Dan Blocker
Encyclopedia
Dan Blocker was an American actor best remembered for his role as Eric "Hoss" Cartwright in the NBC
western
television
series Bonanza
.
, Texas
, son of Ora Shack Blocker (1895–1960) and his wife Mary (David) Blocker (1901–1998). Soon after Dan's birth, 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 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. (Although the "Hoss" character on Bonanza was conceived as lovable but slow-witted, Blocker was the only cast member with a graduate degree.)
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 a 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 in 3 in (1.91 m) and weight of 300 pound, and for being good-natured despite his intimidating size.
short, Outer Space Jitters
, having portrayed the part of "The Goon," billed as "Don Blocker". That year he appeared in episodes of the David Dortort
-produced TV 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
. Also in 1957, Blocker had a role as a bartender
in an episode of the syndicated
western-themed crime drama Sheriff of Cochise
, starring John Bromfield
. He also had a role as a bartender in the 1957 film Gunsight Ridge. In 1958, he played a prison guard and later had a recurring role as Tiny Budinger in the NBC western series Cimarron City (TV series)
. He also was seen in a 1958 episode of Walt Disney's Zorro, "The Señorita Makes a Choice".
In 1959, as Bonanza was beginning, 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.
Blocker played the outgoing "middle son" Hoss on the long-running NBC television series, Bonanza
. The actor who played his elder brother Adam, Pernell Roberts
, was born a scant seven months before Blocker. Dan Blocker said that 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.
Director Robert Altman
befriended Blocker while directing episodes of Bonanza
. Years later, he cast Blocker as Roger Wade in The Long Goodbye
. Blocker died before filming commenced. 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 (in character as Hoss) as their commercial spokesman and making personal appearances at franchises.
into the Army and served in the Korean War
as a First Sergeant
. He later 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 (artist) and Danna Lynn.
A Free Methodist
, Blocker was among Hollywood celebrities who supported Pat Brown
's re-election as Governor of California (opposing Ronald W. Reagan's candidacy) in 1966, and then U.S. Senator Eugene J. McCarthy for the Democratic
presidential nomination
in 1968 [3]. Blocker later supported the eventual Democratic Party nominee, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey from Minnesota
, for the presidency against the Republican
Richard M. Nixon. Blocker so opposed the Vietnam War
that he uprooted his family in 1968 and moved them to Lugano, Switzerland
[4]. ("Bonanza", Bear Family Records liner notes; "Bonanza: Scenery of the Ponderosa: Episode Guide- Season 14"). He kept a house in Inglewood, California
and commuted to NBC. His 6000 square feet (557.4 m²) Tudor
style mansion in the Hancock Park
area of Los Angeles
is currently owned by Rob Zombie
.
On the 2010 PBS special, "Pioneers of Television: Westerns", actor Mitch Vogel
who played Bonanza TV brother Jamie Cartwright stated, "he {Dan Blocker} was so easy to get to know - the kind of guy you could go and have a beer with."
Blocker once owned an authentic 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle
SS396 (RPO Z16 option) as Chevrolet
was the commercial sponsor of the show. His Chevelle, now in private hands, is sometimes displayed in car shows. He was also the owner of a 1965 Huffaker Genie MK10 race car, nicknamed the "Vinegaroon." The 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.
, Blocker died following gall bladder surgery, of a pulmonary embolism
. The writers of Bonanza took the then-unusual step of referencing a major character's death in the show's storyline that autumn. Bonanza lasted another abbreviated season without Hoss, as the final and fourteenth year ended nine episodes shy of a full season- on January 16, 1973. Blocker's remains are buried in a family plot in DeKalb, although he lived there only briefly. The common grave site is marked by a plain stone with the name "BLOCKER" engraved, and three family members are buried beside him.
There is a "Dan Blocker Room" on the second floor of the O'Donnell Heritage Museum
in O'Donnell, Texas, where he was reared.
's 1995 release Hoss
, also named for the character.
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
western
Western fiction
Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 1900s and Louis L'Amour from the mid 20th century...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
.
Early life
Blocker was born Bobby Dan Blocker in De KalbDe Kalb, Texas
DeKalb is a city in Bowie County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,769 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Texarkana, Texas - Texarkana, Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its two area codes are 430 and 903. Its ZIP code is 75559...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, son of Ora Shack Blocker (1895–1960) and his wife Mary (David) Blocker (1901–1998). Soon after Dan's birth, the family moved to O'Donnell
O'Donnell, Texas
O'Donnell is a West Texas town that lies primarily in Lynn County, with a small portion extending south into Dawson County, Texas. The population was 1,011 at the 2000 census.-History:O'Donnell was first settled in 1910 and named for Tom J...
, south of Lubbock
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
in West Texas
West Texas
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
, where they operated a store.
He attended Texas Military Institute and in 1946 played football at Hardin-Simmons University
Hardin-Simmons University
Hardin–Simmons University is a private Baptist university located in Abilene, Texas, United States.-History:Hardin–Simmons University was founded as Abilene Baptist College in 1891 by the Sweetwater Baptist Association and a group of cattlemen and pastors who sought to bring Christian higher...
in Abilene
Abilene, Texas
Abilene is a city in Taylor and Jones counties in west central Texas. The population was 117,063 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Abilene Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2006 estimated population of 158,063. It is the county seat of Taylor County...
, Texas. He graduated from Sul Ross State Teacher's College
Sul Ross State University
Sul Ross State University , a public university in Alpine, Texas, is named for former Texas governor, Civil War general Lawrence Sullivan Ross. It was founded in 1917 as Sul Ross Normal College and was made a university in 1969....
in Alpine
Alpine, Texas
Alpine is a city in and the county seat of Brewster County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,786 people at the 2000 census, and had increased to 5,905 by 2010.-History:...
, where he earned a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in the dramatic arts. (Although the "Hoss" character on Bonanza was conceived as lovable but slow-witted, Blocker was the only cast member with a graduate degree.)
Blocker was a high school English and drama teacher in Sonora, Texas
Sonora, Texas
Sonora is the county seat of Sutton County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,924 at the 2000 census.Former State Senator and Lieutenant Governor Bill Ratliff of Mount Pleasant was reared in Sonora and graduated from high school there.-Geography and climate:Sonora is located at ...
, a sixth grade teacher and coach at Eddy Elementary School in Carlsbad
Carlsbad, New Mexico
Carlsbad is a city in and the county seat of Eddy County, New Mexico, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 26,138. Carlsbad is the center of the designated micropolitan area of Carlsbad-Artesia, which has a total population of 55,435...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
and a finally a teacher in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He had worked as a rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...
performer and as a bouncer
Bouncer
Bouncer or The Bouncer may refer to:* Bouncer , a person who provides security at a public venue* Bouncer or BNC, a piece of software used to relay traffic and connections in computer networksIn sport:...
in a beer bar while a student. He is remembered from his school days for his size of 6 in 3 in (1.91 m) and weight of 300 pound, and for being good-natured despite his intimidating size.
Career
In 1957, Blocker appeared in a Three StoogesThree Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe,...
short, Outer Space Jitters
Outer Space Jitters
Outer Space Jitters is the 182nd short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The five made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...
, having portrayed the part of "The Goon," billed as "Don Blocker". That year he appeared in episodes of the David Dortort
David Dortort
-Further reading:*"David Dortort." The Complete Marquis Who's Who. Marquis Who's Who, 2010. Gale Biography In Context. Web. Retrieved 22 Sept. 2010. Fee, via Fairfax County Public Library...
-produced TV series The Restless Gun
The Restless Gun
The Restless Gun is a western television series that appeared on NBC between 1957 and 1959, with John Payne in the role of Vint Bonner, a wandering cowboy in the era after the American Civil War. A skilled gunfighter, Bonner is an idealistic person who prefers peaceful resolutions of conflict...
as a blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
and as a cattleman planning to take his hard-earned profit to return to his family land in his native Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. Also in 1957, Blocker had a role as a bartender
Bartender
A bartender is a person who serves beverages behind a counter in a bar, pub, tavern, or similar establishment. A bartender, in short, "tends the bar". The term barkeeper may carry a connotation of being the bar's owner...
in an episode of the syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
western-themed crime drama Sheriff of Cochise
Sheriff of Cochise
Sheriff of Cochise , renamed U.S. Marshal , is a 58-episode syndicated western-themed crime drama set in Arizona and starring John Bromfield as law enforcement officer Frank Morgan. In the first two seasons, Morgan was sheriff of Cochise County...
, starring John Bromfield
John Bromfield
John Bromfield was an American film and television actor.Bromfield was born in South Bend, Indiana. He played football and was a boxing champion in college. He served in the United States Navy. In 1948, he twice harpooned a whale in the documentary film Harpoon...
. He also had a role as a bartender in the 1957 film Gunsight Ridge. In 1958, he played a prison guard and later had a recurring role as Tiny Budinger in the NBC western series Cimarron City (TV series)
Cimarron City (TV series)
Cimarron City is an American Western television series starring George Montgomery and John Smith that aired on NBC from October 11, 1958 until April 4, 1959...
. He also was seen in a 1958 episode of Walt Disney's Zorro, "The Señorita Makes a Choice".
In 1959, as Bonanza was beginning, Blocker guest-starred in an episode of the Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts....
and Bob Mathias
Bob Mathias
Robert Bruce "Bob" Mathias was an American decathlete, two-time Olympic gold medalist, actor and United States Congressman representing the state of California.-Early life and athletic career:...
NBC series The Troubleshooters
The Troubleshooters (1959 TV series)
The Troubleshooters is a 26-segment half-hour adventure series starring Keenan Wynn as Kodiak and Bob Mathias as Frank Dugan, which aired new episodes on NBC Television from September 11, 1959, to April 10, 1960. Based on unusual events at international construction sites, the program was...
, an adventure program about unusual events surrounding an international construction company.
Blocker played the outgoing "middle son" Hoss on the long-running NBC television series, Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
. The actor who played his elder brother Adam, Pernell Roberts
Pernell Roberts
Pernell Elvin Roberts, Jr. was an American stage, movie and television actor, as well as a singer. In addition to guest starring in over 60 television series, he was widely known for his roles as Ben Cartwright's eldest son, Adam Cartwright, on the western series Bonanza, a role he played from...
, was born a scant seven months before Blocker. Dan Blocker said that he portrayed the Hoss character with a Stephen Grellet
Stephen Grellet
Stephen Grellet was a prominent French Quaker missionary.He was born Étienne de Grellet du Mabillier in Limoges, the son to a counsellor of King Louis XVI. Raised as a Roman Catholic he was educated at the military College of Lyons, and at the age of seventeen he entered the body-guard of Louis XVI...
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
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
in the "Tony Rome" film sequel Lady In Cement
Lady In Cement
Lady In Cement is a 1968 detective film, directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Frank Sinatra, Raquel Welch, Dan Blocker, Martin Gabel and Richard Conte. A sequel to the 1967 film Tony Rome, and based on the novel by Marvin H...
.
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
attempted to cast Blocker in his film Dr. Strangelove, after Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
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
Terry Southern
Terry Southern was an American author, essayist, screenwriter and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style...
, Blocker's agent rejected the script. The role subsequently went to Slim Pickens
Slim Pickens
Louis Burton Lindley, Jr. , better known by the stage name Slim Pickens, was an American rodeo performer and film and television actor who epitomized the profane, tough, sardonic cowboy, but who is best remembered for his comic roles, notably in Dr...
. In 1970, the actor portrayed a love-shy galoot on, The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County, with Nanette Fabray
Nanette Fabray
Nanette Fabray is an American actress, comedienne, singer, dancer, and activist. She began her career performing in vaudeville as a child and then became a musical theatre actress during the 1940s and 1950s, winning a Tony Award in 1949 for her performance in Love Life...
as a love prospect. Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
also starred.
Director Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
befriended Blocker while directing episodes of Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
. Years later, he cast Blocker as Roger Wade in The Long Goodbye
The Long Goodbye (film)
The Long Goodbye is a 1973 neo noir, directed by Robert Altman and based on Raymond Chandler's 1953 novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Leigh Brackett, who co-wrote the screenplay for The Big Sleep in 1946...
. Blocker died before filming commenced. The role went to Sterling Hayden
Sterling Hayden
Sterling Hayden was an American actor and author. For most of his career as a leading man, he specialized in westerns and film noir, such as Johnny Guitar, The Asphalt Jungle and The Killing. Later on he became noted as a character actor for such roles as Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Dr...
and the film was dedicated to Blocker.
Blocker received partial ownership in a successful chain of Ponderosa/Bonanza Steakhouse
Ponderosa/Bonanza Steakhouse
Ponderosa Steakhouse and Bonanza Steakhouse are a chain of buffet/steakhouse restaurants. They are two of the most franchised subsidiaries of Metromedia Restaurant Group....
restaurants in exchange for serving (in character as Hoss) as their commercial spokesman and making personal appearances at franchises.
Personal life
Blocker was draftedConscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
into the Army and served in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
as a First Sergeant
First Sergeant
First sergeant is the name of a military rank used in many countries, typically a senior non-commissioned officer.-Singapore:First Sergeant is a Specialist in the Singapore Armed Forces. First Sergeants are the most senior of the junior Specialists, ranking above Second Sergeants, and below Staff...
. He later 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
Dirk Blocker
Dennis Dirk Blocker is an American actor and the son of late actor Dan Blocker, of the popular TV series, Bonanza.Dirk Blocker began appearing in American television in 1974, acting in an episode of Marcus Welby, M.D. at the age of sixteen...
, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
David Blocker
David Blocker
David Blocker is a film producer and is the son of Dan Blocker. In 1998, he won an Emmy for producing Don King: Only in America.-Filmography:* Return Engagement * Choose Me * Trouble in Mind * Made in Heaven * The Moderns...
and twin daughters Debra Lee (artist) and Danna Lynn.
A Free Methodist
Free Methodist Church
The Free Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination within the holiness movement. It is evangelical in nature and has its roots in the Arminian-Wesleyan tradition....
, Blocker was among Hollywood celebrities who supported Pat Brown
Pat Brown
Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown, Sr. was the 32nd Governor of California, serving from 1959 to 1967, and the father of current Governor of California Jerry Brown.-Background:...
's re-election as Governor of California (opposing Ronald W. Reagan's candidacy) in 1966, and then U.S. Senator Eugene J. McCarthy for the Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
presidential nomination
Nomination
Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to an office, or the bestowing of an honor or award.In the context of elections for public office, a candidate who has been selected by a political party is normally said to be the nominee of that party...
in 1968 [3]. Blocker later supported the eventual Democratic Party nominee, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey from Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, for the presidency against the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Richard M. Nixon. Blocker so opposed the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
that he uprooted his family in 1968 and moved them to Lugano, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
[4]. ("Bonanza", Bear Family Records liner notes; "Bonanza: Scenery of the Ponderosa: Episode Guide- Season 14"). He kept a house in Inglewood, California
Inglewood, California
Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...
and commuted to NBC. His 6000 square feet (557.4 m²) Tudor
Tudorbethan architecture
The Tudor Revival architecture of the 20th century , first manifested itself in domestic architecture beginning in the United Kingdom in the mid to late 19th century based on a revival of aspects of Tudor style. It later became an influence in some other countries, especially the British colonies...
style mansion in the Hancock Park
Hancock Park
Hancock Park is a park in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, area, which is the location of the La Brea Tar Pits, the George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art . The park does not, however, lie within the Hancock Park neighborhood which is...
area of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
is currently owned by Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie is an American musician, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He founded the heavy metal band White Zombie and has been nominated three times as a solo artist for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.Zombie has also established a career as a film director, creating the...
.
On the 2010 PBS special, "Pioneers of Television: Westerns", actor Mitch Vogel
Mitch Vogel
Mitch Vogel is a United States former child actor who left show business as at the age of 20. He was best known for his 1970-73 Bonanza role, where he played the teen orphan Jamie Hunter Cartwright...
who played Bonanza TV brother Jamie Cartwright stated, "he {Dan Blocker} was so easy to get to know - the kind of guy you could go and have a beer with."
Blocker once owned an authentic 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle
Chevrolet Chevelle
The Chevrolet Chevelle is a mid-sized automobile produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors in three generations for the 1964 through 1977 model years. Part of the GM A-Body platform, the Chevelle was one of Chevrolet's most successful nameplates. Body styles include coupes, sedans,...
SS396 (RPO Z16 option) as Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
was the commercial sponsor of the show. His Chevelle, now in private hands, is sometimes displayed in car shows. He was also the owner of a 1965 Huffaker Genie MK10 race car, nicknamed the "Vinegaroon." The 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.
Death
On May 13, 1972, in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Blocker died following gall bladder surgery, of a pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism is a blockage of the main artery of the lung or one of its branches by a substance that has travelled from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream . Usually this is due to embolism of a thrombus from the deep veins in the legs, a process termed venous thromboembolism...
. The writers of Bonanza took the then-unusual step of referencing a major character's death in the show's storyline that autumn. Bonanza lasted another abbreviated season without Hoss, as the final and fourteenth year ended nine episodes shy of a full season- on January 16, 1973. Blocker's remains are buried in a family plot in DeKalb, although he lived there only briefly. The common grave site is marked by a plain stone with the name "BLOCKER" engraved, and three family members are buried beside him.
There is a "Dan Blocker Room" on the second floor of the O'Donnell Heritage Museum
O'Donnell Heritage Museum
The O'Donnell Heritage Museum is a local history repository in O'Donnell in Lynn County in West Texas. A part of the museum includes a room of exhibits on the actor Dan Blocker, who portrayed the Hoss Cartwright character for thirteen years on NBC's Bonanza. Blocker was reared in O'Donnell though...
in O'Donnell, Texas, where he was reared.
In popular culture
A photo of Blocker as Hoss appears on the cover of LagwagonLagwagon
Lagwagon is an American punk rock band originally from Goleta, just outside Santa Barbara, California. They formed in 1990 and went on hiatus and reunited several times over the years...
's 1995 release Hoss
Hoss (album)
Hoss is Lagwagon's third album, released on November 21, 1995 by Fat Wreck Chords. It was produced by Ryan Greene.Both Shaun Dewey and Derrick Plourde would leave the band shortly after the release of Hoss...
, also named for the character.