✪ SweetHomeAlabama & louisiana_mom

Bobby Dan Davis Blocker: December 10, 1928 – May 13, 1972

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✪ Bobby Dan Davis Blocker was a decorated Korean War veteran & popular American television actor, best known for his role as Hoss Cartwright in the NBC Television weekly Western series Bonanza which was a mainstay of Sunday night American family television viewing from 1959-1972. Many television historians cite Blocker’s unexpected and untimely death as the leading reason for the sudden collapse in the series’ ratings and subsequent network cancellation.

Dan Blocker was born on December 10, 1928, in De Kalb, Texas to Ora “Shack” Blocker and Mary Arizona (Davis) Blocker. His parents owned and operated a small grocery store in downtown O’Donnell, Texas.

The Blocker Family grocery store in O’Donnell, Texas. Abandoned since 2010.

in 1940, Blocker enrolled in and attended the Texas Military Institute. In 1946, he attended and played football at Southern Baptist affiliated Hardin–Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. In 1947, he transferred to Sul Ross State Teacher’s College in Alpine, Texas, where he became their star football player. Blocker graduated from Sul Ross in 1950 with a degree in speech and drama. After two years of military service, he went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Dramatic Arts.

As a college student, Blocker worked as a rodeo performer and bar bouncer to support himself. His teachers and fellow students remember him for his friendly and good natured disposition despite his intimidating size and imposing stature of 6 ft 4 inches and 300 pounds.

From 1953 to 1954, Blocker worked as a high-school English and drama teacher in Sonora, Texas. He later worked as a sixth-grade teacher and coach at Eddy Elementary School in Carlsbad, New Mexico; then a teacher in California. Blocker and his wife Dolphia eventually moved to Los Angeles, so he could pursue an acting career.

Originally from Bowie County, Texas, Blocker arrived in Los Angeles in 1958 planning to do post-grad work at UCLA but instead began seeking out and receiving small acting roles. While attending Sul Ross State College, he took a non-speaking part in a college stage play out of curiosity and discovered he enjoyed acting. He went on to play Summer Stock in Boston in 1950 after graduation.

Blocker was a Free Methodist. He married Dolphia Parker, whom he met while both of them were students attending Sul Ross. Dan & Dolphia had four children: Hollywood actor Dirk Blocker, producer David Blocker, and twin daughters Debra Lee (artist) and Danna Lynn. David Blocker won a 1998 Emmy for his bioptic production of Don King: Only in America.

During the Korean War, Blocker was drafted into the United States Army & received his basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. During his deployment in Korea, he served as an Infantry Sergeant in F Company, 2nd Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division from December 1951 to August 1952. He was awarded a Purple Heart after being wounded in a combat mission.

In addition to the Purple Heart, Blocker was also a highly decorated veteran, receiving the National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Campaign Stars, Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, United Nations Service Medal, Korean War Service Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge. Blocker retired from the US Army with an Honorable Discharge after the Korean War.

Blocker’s acting career began in 1957 with a cameo appearance playing the Goon in a Three Stooges short entitled Outer Space Jitters. For his first screen credit, he was billed as “Don Blocker” instead of “Dan Blocker.”

He proceeded to be cast as an extra in bit parts; making two appearances on Gunsmoke. First as a cavalry lieutenant in the August 24, 1956 episode “Alarm at Pleasant Valley” (S1E39) and again on October 18, 1958, in “Thoroughbreds.” He would appear again in 1957 as Will in an episode of the ABC/Warner Brothers Western series Colt .45, entitled, “A Time to Die.”

Blocker’s acting work in television western series continued throughout 1957; as a blacksmith and a cattleman in episodes of the NBC series The Restless Gun. He also played the bartender in an episode of the syndicated Western Sheriff of Cochise and in the film Gunsight Ridge. In 1957, he also made regular supporting and character appearances in The Rifleman.

In 1958, Blocker landed a supporting role as Sergeant Broderick in “The Dora Gray Story” episode on NBC’s Wagon Train. In March 1958, he appeared as Joe, a thief, in the first season of Have Gun – Will Travel.

▶️ 37 Seconds

Blocker’s big acting break finally came in 1959, when he was cast as in his first major television role as Eric “Hoss” Cartwright in the NBC television series Bonanza. He would go on to play that role for over 400 episodes until his death. In an interview, Blocker said he modeled the portrayal of his gentle-natured Hoss character with a Stephen Grellet statement 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.

Blocker’s popular breakout role on Bonanza also lead to his acting crossover into film. In 1963, Blocker co-starred with Frank Sinatra in the comedy Come Blow Your Horn. And, he worked again with Sinatra in 1968 in the Tony Rome film sequel Lady in Cement, playing a menacing tough guy. Stanley Kubrick considered casting Blocker in his film Dr. Strangelove, after Peter Sellers declined to add the role of Major TJ “King” Kong to his other multiple other roles. According to one of the film’s co-writers, Terry Southern, Blocker’s agent rejected the script. Instead, the role went to Slim Pickens, and featured the iconic scene of riding an atomic bomb down to detonation while waving his cowboy hat.

Blocker also made several television appearances on NBC’s The Flip Wilson Show comedy hour.

While directing several episodes of Bonanza, director Robert Altman befriended Blocker and years later cast him as Roger Wade in his production of The Long Goodbye; however, Blocker died before filming could began. The role then went to Sterling Hayden, and the film was dedicated to Blocker.

In 1963, Blocker was given a partial ownership in the successful chain of Bonanza Steakhouse restaurants in exchange for his Hoss character acting as the chain’s official commercial spokesman. This ongoing advertisement campaign also included Blocker making personal appearances as Hoss at franchise locations.

Blocker was a registered liberal Democrat; and was among several Hollywood celebrities who openly supported Pat Brown’s re-election campaign in 1966 as the Governor of California against Ronald Reagan. In 1968, Blocker backed then U.S. Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota for the Democratic presidential nomination. Blocker later supported the eventual Democrat Party nominee, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, also of Minnesota, for the presidency against the Republican Richard Nixon.

Blocker and his family resided in 6,000-square-foot Tudor-styled mansion in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles.

Blocker was also an avid racing and high performance automobile fan. He once owned a 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396, the “Z-16.” Chevrolet was also a major commercial sponsor of Bonanza. Blocker was also the owner of a 1965 Huffaker Genie MK10 race car, which he nicknamed “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 suddenly on May 13, 1972 at the age of 43 in Inglewood, California of a pulmonary embolism, following gallbladder surgery at Daniel Freeman Hospital. News articles of the time reported these specifics: “Blocker went into the hospital for gall bladder surgery, developed a blood clot in his lung, and died.”

Later that Autumn, the screenwriters for Bonanza took the unusual step of referencing a major character’s death in the show’s storyline. A 2011 report added “this was the first time in television history a show dealt with, or even mentioned, the death of one of its main characters.” While specifics regarding Hoss’ death were alluded to in subsequent Bonanza episodes, they were not openly discussed in the series storylines. However, some years later, in a television sequel series Bonanza: The Next Generation, one character does state, “Hoss drowned trying to save another’s life.”

Bonanza only lasted an additional season after the loss of Hoss. The 14th and final season ended on January 16, 1973 and was rated “by far the least popular and least requested season in the show’s rerun package.” Years later, Bonanza co-star Michael Landon said whenever he needed motivation to cry for a scene, he would think of Dan’s death.

Blocker’s remains are currently interred in a family plot in Woodmen Cemetery, in De Kalb, Texas. The common grave site is marked by a plain stone engraved with the name “B. Dan D. Blocker.” Three of his family members are buried beside him; his father, mother, and sister.

Dan’s wife, Dolphia died on April 19, 2026 from a stroke at a local hospital near her home in Santa Barbara, California. She was 93 years old.

On a 2010 PBS special, Pioneers of Television: Westerns, actor Mitch Vogel, who played adopted brother Jamie Cartwright on Bonanza, said Blocker, “was the most warm & down to earth kind of guy you ever could go and have a beer with.” ✪