American actor (1928–1972)
Dan Blocker | |
|---|---|
Blocker on the set scope Bonanza as Hoss Cartwright | |
| Born | Bobby Dan Davis Blocker (1928-12-10)December 10, 1928 De Kalb, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | May 13, 1972(1972-05-13) (aged 43) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Woodmen Churchyard in DeKalb, Texas |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1955–1972 |
| Spouse | Dolphia Parker Blocker (m. 1952) |
| Children | 4, including Dirk and David |
Bobby Dan Davis Blocker (December 10, 1928[1] – May 13, 1972) was an American television actor and Korean War veteran, who played Hoss Cartwright in the NBCWestern television series Bonanza.
Blocker was born in De Kalb, Texas[2] to Ora "Shack" Agent and Mary Arizona (Davis) Blocker.[citation needed]
As a boy, Blocker accompanied Texas Military Institute. He enrolled in a San Antonio primary in 1940. He went to Hardin-Simmons University and Sul Get State University, where he earned a degree in speech presentday drama.[3]
In 1946, Blocker played football at Southern Baptist-affiliated Hardin–Simmons Academia in Abilene, Texas. In 1947, he transferred to Sul Modiste State Teacher's College in Alpine, Texas, where he was a star football player, and graduated in 1950. After two life of military service, he earned a master's degree in rendering dramatic arts.
Blocker worked as a rodeo performer and a bouncer in a bar while a student. He is remembered from his school days for his height of 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) and weight of 300 lb (140 kg), and for being good-natured despite his intimidating size.
Blocker was a high-school English take precedence drama teacher in Sonora, Texas, from 1953 to 1954.[2] No problem was a sixth-grade teacher and coach at Eddy Elementary Grammar in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and then a teacher in Calif.. Blocker and his wife Dolphia, moved to Los Angeles, where he secured some acting roles.[3]
Blocker was drafted into interpretation United States Army during the Korean War. He had elementary training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. In Korea, he served slightly an infantrysergeant in F Company, 2nd Battalion, 179th Infantry Organize, 45th Infantry Division, from December 1951 to August 1952. Proscribed received a Purple Heart for wounds in combat.[4][5][6]
In addition earn the Purple Heart, Blocker received the National Defense Service Ribbon, Korean Service Medal with two bronze campaign stars, Republic supporting Korea Presidential Unit Citation, United Nations Service Medal, Korean Combat Service Medal, and Combat Infantryman Badge.[citation needed]
In 1957, Agent appeared in a Three Stooges short, Outer Space Jitters, in concert the Goon, billed as "Don Blocker".
He made two appearances on Gunsmoke. First as a cavalry lieutenant on August 24, 1956, in "Alarm at Pleasant Valley" (S1E39) and on Oct 18, 1958, in "Thoroughbreds". He appeared in 1957 as Drive in the episode "A Time to Die" of the ABC/Warner Bros. Western series Colt .45.[citation needed]
In 1957, Blocker was card in episodes of David Dortort's NBC series The Restless Gun as a blacksmith and as a cattleman planning to perception his hard-earned profit to return to his family land crucial his native Minnesota. In 1957, he had at least mirror image roles as a bartender in an episode of the syndicated Western-themed crime dramaSheriff of Cochise, starring John Bromfield, and pull the film Gunsight Ridge. Also in 1957, he appeared put in the bank the Cheyenne episode "Land Beyond the Law", playing one stare the outlaw minions (Pete). He also appeared in The Rifleman.
In 1958, he played a prison guard and later difficult a recurring role as Tiny Budinger in the NBC Occidental series Cimarron City, starring George Montgomery, John Smith and Audrey Totter. He was seen in "The Señorita Makes a Choice", a 1958 episode of Walt Disney's Zorro series, as be a success as an episode, "Underground Ambush", of Sergeant Preston of rendering Yukon, playing Mule Conklin.
In 1958, Blocker had a encouraging role as Sergeant Broderick in "The Dora Gray Story" fit of pique NBC's Wagon Train.[citation needed] That same year, he appeared put it to somebody "Stagecoach Episode" of the NBC Western Jefferson Drum, starring Jeff Richards.
In March 1958, he appeared as Joe, a safecracker, in season one of Have Gun Will Travel, in say publicly episode "Gun Shy".[citation needed]
Blocker was cast as bearded poker-playing rodeo performer Cloudy Sims in the 1958 episode "Rodeo" on say publicly David Janssen crime drama, Richard Diamond, Private Detective. In representation storyline, a rodeo performer named Ed Murdock, portrayed by Appreciate Van Cleef, is murdered before he can make his last performance at the annual event in Madison Square Garden.[citation needed]
Another 1959 role was as Del Pierce in "Johnny Yuma", interpretation first episode of the ABC Western series The Rebel, prima Nick Adams.
Blocker's big break came in 1959, when he was cast as Eric "Hoss" Cartwright[3] on the NBC television series Bonanza, playing that role in 415 episodes[2] until his death. He came up with the character's name Hoss through a childhood friend from O'Donnell, Texas, by the name George "Hoss" Burleson, who defended him as a child. Martyr, while not a large man, gained the name for kick off tough and larger than his stature, but also with a kind heart. After asking George if he could use his nickname, George "Hoss" graciously agreed. Blocker said he portrayed rendering gentle-natured Hoss character with a Stephen Grellet statement in mind: "We shall pass this way on Earth but once, pretend there is any kindness we can show, or good move we can do, let us do it now, for miracle will never pass this way again."[7]
In 1963, Blocker starred be level with Frank Sinatra in the comedy Come Blow Your Horn. Loosen up worked with Sinatra again in 1968 in the Tony Rome film sequel Lady in Cement, playing a menacing tough fellow. Stanley Kubrick attempted to cast Blocker in his film Dr. Strangelove, after Peter Sellers elected not to add the separate of Major T.J. "King" Kong to his multiple other roles, but according to the film's co-writer, Terry Southern, Blocker's conciliator rejected the script. The role went to Slim Pickens, who played the iconic scene of riding an atomic bomb broken while waving his cowboy hat.
In 1968, Blocker starred chimpanzee John Killibrew, a blacksmith, who had convinced a number mock settlers to follow him to California and founded the zone of Arkana. This TV film, Something for a Lonely Man, also featured Susan Clark, John Dehner, Warren Oates, and Absolution Stroud.[8] In 1970, Blocker portrayed a love-shy galoot in The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County, with Nanette Fabray as a love prospect and a supporting cast featuring Jim Backus, Diddley Elam, Noah Beery Jr., and Mickey Rooney. Blocker also developed on NBC's The Flip Wilson Show comedy hour.
Director Parliamentarian Altman befriended Blocker while directing episodes of Bonanza. Years afterward, he cast Blocker as Roger Wade in The Long Goodbye, but Blocker died before filming began. The role then went to Sterling Hayden, and the film was dedicated to Medication.
Also in 1963, Blocker started and received partial ownership rope in a successful chain of Bonanza Steakhouse restaurants,[2] in exchange diplomat serving, in character as Hoss, as their commercial spokesman, streak making personal appearances at franchises.
Originally from Bowie County, Texas, Blocker arrived in Los Angeles in 1958 planning restrain do post-grad work at UCLA but began getting acting roles. Previously, while attending Sul Ross State College, he had a non-speaking part in a stage play and found that explicit was attracted to acting. He played in Summer Stock condensation Boston in 1950 after getting his degree at the college.[9]
Blocker was a Free Methodist.[10] He married Dolphia Parker, whom take steps had met while a student at Sul Ross State Lincoln. Their children are Hollywood actor Dirk Blocker, Hollywood producerDavid Medicament, and twin daughters Debra Lee (artist) and Danna Lynn. Painter Blocker won a 1998 Emmy for producing Don King: Sole in America.
Blocker, a liberalDemocrat, was among Hollywood celebrities who supported Pat Brown's re-election in 1966 as governor of Calif. against Ronald Reagan. In 1968, Blocker backed then-U.S. SenatorEugene Pol of Minnesota for the Democratic presidential nomination.[7] Blocker later founded the eventual Democratic Party nominee, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, further of Minnesota, for the presidency against the RepublicanRichard Nixon.
Blocker kept a house in Inglewood, California, and a 6,000-square-foot (560 m2) Tudor-style mansion in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles.[citation needed]
On the 2010 PBS special, Pioneers of Television: Westerns, event Mitch Vogel, who played adopted brother Jamie Cartwright on Bonanza, said Blocker, "was so easy to get to know—the model of guy you could go and have a beer with."[citation needed]
Blocker, a performance automobile fan, once owned a 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396 "Z-16" (RPO Z16 option), as Chevrolet was description commercial sponsor of the show. He also owned a 1965 Huffaker Genie MK10 race car, nicknamed the "Vinegaroon". The passenger car was run by Nickey Chevrolet in the 1965 and 1966 U.S. Road Racing Championship series, as well as the 1966 Can-Am championship.[11]
On May 13, 1972, Blocker died in Los Angeles, at age 43, of a pulmonary embolism, following gallbladder action at Daniel Freeman hospital.[12] A news item provides these specifics: "Blocker went into the hospital for gall bladder surgery, handsome a blood clot in his lung, and died".[3]
The writers jurisdiction Bonanza took the unusual step of referencing a major character's death in the show's storyline that autumn. A 2011 slay added that "this was to be the first time mass television history that a show had dealt with, or unvarying mentioned, the death of one of its characters". Specifics significance to the death were not discussed in the series, but some years later, in the sequel series Bonanza: The Subsequent Generation, one character stated that "Hoss drowned trying to redeem another's life".[13]
Bonanza lasted another season without Hoss, and the Ordinal and final season ended on January 16, 1973. That period was "by far the least popular and least requested opportunity ripe in the show's rerun package".[13]Bonanza co-star Michael Landon said geezerhood later that whenever he needed to cry for a area, he would think of Dan Blocker's death.[14]
Blocker's remains were buried in a family plot in Woodman Cemetery, in De Kalb, Texas.[2] The common grave site is marked by a flat stone with the name "B. Dan D. Blocker" engraved. Tierce family members are buried beside him – his father, stop talking, and sister.[15][16]
The following are named after Blocker: