Dan Blocker was an American television actor and Korean War veteran. He is best remembered
for his role as Eric "Hoss" Cartwright in the NBC western television series Bonanza.
Biography Early life
Blocker was born Bobby Dan Davis Blocker in De Kalb in Bowie County in northeastern Texas,
son of Ora Shack Blocker and his wife Mary Davis Blocker. The family moved to O'Donnell,
south of Lubbock in West Texas, where they operated a store.
He attended Texas Military Institute and in 1946 played football at Baptist-affiliated
Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. He graduated from Sul Ross State Teacher's
College in Alpine, where he earned a master's degree in the dramatic arts..
Blocker was a high school English and drama teacher in Sonora, Texas, a sixth-grade teacher
and coach at Eddy Elementary School in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and finally, a teacher in California.
He had worked as a rodeo performer and as a bouncer in a beer bar while a student. He
is remembered from his school days for his size of 6 ft 4 in and weight of 300 pounds,
and for being good-natured despite his intimidating size.
Korean War Blocker was drafted into the United States
Army during the Korean War. He had basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. He served as an infantry
sergeant in F Company, 2nd Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division
in Korea, December 1951 to August 1952. He received a Purple Heart for wounds in combat
according to the June/July 2013 issue of VFW Magazine.
Acting career In 1957, Blocker appeared in a Three Stooges
short, Outer Space Jitters, having portrayed the part of "The Goon," billed as "Don Blocker".
Dan Blocker made two appearances on the long-running Gunsmoke series: the first on August 25, 1956,
in "Alarm at Pleasant Valley" and the second on October 18, 1958, in "Thoroughbreds". He
also appeared in 1957 as Will in the episode, "A Time to Die" of the ABC/Warner Brothers
western series, Colt .45, starring Wayde Preston. Blocker was cast in 1957 in episodes of the
David Dortort-produced NBC series, The Restless Gun as a blacksmith and as a cattleman planning
to take his hard-earned profit to return to his family land in his native Minnesota. That
same year, he had at least two roles as a bartender: in an episode of the syndicated
western-themed crime drama Sheriff of Cochise, starring John Bromfield and in the film, Gunsight
Ridge. Also in 1957, he appeared in an episode, "Land Beyond the Law", of Cheyenne, playing
one of the outlaw minions. He also appeared in The Rifleman. In 1958, he played a prison
guard and later had a recurring role as Tiny Budinger in the NBC western series Cimarron
City, starring George Montgomery, John Smith, and Audrey Totter. He also was seen in "The
Señorita Makes a Choice," a 1958 episode of Walt Disney's Zorro series.
In 1958, Blocker had a supporting role as Sergeant Broderick in "The Dora Gray Story"
on NBC's Wagon Train, with Linda Darnell in the title role and Mike Connors as Miles Borden,
a corrupt United States Army lieutenant at an isolated western fort. That same year,
he appeared in "Stagecoach Episode" of the NBC western, Jefferson Drum, starring Jeff
Richards. Blocker was cast as bearded poker-playing
rodeo performer, Cloudy Sims, in the 1958 episode "Rodeo" on the David Janssen crime
drama, Richard Diamond, Private Detective. In the story line, a rodeo performer named
Ed Murdock, portrayed by Lee Van Cleef, is murdered before he can make his final performance
at the annual event in Madison Square Garden. In 1959, as Bonanza began its long network
run, Blocker guest-starred in an episode of the Keenan Wynn and Bob Mathias NBC series,
The Troubleshooters, an adventure program about unusual events surrounding an international
construction company. Another 1959 role was as Del Pierce in "Johnny Yuma", the first
episode of the ABC western series, The Rebel, starring Nick Adams.
Bonanza Blocker's big break also came in 1959, when
he was cast as Hoss Cartwright on the long-running NBC television series, Bonanza, and played
the role until his death. Blocker said he portrayed the Hoss character with a Stephen
Grellet excerpt in mind: "We shall pass this way on Earth but once, if there is any kindness
we can show, or good act we can do, let us do it now, for we will never pass this way
again." In 1968, Blocker starred with Frank Sinatra
in the "Tony Rome" film sequel Lady In Cement. Stanley Kubrick attempted to cast Blocker
in his film Dr. Strangelove, after Peter Sellers elected not to add the role of Major T.J.
"King" Kong to his multiple other roles, but according to the film's co-writer, Terry Southern,
Blocker's agent rejected the script. The role subsequently went to Slim Pickens. In 1970,
the actor portrayed a love-shy galoot on, The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County, with
Nanette Fabray as a love prospect. Mickey Rooney also starred. Blocker also appeared
on NBC's The Flip Wilson Show comedy hour. Director Robert Altman befriended Blocker
while directing episodes of Bonanza. Years later, he cast Blocker as Roger Wade in The
Long Goodbye, but Blocker died before filming began. The role went to Sterling Hayden, and
the film was dedicated to Blocker. Blocker received partial ownership in a successful
chain of Ponderosa/Bonanza Steakhouse restaurants in exchange for serving as their commercial
spokesman and making personal appearances at franchises.
Personal life
Blocker was drafted into the United States Army and served in the Korean War as a sergeant.
He married Dolphia Parker, whom he had met while a student at Sul Ross State. All of
their four children's names begin with a 'D': actor Dirk Blocker, producer David Blocker,
and twin daughters Debra Lee and Danna Lynn. David Blocker won a 1998 Emmy for producing
"Don King: Only in America." A Free Methodist, Blocker was among Hollywood
celebrities who supported Pat Brown's re-election in 1966 as governor of California against
Ronald W. Reagan. In 1968, Blocker backed then U.S. Senator Eugene J. McCarthy of Minnesota
for the Democratic presidential nomination. Blocker later supported the eventual Democratic
Party nominee, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, also of Minnesota, for the presidency against
the Republican Richard M. Nixon. He kept a house in Inglewood, California, and commuted
to NBC. His 6,000-square-foot Tudor-style mansion in the Hancock Park, Los Angeles area
of Los Angeles is currently owned by Rob Zombie. On the 2010 PBS special, "Pioneers of Television:
Westerns", actor Mitch Vogel, who played the young brother Jamie Cartwright on Bonanza,
said Blocker, "was so easy to get to know—the kind of guy you could go and have a beer with."
Blocker, a performance automobile fan, once owned a 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396 "Z-16"
as Chevrolet was the commercial sponsor of the show. He also owned a 1965 Huffaker Genie
MK10 race car, nicknamed the "Vinegaroon". The car was run by Nickey Chevrolet in the
1965 and 1966 US Road Racing Championship series, as well as the 1966 Can-Am championship.
Death On May 13, 1972, Blocker died in Los Angeles
of a pulmonary embolism following a "routine" gall bladder surgery. The writers of Bonanza
took the unusual step of referencing a major character's death in the show's storyline
that autumn. Bonanza lasted another season without Hoss, as the 14th and final season
ended on January 16, 1973. Blocker's remains are interred in a family plot in Woodsmen
Cemetery, in DeKalb, Texas, although he had lived there only briefly. The common grave
site is marked by a plain stone with the name "BLOCKER" engraved; three family members are
buried beside him. A "Dan Blocker Room" is on the second floor
of the O'Donnell Heritage Museum in O'Donnell, Texas, where he was reared.
In popular culture A photo of Blocker as Hoss appears on the
cover of Lagwagon's 1995 release Hoss, also named for the character.
References
External links Dan Blocker at the Internet Movie Database
Biography by Bruce Eder, Allmovie Dan Blocker at AllMusic
Roadside America, Dan Blocker Memorial "Cactus Pryor Interviews Dan Blocker": KTBC
interview from 1965 Dan Blocker at Find a Grave