I was thinking more along the lines of Pernell Roberts:
To a Look magazine reporter, Roberts clarified what “state of resignation” meant: “I don’t read (the scripts) anymore. I just get on, ask somebody for the lines and say them. That’s all the attention this kind of operation deserves.” Asked if he was worried about looking bad as an actor, he scoffed, “You can get up there and put out one tenth of what you’re capable of and they all think it’s great. No, I won’t try hard.”...
...After a year away from Bonanza, he was forced to accept guest shots in The Virginian and The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. “because I have to make a living like anyone else. It’s the business that I’m in and I don’t have to appreciate the artistic level of what I’m doing.”
So it went for another 13 years.
Bonanza, meanwhile, did just fine without Adam Cartwright...The show reached number one in the ratings during Roberts’ final season, stayed there for two additional years, and remained in the top ten through 1971.”
http://betterlivingtv.blogspot.com/2009/05/restless-ballad-of-pernell-roberts-part.html
-PJ