Followers of The Dukes of Hazzard are mourning the sudden death of yet another of their favorite stars. Rick Hurst, known the world over as the adorable Deputy Cletus Hogg in the popular show, is dead and gone at the age of 79.
The sad news was also confirmed by Rick Wife, Candace Kaniecki to TMZ who revealed that Hurst died suddenly on Thursday. Only a week prior to him attending a fan appearance at Cooter s Place the Duke of Hazzard themed museum in Pigeon Forge Tennessee, he died.
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The initial message on the museum said that they have postponed the event because of “unforeseen circumstances,” but the post was later removed. And towards the end of the day, Nashville-based bough of Cooter Place put a heart-touching tribute to Hurst.
His wife is claimed not to know about the precise cause of the death of Rick.
We are still a family We are still a family
Rick Hurst was born on the 1 st of January, 1946 in Houston, Texas. He then followed the attainment of higher education with zeal and received a bachelor of arts degree in 1968 at the Tulane University. In 1970, only two years after, he proceeded to acquire a master of fine arts degree at temple university.
He was recruited in The Dukes of Hazzard when it just started to run in 1979 and soon he gained the ranks of a favourite character. Playing the right-hand man of the bumbling villain, Boss Hogg, as the cousin, Deputy Cletus Hogg, he added heart and humor to the goings-on of a small town of Hazzard County.
Although he was initially the recurring character, he was upgraded to the main cast cast in Season 3, after the fellow deputy Sonny Shroyer (Enos Strate) departed to lead his different spinoff series Enos. When Shroyer returned in 1982, Hurst was reduced to guest role, leaving the series altogether before the last two seasons.
With all the casting changes, issues and successes, the friendship of the stars of the show proved solid as steel.
According to co-star John Schneider, who spoke with him in 2014, we are still a family after all these years, which is very unusual. Programmes tend to go off the air when they run out. The Dukes of Hazzard are never over to the fans and it is not over to the cast and the crew and I feel very good being part of it.”
That strong bond made the death of Hurst even harder to face by people who he worked with and fans who continued to love the show.
Recent films The Karate Kid and Steel Magnolias
The character of Cletus portrayed by Hurst might have been a mere sidekick of Boss Hogg in Season 1, however, he was officially deputized in Season 2 and made his own name in the history of Dukes. He again spoke with his TV movie stars in The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! (1997) and The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood (2000), which showed that the fans never lost their love to the show, and that to the characters who played them.
During his entire lengthy career, Hurst brought sunshine and humor to myriads of television appearances. Having been featured in minor roles in Happy Days, Little House on the Prairie and Sanford and Son, to somewhat bigger roles in MASH* and The Blue Knight, he made a special niche in television history. He was also the incompetent chef Earl Nash in the short-lived sitcom Amanda starring Bea Arthur, precursor to her much more sustained project The Golden Girls.
In the standard movie screen, Hurst credits were equally glorious. He has also made appearances in such movies as Executive Action (1973), The Cat From Outer Space (1978), The Karate Kid trilogy, Steel Magnolias (1989) and In The Line Of Fire (1993).
Recently in the past few months The Dukes of Hazzard have made news once more when John Schneider, co-star of the show, criticized Warner Bros. and woke critics over taking the show out of network programming and ceasing toy production of its famous car, The General Lee, over its Confederate designs.
However to the fans the show the Duke of Hazzard never really concerned politics, it was about happiness, fun and family.
Laments the other loss
The series was timeless in some way. Filled with its no-nonsense attitude, little profanity, and antidote stuffed with unadulterated fun and games, it became a show that millions had to see.
And there is another of that close-knit Hazzard family turned out.
Hurst is the father of the talented actor Ryan Hurst, who is well established in his career as a successful actor, best known for role as Gerry in Remember the Titans and as Opie Winston in Sons of Anarchy. The other big roles of Ryan were in Bates Motel, Bosch, and The Walking Dead.
With another passing of the Dukes family, in this case joining those of the late Sorrell Booke (Boss Hogg), Denver Pyle (Uncle Jesse), Waylon Jennings (The Balladeer) and James Best (Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane), Rick Hurst will not only die because of the laughs he spread, but because he was a part of the thing that lasted from generation to generation.
Deputy Cletus Rest in peace. Hazzard county can not be Hazzard County without you.