Mark Van Blarcom Slade (born May 1, 1939) is an American actor, artist, and author, particularly remembered for his role of Billy Blue Cannon on the NBC western television series, The High Chaparral.

Biographie

Slade married Melinda Riccilli in 1968. They have two sons, the contemporary artist, Morgan Riccilli Slade and designer/builder Mitchel W. Slade. He is currently living in Northern California, where he continues the pursuit of his artistic endeavors.

Slade's maternal grandmother, Alice Louise (née Ford) Van Blarcom, was Henry Ford's fifth cousin. His Ford lineage goes back to Martha and John Ford who reached Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Fortune, the second English ship to arrive in the New World, on November 9, 1621. John Ford died on the voyage. Martha disembarked with their two sons and gave birth to their third on the same day. The ship's manifest lists among the passengers, a John Cannon, also the name of the patriarch in The High Chaparral.