<P> Beginning in 1962, a foundation was being laid to include another "son", as Pernell Roberts was displeased with his character . In the episode "First Born" (1962), viewers learn of Little Joe's older, maternal half - brother Clay Stafford . The character departed in that same episode, but left an opportunity for a return if needed . This character's paternity is open to debate . In the 1963 flashback episode "Marie, My Love", his father was Jean De'Marigny . Then in 1964, Lorne Greene released the song "Saga of the Ponderosa", wherein Marie's previous husband was "Big Joe" Collins, who dies saving Ben's life . After Ben consoles Marie, the two bond and marry . They choose to honor "Big Joe" by calling their son "Little Joe". So, whether to Stafford, De'Marigny or Collins, Marie Cartwright was previously married . In the last of the three Bonanza TV movies, it is revealed that "Little Joe" had died in the Spanish--American War--a member of the "Rough Riders". </P> <P> Veteran character actor Ray Teal essayed the role of Sheriff Roy Coffee on 98 episodes from 1960 to 1972 . He appeared in more than 250 movies and some 90 television programs during his 37 - year career . His longest - running role was as Sheriff Roy Coffee . He had also played a sheriff in the Billy Wilder film Ace in the Hole (1951). Teal co-starred in numerous TV westerns throughout his career: he appeared five times on Cheyenne, twice on The Lone Ranger, on The Alaskans, a short - lived series starring Roger Moore, three times in different roles on another long - running western series, Wagon Train, on NBC's Tales of Wells Fargo with Dale Robertson, on the ABC western series Broken Arrow, five times on the ABC western comedy Maverick starring James Garner and Jack Kelly, on the CBS western series The Texan with Rory Calhoun, the NBC western series The Californians, twice on Colt . 45 with Wayde Preston, once on Wanted: Dead or Alive with Steve McQueen and as "Sheriff Clay" for a single 1960 episode of the NBC western series Riverboat with Darren McGavin, and four times on a western series about the rodeo entitled The Wide Country . </P> <P> Teal was a bit - part player in western films for several years before landing a substantial role in Northwest Passage (1940) starring Spencer Tracy . Another of his roles was as Little John in The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946). Notable film roles include playing one of the judges in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) with Spencer Tracy, and an indulgent bar owner to Marlon Brando's motorcycle gang in The Wild One (1953), which was the second of three times that Teal appeared with Brando, having done so already as a drunk in Brando's debut in The Men (1950) and later in Brando's only directorial effort, One - Eyed Jacks (1961), as a bartender . </P> <P> Sheriff Coffee was occasionally the focus of a plot as in the episode "No Less a Man" (broadcast March 15, 1964). A gang of thieves has been terrorizing towns around Virginia City and the town council wants to replace Coffee, whom they consider over-the - hill, with a younger sheriff before the gang hits town, not realizing that they'd been spared earlier because the gang's leader was wary of Coffee's longevity and only acquiesced to rob the Virginia City bank after extreme pressure from other gang members . Coffee ends up showing the town that youth and a fast gun don't replace experience . </P>

Are any of the stars of bonanza still alive