Lorne Hyman Greene (born Lyon Himan Green 12 February 1915 – 11 September 1987) was a Canadian actor, radio personality, and singer. His notable television roles include Ben Cartwright on the Western Bonanza, and Commander Adama in the original science-fiction television series Battlestar Galactica and Galactica 1980. He also worked on the Canadian television nature documentary series Lorne Greene's New Wilderness, and in television commercials. 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 number-one single on the music charts with his spoken-word ballad, "Ringo" (which referred to the real-life Old West outlaw Johnny Ringo, not to Ringo Starr of the Beatles), and got play time from "Saga of the Ponderosa", which detailed the Cartwright founding of the famous ranch.