No Blockhead

Some people saw Bobby walking around town, frequently carrying an armload of books.  After high school he attended Hardin-Simmons University and Sul Ross State Teachers’ College, eventually earning a master’s degree in the dramatic arts and worked toward his PhD.  He taught high school English and drama and taught sixth grade.

You may be thinking Bobby was a sissy or a nerd…

…but you’d be totally wrong.

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Bobby was born in DeKalb, Texas on December 10, 1928.  He weighed an impressive 14 pounds at birth and was the largest baby every born in Bowie County at the time.  He probably still is.  It didn’t stop there.  He would have shopped in the big-and-tall men’s store his entire life, if they had such a thing back then.    At 12 years of age, Bobby was already six feet tall and weighed 200 pounds.  And he kept growing, reaching an adult height of 6’4” and a weight in excess of 300 pounds.

It was his size that led to Ora, Bobby’s dad, saying something tongue-in-cheek.  “My daddy used to say that I was too big to ride and too little to hitch a wagon to,” Bobby said, “no good for a d–n thing”.

Ora may have also compared his son to a horse because he ate like one, and with that appetite it should come as no surprise that Bobby’s father went into the grocery business.

Good thinking.

His eating habits and size may not be the only things about Bobby that could have been compared to a horse.  One anecdote says, when he saw a man trapped under his car after its jack collapsed, Bobby lifted the car off the man.

Yeah, there’s that.

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After high school Bobby went off to the Texas Military Institute.  He started his undergraduate work at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, where he played football.  While at Hardin-Simmons, the big guy was recruited by a girlfriend to take on a role in the play “Arsenic and Old Lace.”

He liked it.

After graduating with his degree in English, he went east where he did repertory work in Boston, appearing on Broadway in William Shakespeare’s play: “King Lear.”

Bobby’s apprenticeship was cut short when he was drafted into the army and went off to fight in the Korean War.  He attained the rank of sergeant (E-5) serving in F Company, 2nd Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division and received a purple heart for being wounded in combat, 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 Combat Infantryman Badge.

Are you still thinking he was a sissy?

Yeah, me neither.

After he was released from the service, Bobby returned to college and earned his master’s degree in the dramatic arts.

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While he was attending Sul Ross State University Bobby met a girl named Dolphia Parker, who was to become his wife and bear their four children. 

One year the couple took their children on a summer vacation by car.  They went to California to see Hollywood.  According to one story Bobby was in his vacation garb when he got out of the car to make a phone call.  Since he was from Texas, his outfit consisted of cowboy boots with spurs, a gaudy western shirt and a big straw cowboy hat.  A Hollywood agent saw the giant cowboy in the phone booth and told him he should be an actor, specifically, a western actor.

Now, Bobby still wanted to complete work on his PhD, but thought acting in films could be fun and produce enough money to make his family’s life easier.  He decided he would act for a while, then go back and finish his PhD.

But fate had different plans.

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Bobby found parts in a few movies and got bit parts on TV, making his debut playing a bartender in “The Sheriff of Chochise” (1956).  He acted in episodes of many of the most popular western programs of the day, including Gunsmoke, Have Gun – Will Travel, The Rifleman, and Maverick.  He got a recurring role as “Tiny” Carl Budinger in the Western series Cimarron City.  That show was cancelled after just one season but is notable as it was created by David Dortort.  Bobby had appeared in another of Dortort’s creations, The Restless Gun.  Dortort was by now well aware of Bobby’s acting ability as well as his appearance so it is no surprise that he thought of the big actor for his next project.

The part Dortort had in mind for Bobby was as the stereotypical “big man”: The Gentle Giant.  The 6’4″, 300 lbs. Bobby fit the character’s look well, with his cowboy boots and ten-gallon hat, but our friend brought something else to the role, a warmth and empathy that helped ground the show.  Bobby brought his own upbeat personality and empathetic soul to the part.

And so it was that big Bobby took on the role that most of us remember him for, a role that made him a part of every family’s weekly viewing plans.  It was a role that would bring him, not only into our living rooms but Bobby Dan Davis Blocker’s part, as Eric “Hoss” Cartwright on the ultra-popular TV Western, Bonanza, brought him into our hearts as well.

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Dan Blocker would play the role of Hoss for 415 episodes of Bonanza, until his untimely death from a pulmonary embolism following gall bladder surgery.  Bonanza was the most popular TV series of the 1960s, ranked #1 from 1964-65 through 1966-67.  The series spent an unprecedented nine seasons in the Top 5.  After Blocker’s death, Bonanza – still in the Top 20, didn’t last another full season.

Blocker said he portrayed the gentle-natured Hoss with a paraphrase from American Quaker Missionary, Stephen Grellet 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.”

Hoss is one of the most recognizable characters in television history.

Dan Blocker was never able to finish work on his PhD.

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