Bobby Dan Davis Blocker

  General Notes:

1928-1972

Lloyd Shearer wrote a 3 page article for Dallas Times Herald "Parade"magazine appearing in 23 January, 1966 issue. It is abstracted for usehere.

A mountain of a man ranging in weight from 285-360 pounds, 6 foot 4 1/2inches tall, blue eyed, benign and balding, Blocker has for the pastseven years played the role of Hoss Cartwright in Bonanza, the country'smost successful TV show.

He has developed into the most popular and identifiable TV personality inthe nation and has lost his true identity. He has become the big loveablecharacter he plays every week, Sunday after Sunday for $10,000 a week.Don't let those Hollywood people get to you Dan, remember you're Texasborn and bred!

He has been urged to run for Texas Governor, California Congressman andU.S. Senate from both states. He is the kind of person everyone trust orcan relate to, everybody's brother or cousin.

This year alone Blockers income should approach $750,000. To a man whonot long ago picked cotton at 50 cents (says an hour, but cotton ispicked by the pound, in Texas at least) and taught school at Carlsbad,New Mexico for $4800 a year, this is a ridiculous salary. In terms ofachievement that will benefit society, I'm not worth anything. But thetruth is that I'm now a prostitute, and a prostitute is worth anythingthe market is willing to pay.

I am getting mighty tired of playing Hoss Cartwright. Although hischaracter and myself are integrated, playing that part is a workday joband I'm getting bored. The public may never accept me in another role.One of the few advantages I have is that I am not the leading man type.I've had people tell me to get my teeth capped, my face fixed, wear a wigand become a leading man, but that is not my route.

He is a scholarly intellectual who looks anything but, he has a Master'sDegree from Sul Ross State College in Alpine, Texas, taught school inSenora, Texas, 6th grade in Carlsbad and English in Glendale, California.He was working on his Ph. D at university at California when he wassidetracked into Gunsmoke in 1956. He always wanted to get back intoeducation.

Blocker is a Liberal Democrat who believes strongly in civil rights andLyndon Johnson. Blocker fought in the Korean War, but he questioned theVietnam war some.

They say Dan Blocker was the biggest baby ever born in Bowie County,Texas. He weighed 14 pounds at birth, 105 at age 6, 200 at age 13, 300 atage 30 when NBC grabbed him for Bonanza. My parents were average heightand weight but I'm sure my size comes from my maternal side, onegeneration removed.

In 1934 his parents moved to O'Donnell, Texas and his Dad changedoccupations from farmer to grocery store owner and operator. Dan attendedschool at Texas Military Institute in San Antonio, Hardin Simmons inAbilene. Originally he majored in Physical Education and social sciencesbut in his senior year switched to Drama, which his degree is in when hefinished in 1950 from Sul Ross at Alpine, Texas.

He was First Sergeant with the 45th Oklahoma Division during his militaryservice, in the Korean War. Upon discharge in 1952 he returned to marryhis college sweetheart, a short haired, petite, attractive Dolphia LeeParker, and they had twin daughters Danna and Debra,
then two sons David and Dennis (Dirk)

His one regret is that his fame has cost him and his family theirprivacy. I can't really function as a husband or a father, and I regretthat very much.

Another article written by Dave Green about 1984.(Dateline missing andpaper headline, but probably Lamesa or Lubbock)

John Seleh, a long time friend of Dan Blocker, got to know each other astheir father's stores were side by side in O'Donnell. Bob Clark was alsoanother of Dan's close friends. Tom Branon of Branon's Funeral Homeremembered playing with him when Dan visited relatives in Lamesa.

By the time he was 13, Dan could carry a hundred pound sack under eacharm at his parents grocery store. In his prime, he demonstrated hisprowess to Bob Clark by lifting his car by the rear axles.

In fact it is said the reason for his first acting role in college isthat someone was needed who could carry bodies about.

But he never tried to be strong, in fact most say he was a little lazyand never liked to work in his Dad's store or the cotton fields. But atone time he did think he would like to be a boxer so his Dad took himover to Odessa and matched him up with a professional fighter, but afterthe first round, Dan decided this wasn't for him.

He was lineman on the Sul Ross football team and was quite an athletesays coach Dr. Paul "Red" Pierce.

"He was very well read and articulate", said Saleh (Solly)"but he enjoyedputting on the country Yokel act" Selah and Branon both attended TexasMilitary Institute with Dan. Dan was elected Vice President of the Classof 1946 and also named Most Popular and Best Natured.

He also had a sense of humor and a penchant for practical jokes. He wasrowdy, but not in a mean way. His pranks were the kind everyone enjoyed,and they didn't degrade anyone.

Typical of one of Dan's pranks was one which he and Murphy Horton, whenreturning to campus at Sul Ross about 2 am, noticed the keys were in theband bus. In no time they were circling the girls dorms in the bus,encouraging the girls to come out and drive around with them. Some of theco-eds accepted the invitation and enjoyed an early morning ride throughAlpine before the local constable escorted the bus back to it's properplace.

Dan appeared at a rodeo at Texas Tech and drew record crowds. He wasvery civic minded. One year he and Lorne Green came to Lamesa to helpkick off the March of Dimes campaign and also appeared at Midland for atelethon.

He suffered a fatal blood clot following gall bladder surgery in May of1972.

A close friend in California, Bennett Reed, said Blocker wrote shortstories and poetry. He wrote a short storey for Playboy magazine called"The Best Kept Secret" which is being expanded into a screen play.

At Sul Ross his acting credits included Dr. Einstein in "Arsenic and OldLace" and De Lawd in "Green Pastures", the lead in "Othello" and Dr.Bradman in "Blithe Spirit". He also played the title role in "God Caesar"

He felt that when his father died in 1960 that many people came to thecemetery to see him instead of out of respect for his Dad and he did notwant a "Circus" made out of his funeral. Many lifelong friends in De Kalbwere not happy with the private funeral which was held. He was buried ina hand carved wood casket and buried between his sister who died at age12 and his father in Woodman Cemetery in De Kalb, Texas, back to where hehad his beginnings.

After his death the town of O'Donnell erected a full size bronze bust ofhim and it is mounted so it stands at just 6 foot 4 1/2 inches tall andreads" Thanks to film, Hoss Cartwright will live, but all too seldom doesthe world get to keep a Dan Blocker".

A museum is also there in O'Donnell which has a section devoted to DanBlocker, but portrays him before the Bonanza part came along.

Just found this in the Hand book of Texas online:


BLOCKER, DAN (1928-1972). Dan Blocker, television actor, was born on
December 10, 1928, in De Kalb, Texas, the son of Ora Shack and Mary
(Davis) Blocker. His delayed birth certificate, filed by a doctor on
March 22, 1929, recorded his name as Bobby Don Blocker. When he was six
years old the family moved to O'Donnell, in West Texas, where his father
operated a general store. Dan attended local schools before entering
Texas Military Institute in San Antonio at the age of twelve. He
studied at Hardin-Simmons University and then entered Sul Ross State
Teachers College (now Sul Ross State University) in Alpine in 1947. He
was always big-fourteen pounds at birth, reportedly the largest baby
ever born in Bowie County. He stood over six feet and weighed 200 pounds
as a youth of twelve; by the time he became a star football player at
Sul Ross he was six feet, four inches tall and weighed over 275 pounds.

At college Blocker became interested in acting. When he graduated with a
B.A. degree in speech and drama, he refused offers of professional
careers in both football and boxing. He acted in summer stock in Boston
and soon afterward was drafted for combat duty in Korea, where he served
as an infantry sergeant with the Forty-fifth Division. In 1952 he
returned to Sul Ross, where he earned an M.A. degree. There he married
his college sweetheart, Dolphia Lee Parker, on August 25, 1952; they had
four children. Blocker taught school in Sonora, Texas, and Carlsbad, New
Mexico, before moving to California in 1956 to work on a Ph.D. degree at
the University of California at Los Angeles. During this time he also
worked as a substitute teacher at Glendale and began his career as a
professional actor in Los Angeles. In 1959 he was cast in the role of
"Hoss" Cartwright on the NBC network television production, "Bonanza,"
one of the longest-running and most popular TV series. Blocker was an
enormously popular actor and successful businessman; he was co-owner of
a nationwide chain of steak houses called Bonanza. He received the Texan
of the Year Award in 1963 from the Texas Press Association,qv and in
1966 he served as honorary chairman of the Texas Cancer Crusade. He
played the role of Hoss Cartwright for thirteen seasons on national
television, until his death on May 13, 1972, from complications
following an operation. The television series was terminated soon after
his death. Blocker was buried in Woodmen Cemetery, De Kalb, Texas.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: San Antonio Express, May 15, 1972. Vertical Files, Barker
Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.
sent by Sharon Black to Red River Co. Mail List

Bobby married Dolphia Lee Parker on 25 Sep 1952. (Dolphia Lee Parker was born on 29 Jul 1932 and was buried WFT Est 1766-1892.)