For millions of fans, Lorne Greene will forever be remembered as Bonanza‘s wise and steady Ben Cartwright. As the patriarch of the Cartwright family for 14 seasons, he brought love and authority to the role of a father raising three sons on the sprawling Ponderosa Ranch. His character became a symbol of strength and decency, and his familiar presence on Sunday nights made him feel like a member of the family for many viewers.

Greene’s own life story was filled with enough thrilling twists and turns that it could have been its own TV show: he started off in Canada with dreams of becoming a chemical engineer, but ended up becoming a trusted radio announcer, an inventor and even a chart-topping recording artist, in addition to his career as a famous actor. Here are five things you may not have known about the man who played one of TV’s greatest dads: