aka Hoss Cartwright

Born in De Kalb, Texas in 1928, Dan Blocker was raised in West Texas, near Lubbock.

He attended Hardin-Simmons University in Abline, and earned a master’s in dramatic arts from Sul Ross State Teacher’s College in Alpine.  After graduating, he taught school in Sonora, Texas and Carlsbad, New Mexico.  In 1956, he moved to California to pursue his Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he worked as a substitute teacher and began his acting career.  In 1959 he was cast in his most famous role, Hoss Cartwright, on the long-running television program, ''Bonanza''.