While viewers might feel they’ve become close enough with the Cartwright boys to be considered family, the truth of the matter is that behind the scenes, each one of the Bonanza actors created a loving family unit of their own.
Dan Blocker, known for his contrasting large size and gentle demeanor, had four children with his wife Dolphia Parker Blocker. Blocker went out of his way to spend time with his children and praised them in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times.
“We’ve got a pretty good crew,” said Blocker. Much like his character Hoss Cartwright, Blocker seemed to be the easygoing one in his marriage, especially when it came to parenting his children.
“My wife is a strict disciplinarian, and youngsters need discipline,” he said. “If one of our children isn’t in bed and asleep by eight o’clock at night, his name goes on a list for one week. That means the child is not a member in good standing in the ‘eight o’clock club.’ Since they like to belong to the club, we have no difficulty on that score.”
While Blocker had no issue separating his work life from his personal life, his children still enjoyed watching their father play cowboy on television. “They’re allowed to watch Bonanza,” said Blocker. “I’ve explained to them that it’s just a job and everything that happens is make-believe.”
However, an incident with his daughter proved to Blocker that while the series was fiction, it might not seem that way all the time.
“One night, though, my head was grazed by a bullet in one scene in the show. One of my little girls ran to me, jumped onto my lap, and looked at my head. ‘Do you feel all right, Daddy?’ she asked ‘Can I get you an aspirin?'”
Blocker’s daughter’s kindness only proves that Blocker was interested in raising his children with the Cartwright spirit.