Editing Lorne Greene (section)

==American television==
{{more citations needed section|date=October 2016}}
[[File:Lorne Greene Ben Cartwright Bonanza.JPG|thumb|right|Greene as Ben Cartwright (1959)]]
[[File:Mesa-Ponderosa House II-1963-1.JPG|thumb|right|Greene's Ponderosa II House in Mesa, Arizona]]
The first of his continuing TV roles was as the [[patriarch]] [[Ben Cartwright (character)|Ben "Pa" Cartwright]] in ''[[Bonanza]]'', the first one-hour [[TV Western|Western]] [[Television program|series]] filmed in colour (1959–1973), making Greene a household name. He garnered the role after his performance as [[O'Brien (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|O'Brien]] in the [[CBS]] production of ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four (1953 TV program)|Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''.

In the 1960s, Greene capitalized on his image as Ben Cartwright by recording several albums of country-western/folk songs, which Greene performed in a mixture of spoken word and singing. In 1964, Greene had a [[Hot 100 number-one hits of 1964 (United States)|number-one]] [[single (music)|single]] on the music charts with his spoken-word [[ballad]], "[[Ringo (song)|Ringo]]" (which referred to the real-life Old West outlaw [[Johnny Ringo]]), and got  play time from "Saga of the Ponderosa", which detailed the Cartwright founding of the famous ranch.

In 1973, after the cancellation of ''Bonanza'' following a 14-year run, Greene joined [[Ben Murphy]] in the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] [[crime drama]], ''[[Griff (TV series)|Griff]]'', about a [[Los Angeles, California]], police officer, Wade "Griff" Griffin, who retires to become a [[private detective]]. When it failed to gain sufficient ratings and was cancelled after 13 episodes, Greene thereafter hosted the [[Television syndication|syndicated]] nature documentary series ''Last of the Wild'' from 1974 to 1975.<ref>[http://www.classicthemes.com/50sTVThemes/themePages/lastOfTheWild.html Last of the Wild (documentary, hosted by Lorne Greene)] At Classic Themes.com</ref>

In the 1977 [[miniseries]] ''[[Roots (1977 miniseries)|Roots]]'', he played the first master of [[Kunta Kinte]], John Reynolds. Through the 1970s, Greene was the spokesman for [[Alpo (pet food)|Alpo]] Beef Chunks dog food commercials, one of the possible origins of the phrase "[[Eating your own dog food#Origin of the term|Eating your own dog food]]". 

In 2007, ''TV Guide'' listed Ben Cartwright as the nation's second-most popular TV father (behind [[List of The Cosby Show characters#Cliff Huxtable|Cliff Huxtable]]). Greene was also known for his role as [[Commander Adama (original Battlestar Galactica)|Commander Adama]], another patriarchal figure, in the science-fiction television series ''Battlestar Galactica'' (1978–1979) and ''Galactica 1980'' (1980).  Greene's [[typecasting (acting)|typecasting]] as a wise father character continued with the 1981 series ''[[Code Red (U.S. TV series)|Code Red]]'' as a fire-department chief, whose command includes his children as subordinates. Greene appeared with his former ''Bonanza'' co-star [[Michael Landon]] on an episode of ''[[Highway to Heaven]]''. Greene also appeared with his former ''Bonanza'' co-star [[Pernell Roberts]] on a two-part episode of ''[[Vega$]]''.

He appeared in the 1986 [[HBO]] [[mockumentary]] ''[[The Canadian Conspiracy]]'', about the supposed subversion of the United States by Canadian-born media personalities. For nearly a decade, Greene co-hosted the [[Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade]] on [[NBC]] with [[Betty White]].