LEGEND: Character Biographies

Ernest Pratt

Ernest Pratt is born into a good, conservative Boston family in 1836 and attends Harvard College for a short time, where he falls under the spell of the Romantic poets and Gothic literature. Defying his banker father, Pratt decides to pursue the life of a writer and heads west to San Francisco where he becomes an apprentice reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. A chance meeting with Mark Twain changes Pratt's life, and inspires the young man to set to work on his first successful book, Solitary Knight of the High Plains, which introduces the dashing hero, Nicodemus Legend. Pratt's gimick of writing in the first person gives his readers the impression that Legend's exploits are real. In 1876, when our story opens, pratt is 40 years old.

Nicodemus Legend

Nicodemus Legend is the fictional hero of fifteen popular novels by Ernest Pratt. Legend is a champion of the underdog, a crusader for justice and truth. His perfect manners, good looks and beautiful hand-beaded buckskin outfits make him a dashing and romantic figure. In reality, Legend is tough and quick-witted, with an impressive knowledge of science. He hates violence, preferring to use brains instead of a gun. Since Pratt's novels are written in the first person from Legend's point of view, many readers fail to realize that Legend is a fictitious character.

Janos Bartok

Janos Bartok was born in Hungary in 1840. He speaks five languages and is a prodigy in mathematics and electrical engineering. Bartok is fascinated with all aspects of life, from the discovery of new scientific advancements to spiritualism and extra-sensory perception and, especially, with the idea that man will one day fly. After winning a scholarship to the University of Budapest, Bartok comes to New York to work at Western union, where he meets the young Thomas Edison. A bitter competition devolps between these two brilliant scientists. Eventually, Edison seeks to destroy Bartok's reputation by claiming that Bartok has stolen his ideas. Tiring of the scandal and the resulting media attention, Bartok leaves New York, and heads West where he begins experimenting with a "rain machine." His financial backing comes from a wealthy widow in Denver with scientific interests and, perhaps, other interests in Bartok. Jis only leisure time is spent with the humorous novels of Mark Twain and with a series of dime novels which chronicle the adventures of Nicodemus Legend.

Huitzilopochtli Ramos

Huitzilopochtli Ramos, a Mexican, is a descendent of Aztec kings, and has inherited the great Aztec genius for mathematics. His first name - Huitzilopochtli - means "Hummingbird of the South," and was the name of the chief tribal God in the Aztec religion. Ramos' brilliance was recognized early in his life, and he eventually went to work for a Harvard archeologist on a dig in Mexico. The archeologist was so impressed by Ramos' intellect that he helped the young man get a scholarship to Harvard. Ramos is fiercely devoted to Bartok, whom he met when they were both working for Western Union.

Harry Parver

Harry Parver is the representative of Pratt's publisher. He's a Easterner who is fascinated by the West but guite out of place in it. Parver is a businessman surrounded by geniuses, dreamers and lunatics. It's his job to be concerned with deadlines, re-writes and promotional stunts to keep the Legend book at the topn of the best-seller lists.

LEGEND is executive produced by Richard Dean Anderson, Bill Dial, Michael Greenburg and Michael Piller. Larry Rapaport is producer. The series is filmed in Tucson and Mescal, Arizona, for broadcast Tuesdays, 8:00 - 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT) on UPN.

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Last modified on January 6, 1996