50 years later, the man born without arms who became the face of the Thalidomide disaster continues to inspire others. Duncan Lindsay for Metro.co.ukTuesday 13 Oct 2015 4:04 pm. (Picture: BBC) Born without any arms, Brett Nielsen quickly became the face of the infamous Thalidomide disaster in the late 50s and the 60s. He was the first baby born without arms due to Thalidomide in Australia and an award-winning documentary aired in 1965 which followed Brettâs development and day to day life as a 4-year-old struggling with his condition.
July 31, 1957 (age 52) Dirk Blocker (born July 31, 1957) played Abel Makay in the episode School Mom on Little House on the Prairie. His father is Dan Blocker, who played Hoss Cartwright on Bonanza. Other works for Blocker include M*A*S*H, MacGyver, Murder, She Wrote, Walker Texas Ranger, Doogie Howser, M.D., among others. He is currently married to actress Danielle Aubuchon.
For fourteen seasons in the 1950s and 60s, fans watched the adventures of Pa, Adam, Hoss and Little Joe on the program Bonanza. The fictional Cartwright family lived on the Ponderosa Ranch at Lake Tahoe, and parts of Bonanza were filmed on its shores.