Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1972: The front page of the Clovis News-Journal brought news about the death of popular television actor Dan Blocker – “Hoss Cartwright” on “Bonanza.”
“An autopsy disclosed … that the 6-feet-4, 300-pound actor had been felled by a blood clot in the lung,” United Press International reported. Blocker was 43.
Blocker played the role of Hoss for 13 years. “(A) poll once declared that he was the best-known actor in the nation,” UPI reported. “He fit hand in glove the part of Hoss – a gentle, girl-shy cowpoke, earnestly well meaning, an amiable moose slow to anger but an unstoppable juggernaut of muscle when aroused.”
Off screen, Blocker was active in auto racing and deeply involved in political work as a liberal Democrat, UPI reported.
Fellow actors reacted to his death with deep sorrow.
“It’s like losing a real brother,” said Michael Landon, who played Little Joe Cartwright on the TV show.
Blocker was buried in DeKalb, Texas, where he was born and raised.
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