's Worth of Glory
Nov 1, 1964 · 49 min
An author is inspired to write about the heroic Cartwrights after watching first-hand as they fight off an attempted robbery of a stage. As Ben and Adam see no use for the glory of such a novel, they turn the writer down forcing him to turn to the sherriff who quickly accepts.
Starring: Bruce Cabot, Rudy Doucette, Walter Brooke, John Harmon
6x08 Square Deal Sam
Nov 8, 1964 · 49 min
A conman heads into town and takes advantage of the Cartwrights with a fake land deal. The conman ends up staying in Virginia city to run an orphanage.
Starring: Shug Fisher, William 'Shorty' Young
6x09 Between Heaven and Earth
Nov 15, 1964 · 49 min
When Joe and his friend Mitch go after a puma, Joe climbs a big peak and throws his gun up higher, intending to crawl up after it. But as he looks down, things begin to spin. He realises he can't go any higher, and he retreats down the hill. Needing to prove himself, Joe spars against Mitch.
6x10 Old Sheba
Nov 22, 1964 · 49 min
As payment for a performance in a circus, Joe and Hoss are given an elephant. They want to keep it but encounter opposition from Adam and Ben.
Starring: Ray Teal, William Demarest, Henry Kulky
6x11 A Man to Admire
Dec 6, 1964 · 49 min
Hoss relies on clever attorney Whitney Parker, who has a drinking problem, to clear him of a murder charge.
Starring: Ray Teal, Rudy Doucette, George Ford, James Gregory
6x12 The Underdog
Dec 13, 1964 · 49 min
Little Joe convinces Ben to hire Harry Starr, a half-Indian who is accused by other ranchers of being a chronic horse thief. Joe sets out to prove the others wrong, but is the youngest Cartwright's trust misplaced?
Starring: Charles Bronson, Ray Teal, Tom Reese
6x13 A Knight to Remember
Dec 20, 1964 · 49 min
Two robberies take place on stagecoaches that Adam is traveling on, and both times a knight in shining armor scares the robbers away. Adam is accused of robbery, and his story about the knight is none too helpful.
Starring: Ray Teal, Henry Jones, Robert Sorrells, Raymond Guth
6x14 The Saga of Squaw Charlie
Dec 27, 1964 · 49 min
A peaceful Indian is framed for the kidnapping of a young girl, a stunt which ends of tragedy.
Starring: Ray Teal, Don 'Red' Barry, Virginia Christine, Rudy Doucette
6x15 The Flapjack Contest
Jan 3, 1965 · 49 min
Hoss unknowingly enters a flapjack contest and Joe puts Hoss on a diet which Hoss doesn't care for. Joe's betting on the flapjack contest could get him into some trouble and will he ever succeed in getting the window pane his Pa wants?
6x16 The Far, Far Better Thing
Jan 10, 1965 · 49 min
On their way to prevent a young woman from encountering the renegade Indians, Joe and Tuck are captured, and in order to save them all, Joe must fight Sharp Tongue, who is the leader of the band who went to school with Joe as a youth.
Starring: Brenda Scott
6x17 Woman of Fire
Jan 17, 1965 · 49 min
Ben's friend, Don Miguel, visits the Ponderosa with his two daughters, Margarita and Elena, and Elena's two very anxious suitors. Their mission? They're on their way to California to meet Margarita's suitor, Don Luis. Trouble is, Margarita is a "woman of fire" who manages to scare away all suitors with her hot temper. Since Margarita is the older daughter, she must be married before Elena. Elena's two suitors are quickly losing their patience, and Don Miguel fears his name will be disgraced if Margarita rejects Don Luis.
Starring: Joan Hackett, Jay Novello, Susan Silo, Eugene Iglesias
6x18 The Ballerina
Jan 24, 1965 · 49 min
Kellie Conrad dances and her father plays the fiddle to earn a living. Hoss feels a sense of guilt after he unintentionally hurts the arm that Kellie's father uses to play the fiddle, in a saloon fight with some roughnecks. He gets them to stay at the Ponderosa while the girl's father recuperates. While there, Ben introduces Kellie to his friend Paul Mandel, a ballet star before an explosion cut his dancing career short.Kellie persuades Paul to help her learn ballet. She soon comes to the realization that she loves both the ballet and Paul. She struggles inwardly to make a choice between her love of ballet and giving it all up for the love of her father.
Starring: Barrie Chase, Warren Stevens, Douglas Fowley, Read Morgan
6x19 The Flannel-Mouth Gun
Jan 31, 1965 · 49 min
Adam becomes involved with a quick-triggered range detective hired by the Virginia City Cattleman's Association to find out who is responsible for all the rustling going on in the area.
Screenplay: Leo Gordon · Starring: Ray Teal, Earl Holliman, Robert J. Wilke, Harry Carey Jr.
6x20 The Ponderosa Birdman
Feb 7, 1965 · 49 min
Professor Klump and Amanda pull Hoss into their flying machine scheme. The ""Hoss-mobile"" doesn't seem to be destined for a great take-off.
Starring: Ed Wynn, Marlyn Mason
6x21 The Search
Feb 14, 1965 · 49 min
Adam sets out to track down the man who has been impersonating him to clear his reputation.
Starring: Lola Albright, Elaine Devry, C. Lindsay Workman, Phil Chambers
6x22 The Deadliest Game
Feb 21, 1965 · 49 min
The Cartwrights play host to Guido Borelli, a world renowed aerial acrobat who once saved Ben's life in Italy. Borelli's troup is beset by internal strife, and is performing in Virginia City.
6x23 Once a Doctor
Feb 28, 1965 · 49 min
Hoss' latest acquaintance, an Englishman named Professor Poppy, is actually Percival Alexander Mundy, M.D., who has given up the practice of medicine. However, when Hoss is shot in the back, only Mundy's skill can save his life.
Starring: Michael Rennie
6x24 Right Is the Fourth R
Mar 7, 1965 · 49 min
While working as a substitute teacher, Adam uncovers an ugly secret about the territory's past that others prefer remain hidden.
Starring: Mariette Hartley
6x25 Hound Dog
Mar 21, 1965 · 49 min
Cousin Muley Jones returns to the Ponderosa, along with a pack of noisy hound dogs, in this funny sequel to "The Saga Of Muley Jones".
Starring: Sue Ane Langdon, Ray Teal
6x26 The Trap
Mar 28, 1965 · 49 min
One of Joe's old girlfriends thinks he killed her husband so they could come together. Unfortunately, that is what her husband's twin brother also believes.
Starring: Joan Freeman, Ray Teal, George Murdock
6x27 Dead and Gone
Apr 4, 1965 · 49 min
Adam tries to find the good in Howard Mead, a talented troubadour who refuses to stay on the right side of the law. Dramatic debut of singer/songwriter Hoyt Axton. Last episode Pernell Roberts worked on, although he appears in the next two, that were made prior to this episode and aired afterwards.
Starring: Ray Teal, Jack Gordon
6x28 A Good Night's Rest
Apr 11, 1965 · 49 min
First Ben's sons are making lots of noise, so he goes into town to sleep in the hotel. Then, various noises and things interrupt Ben's sleep. Will he ever get his desired good night's rest?
6x29 To Own the World
Apr 18, 1965 · 49 min
One of the wealthiest men in the world, Charles Augustus Hackett, offers to buy the Ponderosa, price no object. Ben says the ranch is not for sale and Hackett refuses to give up.
Starring: Telly Savalas, Linda Lawson
6x30 Lothario Larkin
Apr 25, 1965 · 49 min
Ladies' man Lothario Larkin creates havoc whenever he hits Virginia City, so Roy Coffee orders him out of town. Naturally, Hoss takes him in.
Directing: William Witney · Screenplay: Warren Douglas · Starring: Noah Beery Jr., Dorothy Green, Jim Davis, Linda Bennett
6x31 The Return
May 2, 1965 · 49 min
No one in Virginia City is happy to see ex-con Trace Cordell, especially the man he crippled in a gunfight, now married to Cordell's former girlfriend.
Starring: Joan Blackman, Ray Teal
6x32 Jonah
May 9, 1965 · 49 min
The Ponderosa hands are upset when new hand George Whitman is hired on, it is rumored he is a jinx. Hoss tells George to ignore such foolishness, but a gypsy fortune teller says otherwise.
Starring: Andrew Prine, Jacklyn O'Donnell, Angela Clarke, Troy Melton
6x33 The Spotlight
May 16, 1965 · 49 min
Ben invites opera singer Angela Bergstrom to perform at Virginia City's anniversary celebration. She accepts, but does not tell him that her famous singing voice is long gone
Starring: Viveca Lindfors, Ian Wolfe, Victor Sen Yung, Cosmo Sardo
6x34 Patchwork Man Season Finale
May 23, 1965 · 49 min
Hoss befriends a self-demeaning recluse named Patch, who makes the best apple pie Hoss has ever tasted. Hoss is so impressed with him, especially his pie, that he hires him to work on the Ponderosa. Ben, however, is unimpressed with Hoss' new friend when the Cartwrights get into a gunfight with a mining outfit, and Patch cowers. He has a deepseeded fear of violence stemming from an incident in his teen years, but he knows in order to survive in the West, he must overcome it.