Twin Tragedies: Steve Ihnat and Dan Blocker, May 12 & 13, 1972 -- Bonanza: Scenery of the Ponderosa Forum

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Date Posted: 19:38:14 05/12/22 Thu
Author: Rick
Subject:

Twin Tragedies: Steve Ihnat and Dan Blocker, May 12 & 13, 1972

On May 12, 1972, actor Steve Ihnat died from a heart attack in his hotel room while at the Cannes Film Festival. He was there to promote the film The Honkers which he directed in 1971. He was on the verge of international success with his career. There was no warning, except some arm and back pains he complained about after he arrived in France. He was 37. He had become good friends with Dan Blocker and Michael Landon in 1967. I have been to his grave and know his wife Sally. Regarding the exact details of his death, I know in every detail, but I promised her to never go public, out of respect for her.

On May 12, Dan Blocker was released from Centinela Valley Hospital after gall bladder surgery on May 1st. He was to have been discharged on May 4 and boarded a flight to to Texas to be with his mother and family for Mother’s Day. The entry wound where the surgeon did the incision became infected, so they wanted him to stay for another eight days and treat it with antibiotics. On May 13, he woke up at 4 AM with shortness of breath, chest pains, dizziness and weakness. His wife called the paramedics and they took him to Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood. They had a coronary unit there. They ran a lung scan and found two blood clots in the pulmonary artery in his lung. He was admitted to the hospital at 5:15 AM. The medical staff worked on him for 11 hours and he died at 4 PM on the afternoon of May 13th. He was 43.

That was 50 years ago. In retrospect, no one should be left to lay in a hospital bed for eight days to treat a wound infection. All that did was slow down his circulation and blood clots formed. It could’ve been prevented. Sadly, we lost two great men, a day apart. Blocker had every chance to live a long life, where Ihnat didn’t. Unfair for both of them.

Rick

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Replies:

[> Re: Twin Tragedies: Steve Ihnat and Dan Blocker, May 12 & 13, 1972 -- Susan C., 08:26:20 05/17/22 Tue [1]

Rick, I apologize for trying to contact you personally through this forum, but I need to get in touch with you. It's important. My regular phone is no longer working at home. I have a new cell number. Please use the same area code as I had and the new number is (area code I had for my old number) 642-6667. I lost your number. Please call me.

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[> Re: Twin Tragedies: Steve Ihnat and Dan Blocker, May 12 & 13, 1972 -- Jon, 05:44:56 09/03/22 Sat [1]

I believe Blocker's ever-increasing body weight would have killed him before he reached age 50. He must have weighed 375 pounds or more when he died at age 43.

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[> [> Re: Twin Tragedies: Steve Ihnat and Dan Blocker, May 12 & 13, 1972 -- Rick, 22:18:48 09/09/22 Fri [1]

He was down to 250 pounds by the spring of 1972 after going on a diet and cleaning up his act.

Rick

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[> [> Re: Twin Tragedies: Steve Ihnat and Dan Blocker, May 12 & 13, 1972 -- Jon, 07:28:58 09/15/22 Thu [1]

Are you sure about that? In the final run of episodes during the last season, Blocker still looked to me to be well over 300 pounds.

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