Lawrence did not think of himself as a writer of Westerns, so when he
was hired to script a horse opera, he focused his writing on
relationships and character. One day while on the set of
Bonanza (1959),
producer
David Dortort told Lawrence he wanted to do a story on each of Ben's
wives. The screenwriter enthusiastically replied, "Let me do it, I can
kill off at least two of them!" Lawrence thought he would get thrown
off the set for saying this, but instead was given the task of becoming
the writer who scripted the stories with Ben and his wives, all three
of whom died.