got to meet him at the track way back when he was campaigning his Vinegaroon Can/Am car, good man.
But it's my understanding that he became just another showbiz liberal.
Thanks for posting. His son Dirk Blocker was in “Baa Baa Black Sheep”, and also “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”.
Lorne Greene fought the cylons
By all accounts, he was regular family man who just happened to make his living in showbiz. He was good with his fans and when working but not in front of the camera would hang out with the crew.
It’s good to know that Dan Blocker was just as good in person as he was on the tube.
Dan died really young, too. Only 43.
Blocker bump.
5.56mm
..... I have known his son Dirk for many years .... Even at his age he still tears up when talking about some of the fond memories of his dad.
Thanks for this minutiae of a well-known and loved Fifties and Sixties TV actor! Appreciate your effort to bring something warming to the heart in this time of troubles. I was trained in the NYARNG by veterans of WWII and Korea. At those times, the true heroes were TNTC (too numerous to count). They’re pretty much all gone, now. Even the Vietnam guys are dwindling.
got to meet him at the track way back when he was campaigning his Vinegaroon Can/Am car, good man.
From all accounts, Dan Blocker was a solid Texas hero and great American.
“But it’s my understanding that he became just another showbiz liberal.”
“Blocker, a liberal Democrat was among Hollywood celebrities who supported Pat Brown’s re-election in 1966 as governor of California against Ronald Reagan. In 1968, Blocker backed then-U.S. Senator Eugene J. McCarthy of Minnesota for the Democratic presidential nomination. Blocker later supported the eventual Democratic Party nominee, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, also of Minnesota, for the presidency against the Republican Richard M. Nixon.”
But by supporting, I can find no entries that say he openly campaigned for anyone except by saying his support. Dan Blocker and Pernell Roberts were both ultra liberal but it appears Blocker kept it to himself most of the time. But just because I can’t find it, doesn’t erase the possibility.
wy69
Although the character he played was certainly non-professional, he was the only one on the show who had a college degree.
Read the whole artcle, and it made me glasd for the era that I grew up in, which was my formative period. Form that cultural qorld, I can never understand how we got where we are, nor what is in the children’s public education syllabus or “leadership.” Where are the “Hosses” now that we really need them? Blocker was really what in person that he was portraying, a life role that I admire, but which current social elitists revile.
He should have been a Medal of Honor Recipient.
I didn’t know this. Thanks for letting us know
I never knew about his war history, but that is common among returning veterans.
My dad was the same. He didn’t want to talk about it, he just wanted to move on.
“Purple Heart, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal with two bronze campaign stars, the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, the United Nations Service Medal, the Korean War Service Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.”
—
Most of those awards were given to every one who served there and some are standard awards across the army.
Only the Purple Heart and the two bronze campaign stars stand out.
I know because my stepdad served there also - he got all of the other awards and was not involved in combat.
Bookmark
A relative once cleaned his carpets...said he was very nice to them.