Honk, honk, honk, honk! What’s that sound? Why it’s Dan Blocker, and he’s coming this way!
If you’re a true Bonanza fan, you probably already adore Dan Blocker, and it may please you to know that if you fell in love with Hoss’s comical style and warmhearted enthusiasm, you may rest easy knowing that wasn’t all an act; That’s simply who Dan Blocker is.
An article in the Carlsbad Current-Argus offers a perspective of Dan Blocker from someone who really knew him. Lynn Pitcaithley was friends with Blocker when he worked as a teacher but also knew him from years previous when the two met in a college class. While Pitcaithley still expressed her dislike for the class after all those years, she noted that Blocker was a bright spot throughout all of it. She said, “We hit it off immediately. We had a lot of laughs, ate a lot of meals in each other’s homes.”
Because of their longstanding friendship Pitcaithley has no shortage of Blocker stories, including one incredible memory of Blocker attending class wearing clown shoes.
Pitcaithley remembered a time when Blocker made her laugh so hard, that the two were actually kicked out of the classroom for disruption. Pitcaithley seemed to consider it a worthwhile punishment. She explained, “Dan just convulsed me…we were sent from the room…and he amused himself by turning on and off the air conditioner that fed her class.”
Though Blocker achieved a hefty amount of fame after he left academia, it was his bright personality and earnest friendship that left an impression in Pitcaithley that would have stayed in her memory forever, regardless of Blocker’s celebrity status.
She said, “Even if he hadn’t been ‘Hoss,’ I would remember Dan Blocker. His gentleness, his kindness. He just would have been remembered.