Bonanza Cast Member Leaves Behind A Truly Bewildering Legacy

You’ll remember, of course, that Dan Blocker played Eric “Hoss” Cartwright. Hoss was the middle Cartwright brother and the dictionary definition of a “gentle giant.” He was undoubtedly a favorite with Bonanza fans – and Blocker became synonymous with the role for his entire career. Behind the scenes, though, the star was a very different person.

Don’t get us wrong: we’re not saying Blocker was a bad man. Quite the opposite! The actor even told Cactus Pryor in a 1965 interview that he and Hoss were “both happy men.” But whereas Hoss was seen as “simple-minded,” Blocker was anything but. And his legacy away from the Ponderosa ranch proves that.

There’s nothing that highlights the difference between Hoss the character and Blocker the actor than Blocker’s educational background. The man got both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Sul Ross State University as well as serving in the Korean War. He then started a Ph.D. course in Los Angeles – and quickly began shaping the minds of America’s youth.

Yes, the real-life Hoss Cartwright spent his early career teaching kids. Blocker taught English and drama at a high school in Texas before teaching sixth-grade kids in New Mexico. And even as he started to become a pro actor, he still spent time as a substitute in Los Angeles. That path wouldn’t prove to be his biggest legacy, though.

Three years after arriving in LA, Blocker landed his defining part in Bonanza. He’d go on to play the role in 415 episodes across 13 seasons. The actor became so well known for being Hoss that an interviewer once even had trouble calling Blocker by his real name! But while that’s all well and good, it’s Blocker’s off-camera antics that we’re really interested in.

Don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard these stories before, either. The actor was of course free to spend the fortune he’d earned playing Hoss on whatever he wanted. That included a 74-foot private boat and a massive property in LA’s Hancock Park. But Blocker didn’t want the public to know about everything he was financing behind the scenes.

Writer Dean Gautschy elaborated on this in Blocker’s obituary in a 1973 issue of TV Radio Mirror. Gautschy said that Blocker was a retiring man who shied away from the limelight off the set of Bonanza. But when the actor was called upon to help others, Gautschy added, Blocker would always pony up – on one condition.

Basically, Blocker didn’t want the public to know what he’d done. Not long before his death, for instance, the actor backed a group of college researchers studying ecology in California. But he told them, “Please don’t tell anyone that I am involved.” And that wasn’t the only time he made this request of someone.

After news of Blocker’s death broke in 1972, the actor’s widow asked that mourning fans didn’t send flowers to his home. It’d be better if they gave what they could to the Guyot Foundation Home for Girls, she said. This might have confused Blocker’s fans at first – because he’d kept his connection to the home a secret.

“Dan never wanted any publicity connecting him with the home,” Rosa Guyot, the then-manager, told TV Radio Mirror. The home was a sanctuary for single moms, homeless women and young females struggling with substance abuse issues. So it’s strange that Blocker would keep this part of his legacy a secret. Especially as it sounded like the place was a passion project for him.

“Dan liked young people and was aware of their problems,” Guyot explained. She also added that “if it wasn’t for him many young girls’ lives would have been destroyed completely.” But there were other business deals that the public did know about – and they provided Blocker with a different kind of legacy.

The first was Blocker’s belief that Americans needed to join the fight against cancer. The world knew about this because, well, the actor put out a series of public service announcements in the mid-1960s. These were for the American Cancer Society and showed Blocker using his Western TV persona for a good cause.

In the PSAs, Blocker trades on his time as Hoss to encourage his fellow Americans to “join the crusade against cancer.” At the same time, the actor served as the figurehead of the Texas Cancer Crusade. It clearly meant a lot to him – as did the other part of his forgotten legacy.

It should come as no surprise that Blocker was a man who loved his food. We’re talking about an actor who was about 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighed around 300 pounds. They didn’t call him a friendly giant for nothing! His appetite was befitting a giant as well. Just hear what he used to have for breakfast.

Blocker apparently confessed that his breakfast had once consisted of 12 eggs, two whole loaves of bread – topped off with two quarts of milk! That’s a lot of food, and the actor did cut back on this in later life. But his insatiable appetite made him the perfect front-man for a successful business venture.

In 1964 the world was introduced to the Bonanza Sirloin Pit. The first restaurant opened in Westport, Connecticut, and who should be there at its opening? That’s right: Dan “Hoss” Blocker. And that’s only apt considering that the whole place was borne out of the Bonanza TV series. Yet Blocker became more involved than that.

Right from the start, the steak houses traded heavily on the image presented by the Cartwrights in Bonanza. The show was all about the importance of family, after all, and the restaurants focused on getting families through the doors to enjoy good steaks. An ad for the chain even bigged up how it had “hardly any snob appeal.” Hoss would’ve liked that.

A print ad for Bonanza Sirloin Pits actually featured a picture of three of the Cartwright clan. The title proclaimed, “Take it from the Cartwrights (Little Joe, Ben and Hoss, of course): mighty good steaks at way-down-low prices.” It also added the tidbit that “Hoss likes his rare” – in case you ever wondered! Yet Blocker was more than just a mascot.

The Hoss character seemed like a better fit for the new restaurant chain, too. Hoss was the “simple” guy, and Bonanza Sirloin Pit prided itself on appealing to the everyman. A steak dinner – complete with potato, salad, and toast – cost just $1.99 in 1967. It’s easy to see why Blocker might have wanted to get involved.

In 1967 Blocker – along with Lorne Greene and Michael Landon – signed an agreement with NBC about the Bonanza Sirloin Pits. Specifically, the deal concerned the operation and promotion of the burgeoning restaurant chain. And it seems that Blocker took on a larger role behind the scenes than his co-stars.

The details of that deal are a little hazy – and there have been many conflicting accounts reported. But it appears that Blocker agreed to promote the restaurant in person and in print (as Hoss, of course) in exchange for a co-owner title. And the legacy of the Bonanza chain only gets more complicated from there.

That ad we mentioned featuring the Cartwright family? It also spoke about how well the restaurant was doing. “Bonanza Sirloin Pits are spreading across the country like a prairie fire,” it read. Well, we think that’s supposed to be a good thing! And it certainly meant that the chain attracted a lot of outside attention from potential buyers.

That ad we mentioned featuring the Cartwright family? It also spoke about how well the restaurant was doing. “Bonanza Sirloin Pits are spreading across the country like a prairie fire,” it read. Well, we think that’s supposed to be a good thing! And it certainly meant that the chain attracted a lot of outside attention from potential buyers.

Dan Lasater and Norm Wiese also decided they were going to cash in on the Western-steak dining experience. And in 1968 the pair opened the first Ponderosa Steak House. Yep, that’s “Ponderosa” as in the fictional Ponderosa Ranch on which the Cartwright family lives in Bonanza. That isn’t the only similarity between the two chains, either.

The Ponderosa Steak House also had a Western theme – as you might imagine from the name. And the rival chain focuses on selling cheap steaks with sides of baked potatoes, salads and bread. Basically, it had the exact same menu and looked like a Bonanza Sirloin Pit. But there was one key difference between the two.

The Bonanza Sirloin Pits had, up until that point, proven to be most successful in the South. So what did the Ponderosa guys do? They opened up in the North, of course. Understandably, though, this start-up chain rubbed the guys at Bonanza the wrong way. And that sometimes resulted in petty arguments. Hoss Cartwright wouldn’t have approved!

The first clash came when the Bonanza boys realized that the Ponderosa people hadn’t trademarked the Ponderosa name. So Bonanza went out and trademarked it instead. That might have been a killing strike for Ponderosa – and Lasater reportedly confessed to being “pretty upset.” But then he spotted that Bonanza International had missed one crucial detail.

It turned out that Bonanza International had forgotten to trademark its own name. So what did Lasater do? Well, he trademarked Bonanza, of course! Which meant that all that came out of this petty skirmish was that the two companies ended up swapping trademarks. But competition between the two chains continued apace.

The upstart Ponderosa chain even began to pull ahead of its rival. In 1972 the price of Ponderosa stock meant it beat out Bonanza as America’s biggest steak house. That’s why Lasater could retire at the age of 30 as a multi-millionaire. But 1972 also marked a more final ending for Blocker.

Blocker passed away on May 13, 1972. The cause of his death was a blood clot that’d come about after a gall bladder operation. The blood eventually caused a massive pulmonary embolism. He was survived by his wife and four children – and the millions of fans who’d watched him week-in week-out in Bonanza.

But while there was a Hoss-sized hole at the heart of the Blocker family, the rest of us still get to enjoy the actor in Bonanza. His character was such a huge part of people’s lives that the Texan city of O’Donnell even erected a statue of the man in 1973. And, of course, there are always the restaurants.

But it isn’t exactly clear how much Blocker had to do with the Bonanza steak houses at the time of his death. He’d had health issues that had seemingly prompted him to try to cut back on his responsibilities and enjoy some time off. The restaurant, meanwhile, was going through all kinds of crazy stuff.

As we said earlier, the Ponderosa and Bonanza steak houses enjoyed a “healthy” competition for many years. And while this competition continued well after Blocker’s death, the companies did eventually come to a truce. But it didn’t happen the way you might imagine – and it led to the Cartwrights being left behind.

In 1988 the Metromedia company took control of Ponderosa. It had 750 locations at this point – but that clearly wasn’t enough for Metromedia. Because just 18 months later, the company also acquired the Bonanza chain of steak houses. That’s right: Bonanza and Ponderosa came together in the same corporate family.

Did Blocker’s family benefit from this sale? It’s hard to say for sure. It’s even difficult from this vantage point to see when Blocker gave up his ownership in the company. But what’s certain is that the legacy of his character – and his TV show – is still going strong in the restaurant chain today.

Because while the remaining Ponderosa and Bonanza steak houses don’t directly feature the Cartwright family, they do still retain the Western theme. Its websites even claim that diners will “experience the Old West” when they enjoy the chains’ “grilled steaks and something-for-everyone buffet.” Just like in the old days – though prices might have changed a little.

But you can still pick up a 6-ounce sirloin – with the classic buffet and a potato – for under $20. So while the prices mightn’t trouble your wallet, it could be trickier to actually track the restaurant down. There were once 1,350 of these diners at their height, after all. These days? Not so many.

The official Pon-Bon website claims that there are currently about 90 sites located in the U.S. and beyond. Yet there are only 21 restaurants listed as being in North America – and some of those are “temporarily closed.” So if this article’s left you with a hankering for steak, then you best get moving fast!

As for Bonanza, it seems that the show couldn’t survive without Hoss. Following Blocker’s death in 1972, the Western only lasted one more season. It’s possible that the viewing public just didn’t want to watch a Ponderosa Ranch that didn’t have Hoss around. The show finished its extraordinary run after season 14 in 1973.

As bizarre as things got for the Bonanza lot, at least the steakhouse legacy didn’t leave behind a nasty taste in anyone’s mouth. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Wendy’s founder, Dave Thomas, who seemed to regret one poorly judged decision right up until his final days. The catchy jingle, ‘where’s the beef?’ suddenly takes on a whole new meaning in light of the painful family legacy that had been playing out behind the scenes. 

“I’m sorry.” Those two little words held huge meaning when Thomas said them to his beloved daughter not long before his death in 2002. He was the man behind the hugely popular restaurant chain – and she the inspiration behind the eponymous name. But Thomas would never stop regretting that last choice. And now we know why.

Who knew that there was such internal angst going on backstage at Wendy’s? It certainly didn’t affect the food anyway! Yes, while McDonald’s and Burger King are famous for their patties, the restaurant with the red-headed mascot is right up there with them. Yet one other thing about the latter continues to stand out: the name.

For some, Wendy’s might lack the pizzazz of its competitors’ titles. Then again, the name’s simplicity could also work in its favor in attracting potential customers. However you feel about it, though, have you ever asked yourself why the company went with that moniker? Well, here’s the answer.

Thomas’ daughter Wendy Thomas-Morse sat down for a chat with the chain’s blog to explain what lay behind the name. But interestingly, she wasn’t actually born Wendy. No, her real name was Melinda Lou. But her siblings couldn’t say it properly, according to The New York Times. And instead, they settled on “Wenda.”

Then, “Wenda” quickly became Wendy. But she never could’ve imagined that she would eventually lend this nickname to one of the world’s largest fast food chains. Recalling the brand’s creation, she revealed, “My dad came home and said, ‘I’m going to start a restaurant, and it’s going to be a hamburger restaurant.’”

Thomas-Morse continued, “[My dad] wanted a character, because he worked for the Colonel at [KFC] and knew how much that persona mattered. He said, ‘Wendy, pull your hair up in pigtails.’ So, I did. He got his camera and took pictures of me and my sister and said, ‘Yep, it’s going to be Wendy’s Old-Fashioned Hamburgers.’”

“That was it,” Thomas-Morse added. “There was no marketing research, no nothing. Just boom. That’s it.” How refreshingly straightforward! After that, Thomas pressed ahead and started up the fast food business in 1969. But something tells us that he wouldn’t have been able to predict what happened next!

As we all know, Wendy’s went on to take the United States by storm – establishing itself as one of the country’s most popular eateries over the next few decades. And the stats certainly back that up. For instance, during its 50th year in business in 2019, the Nation’s Restaurant News website only had six other brands ahead of it.

According to the site, Wendy’s was pulling in more than $9.5 billion in sales at that stage. Impressive stuff, right? Mind you, the eye-opening statistics don’t end there. As per the Encyclopedia Britannica, McDonald’s and Burger King are the only two burger joints in America that are bigger.

Yet Wendy’s isn’t just confined to the U.S. now. In fact, the chain has a real global presence, as proved by the number of eateries that have popped up in recent years. The Statista website reported that over 6,800 of them were in operation across the world in 2020.

We’d be amazed if Thomas foresaw that during his initial pitch in front of the family! The fact that such a simple idea transformed into this behemoth today is truly remarkable. But in those early days, not everyone was happy with Wendy’s – specifically the young Thomas-Morse. And she had good reasons.

While speaking to the brand’s blog, Thomas-Morse looked back on a rather uncomfortable photoshoot she had to endure as a child. You see, as the de facto mascot and inspiration behind Wendy’s name, she was needed to market the chain’s opening. It wasn’t the easiest of jobs, though – especially for a kid.

Thomas-Morse said, “When the first restaurant opened, I was in the third grade and got to skip school. My mom made my blue and white dress and she stuck my hair up in pigtails. And, boy, did I cry. It hurt. Then she stuck those pipe cleaners in there. We sat in front of the photographer for what felt like five or six hours.”

Yep, you’re reading that correctly. Thomas-Morse’s pigtails were held in place by pipe cleaners. It’s no wonder she shed a few tears! Then again, while that part of the job was more than a little unpleasant, Wendy’s mascot did get to enjoy a pretty cool perk, too. Also, you can’t say she didn’t deserve a pick-me-up!

Thomas-Morse continued, “Then my dad had a big store opening. I got to wear my dress and they made this huge hamburger and, of course, when you’re young you’re like, ‘How’d they do that with that big patty?’ Of course, it was just hamburgers all around it, but I got to take a bite out of it and I was just to-the-moon excited.”

It took another few years before Thomas-Morse grasped how popular Wendy’s had become in America. She was a student at that stage – studying marketing at the University of Florida. While there, the brand’s commercials aired on the small screen and featured Thomas front and center. Apparently, that really opened her eyes.

“I understood the importance of marketing, but I just always thought, well, not everyone will know [about Wendy’s],” Thomas-Morse explained. “And then when everyone knew, I thought, ‘Wow, this is kind of big, isn’t it?’” No kidding. The chain was spreading at a fast rate of knots beyond its home in Columbus, Ohio.

But as Wendy’s continued to grow, the brand’s mastermind couldn’t shake a certain feeling from the back of his head. Thomas harbored a lot of regret about his creation’s name, and that followed him for years. In the end, it led to a heartbreaking chat prior to his death in 2002.

Thomas-Morse went on to share that exchange during her talk with the Wendy’s blog. So, it might be an idea to grab a tissue or two! She recalled, “Before my dad left us, we had a long conversation about him naming the restaurant Wendy’s. It was the first time we’d ever had this conversation.”

Thomas-Morse noted, “[My dad] said, ‘You know what? I’m sorry.’ I asked him what he meant. He explained, ‘I should’ve just named it after myself, because it put a lot of pressure on you.’ I responded, ‘Yeah, it is a lot of pressure. I have to do the right thing.’”

What did Thomas-Morse mean by that? It certainly didn’t lead her to change the brand’s name to Dave’s, so what was the so-called “right thing”? Well, it’s pretty simple actually. You see, Thomas’ daughter wasn’t interested in unloading the pressure that came with her connection to Wendy’s – far from it.

“I have to do the right thing, because it’s the legacy I have to carry on,” Thomas-Morse continued. “I want to do the right thing by [my dad], because he worked really hard to start this. I know he’s been gone almost 20 years, but he’s still working. The name does have its advantages, though. Sometimes if I need a reservation, it helps!”

Some people would’ve seen Thomas’ admission as a chance to escape the responsibility – but not his daughter. Plus, she was already firmly involved with the chain in other ways prior to that as well. It all started once Thomas-Morse finished her academic studies in the Sunshine State.

As Thomas-Morse told the brand’s blog, her father posed an interesting question at that point. Yes, Thomas wanted to know if she fancied opening up a Wendy’s franchise herself. The mascot and her hubby soon came around to the idea, but there was a caveat – they weren’t going to receive any aid from the founder.

It was all down to Thomas-Morse and her partner to get a place going. Naturally, they needed to drum up the money themselves, which involved borrowing cash from the bank. In the end, though, the pair navigated the challenges and opened up their Wendy’s in Dallas, Texas.

In fairness to Thomas-Morse, she wouldn’t have had it any other way. The Wendy’s inspiration admitted, “I’m thankful [my dad] chose that path for us, because it made us really work hard and not have people assume, ‘Oh, this was handed to you.’ He didn’t believe in that theory at all.”

As for what Thomas-Morse does at her restaurant, she again took her father’s advice. Thomas wanted everyone connected to Wendy’s to adopt a vital duty: he was eager for them to converse among themselves. In his daughter’s case, she aims to lighten up the mood for her staff.

“My job is to have fun with our teams,” Thomas-Morse said. “That’s my role – to go in and make sure we’re doing the right thing. We talk about the grill a lot because we sell a lot of really great hamburgers.” That’s one way to encourage the troops, right?

Anyway, Thomas-Morse shared a final thought with the blog regarding her feelings towards Wendy’s. It’s been a wild ride since the company’s creation over 50 years ago, and those early days for Thomas’ daughter were far from easy. Yet her loyalty shows no sign of wavering now.

Thomas-Morse concluded, “I love this brand. I will always love this brand, but not because my name is on the buildings. I love our products. I love our hamburgers. I just love everything. Why wouldn’t I? It’s our business. Our family business. For me, Wendy’s is my family.” We can only imagine how proud her dad would be if he heard that. Because – let’s face it – not everybody is so proud to be associated with a fast-food restaurant. Take, for instance, Ronald McDonald...