Bobby Dan Davis Blocker

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

He is best remembered for his role as Hoss Cartwright on the TV series Bonanza. Blocker was drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War. He had basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. He served as an infantry sergeant in F Company, 2nd Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division in Korea, from December 1951 to August 1952. In 1957, Blocker appeared in a Three Stooges short, Outer Space Jitters, having portrayed the part of The Goon, billed as "Don Blocker". He also appeared in a few episodes of Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, and The Rifleman. Blocker's big break also came in 1959, when he was cast as Eric "Hoss" Cartwright in Bonanza, a role he held until his death. On May 13, 1972, Blocker died in Los Angeles at age 43 of a pulmonary embolism following gall bladder surgery. The writers of Bonanza took the unusual step of referencing a major character's death in the show's storyline that autumn. Blocker is interred in a family plot at Woodmen Cemetery, in De Kalb, Texas.