Mitch Vogel was incredibly fortunate at a young age. Not only had he landed the role of a lifetime as Jamie Cartwright on Bonanza, but the opportunity also gave him a second family in his co-stars.

At 16, Vogel was starring on a major network television series, playing Ben Cartwright’s adopted son. Mirroring their on-screen relationship, Vogel began to see actor Lorne Greene as a father figure.

“I began going to him with problems the way a boy goes to his father, and I suppose it was natural,” said Vogel during an interview with The Kansas City Star. “But I’m in awe of him. You know he was a newscaster at one time - Lorne Greene was the Voice of Canada during the war. He knows so much that my tutor gives me school credit when I talk to him because I learn so much from him.”

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Vogel also admired Michael Landon, who played Little Joe Cartwright. “If he [Greene] is like you say, a father figure, then Mike is like a big brother. He’s a great director. People don’t realize...Mike knows the way you feel instinctively every minute in every scene.”

There was one man, however, who was a cut above all the rest: Dan Blocker. “But I was never as close to them as I was to Dan,” said Vogel. “If Mr. Greene was a father figure and Mike Landon a brother, Dan was my pal...You meet and work with a lot of people you admire and you respect, but Dan - Dan, you got to love.”