In The Big Valley, Heath is one of the top hands of the Barkley family ranch owned by his (step)mother Victoria Barkley. He is portrayed by Lee Majors.
Personal life[]
Heath is the illegitimate son of Thomas Barkley, late husband of Victoria Barkley. He had to literally fight his way into the Barkley home. At first the even-tempered but rough-and-tumble Heath was angry and aggressive, because he believed that his father had abandoned his real mother, Leah, after she became pregnant, and also because of the resistance he initially received from some of his new siblings. In truth, Tom Barkley never did know about Heath; Leah had never told him, and she only told Heath when she was on her deathbed.
He gradually gained acceptance from the rest of the Barkley clan and became as much a Barkley as the rest of the family. He came to call Victoria "Mother" when speaking to her directly and about her with his siblings. Although his half-brother Nick was initially leery of him and felt he had to test his mettle, Heath proved himself worthy of Nick's acceptance, and eventually Nick seemed to grow even closer to Heath than he was to his brother Jarrod, perhaps in a sense because Heath had more in common with him than Jarrod did.
Civil War[]
Heath is a veteran of the Civil War. He served as a soldier in the Union Army in combat operations in New Mexico and was held as a prisoner of war for seven months by Confederate forces.
- Source: Wikipedia
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