The High Chaparral Henry Darrow Articles

It can be argued that Henry Darrow, as Manolito Montoya, achieved the highest popularity over all the other cast members of The High Chaparral. His character was originally intended to be somewhat of a dark figure, a "skulking villain," but Henry's charm prevailed from the outset, and Manolito quickly became the Chaparral's most dashing figure.

Everyone was fascinated with him, including the other characters at the ranch. At one point, Buck even asked if Manolito had any Apache in him, and Sam once observed that only Manolito could fall into a gully full of rocks and come up with a gold nugget. With this much interest in the character, interest in Henry Darrow soared, too. The character was popular with men and women across a broad age spectrum. There were many magazine articles and lots of pin-ups in 5 short years.