Dan Blocker is one of the true television immortals, having played Hoss Cartwright -- the heart and soul of _"Bonanza" , and an eventual $1-million payout from N.B.C. to buy out the residual rights of each of the three remaining stars made them all rich. "Bonanza" made Dan Blocker a very wealthy man, but more importantly, it made him a television immortal. The series continues to be re-run in syndication 40 years after Hoss exited the stage.
Had four children: Debra Lee (b. 1953), Danna Lynn (b. 1953), David Blocker (b. 1955), and Dirk Blocker (b. 1957).
ODonnell is located in the panhandle of West Texas, about 40 miles south of Lubbock, Texas. There is a museum located in ODonnell dedicated to Mr. Blocker.
Father of producer David Blocker and actor Dirk Blocker.
Father of identical twin daughters, Danna and Debra.
Interred at DeKalb Cemetery, DeKalb, Texas, USA.
Started and owned the Bonanza steak house restaurant chain.
The Long Goodbye is dedicated to him. Robert Altman , who had directed many early episodes of "Bonanza" , and had become friends with him, had originally cast him in the role of Roger Wade. However, Blocker died before filming commenced, so the role was subsequently filled by Sterling Hayden.
Attended and played football for Sul Ross State College, Alpine, Texas, graduating in 1950.
All of his children studied karate under Chuck Norris.
Blocker was approached to play Major "King" Kong in Stanley Kubrick s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb after Peter Sellers was injured. However, according to Terry Southern (co-writer), Blockers agent rejected the script as being "too pinko".
Best remembered by the public for his role as Hoss on "Bonanza" .
Taught high school in West Texas before becoming an actor.
With some repertory theater experience at the time, the Korean War interrupted his fledgling career. He instead returned to teaching school after his military discharge and went to work on his Ph.D at the University of Calfornia in Los Angeles. Finances were a problem at the time and it was then that he fell back into acting and found TV work.
Received his first taste of theater life at college when the drama club was performing "Arsenic and Old Lace", and needed someone to pack up the bodies from the cellar for the plays curtain call.
Hardly the romancer, one touching and acclaimed "Bonanza" episode had his Hoss character fall in love with a beautiful girl, played by Inger Stevens.
Once was considered for a lead role in the movie MASH .
Former schoolteacher.
Served in the Korean War, a first sergeant with the 45th Oklahoma Division.
Attended Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene and played football. After that he entered Sul-Ross State College on a football scholarship, and was an amateur boxer. While at Sul-Ross he not only won the 1949 Best College Acting award for his portrayal of De Lawd in a production of "Green Pastures," but met his future wife, Dolphia Lee Parker, originally from Alpine, Texas.
Was enrolled at the Texas Military Institute in San Antonio when he was 13 years old and weighed 200 lbs.
Father was a poor Texas farmer who lost the farm after the Depression. His father later went into the grocery business.
His weight was 14 lbs, at birth, on Monday, December 10th, 1928.
He was an activist liberal Democrat and a staunch opponent of the Vietnam War.
Taught history in Sonora (TX) High School from 1953~58, appeared in a school play there where he played a bride at the altar. Sonora is located on I-10 in west Texas with a population of about 2000.
Took his family on a summer vacation by car from Sonora, TX, to Hollywood and was discovered while making phone calls in a sidewalk phone booth and dressed in western garb, wearing heeled cowboy boots with spurs, a gaudy western shirt and a big straw cowboy hat. His wife and kids were sitting in the station wagon parked at the curb when he was noticed by an agent.
Campaigned for Lyndon Johnson in the 1964 presidential campaign but later supported Eugene McCarthy , who ran against LBJ for the 1968 Democratic nomination due to McCarthys opposition to the Vietnam War.
Dan Blocker Beach is a one-mile stretch of the coastline in north Malibu, California, located at 26000 Pacific Coast Highway. It is maintained by the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors.
A 1960 "TV Guide" profile said that Blocker still wanted to finish his Ph.D., but in a 1965 interview with Austin, Texas talk show host Richard Cactus Pryor , he said that he no longer intended to complete his degree. At the time, "Bonanza" was coming off its first season as the #1 show in America, a title it would hold for the next two years as part of a then-unprecedented nine straight years in the Top 5. Blocker told Pryor that he worked five days a week from 7AM to 9PM. Since there were 34 episodes in the sixth season (1964-1965), there would have been little time to pursue his studies.
Weighing in at 14 lbs. at birth, Dan was the largest baby ever born in Bowie County, Texas.
His great grandfather Michael Patrick Blocker (1829-1897) was a private soldier in Phelans Company, Alabama Light Artillery during the War Between the States, as were two other Blocker boys. The Blocker family lived in the Tuscaloosa, AL area at the time.
Until his death, he was friends with Robert Conrad. His son Dirk Blocker worked with Conrad in "Baa Baa Black Sheep" .
My daddy used to say that I was too big to ride and too little to hitch,a wagon - no good for a damn thing.
I can lose five pounds by walking to the corner store. .
