A former child actor, Mitch Vogel joined the cast of “Bonanza” at the age of 14. Vogel was brought in to help fill a gap in the cast left by David Canary, whose character “Candy” Canaday was introduced in 1967 as the Cartwrights’ ranch foreman, and left in 1970. Vogel played the red-headed teen cowboy Jamie Hunter. The orphaned character is later adopted by Ben in the Season 13 episode “A Home for Jamie,” becoming the youngest addition to the Cartwright family.
Prior to joining “Bonanza,” Vogel had first appeared onscreen in “Yours, Mine, and Ours,” a 1968 comedy starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. The movie caught the eye of Steve McQueen, who cast the young actor in his 1969 film “The Reivers.” For his role as Lucius McCaslin, Vogel earned a Golden Globe nomination.
Vogel would go on to appear in a number of other Western series, including “The Virginian,” “Gunsmoke,” and alongside his “Bonanza” co-star Michael Landon in “Little House on the Prairie.” However, in the ’70s, Vogel retired from acting. He continues to speak fondly of his time on “Bonanza.”
“I’m really grateful that ‘Bonanza’ has touched people like it has,” Vogel told Jeremy Roberts on Medium in 2017.