Rick Hurst, the actor recognized for taking part in Deputy Cletus Hogg on The Dukes of Hazzard, has died. He was 79.
In response to the actor’s spouse Candace Kaniecki, he died unexpectedly on Thursday in Los Angeles, TMZ reported. His explanation for demise was not instantly disclosed.
Hurst’s co-star Ben Jones, who performed Cooter Davenport on the 1979-’85 CBS sitcom, introduced his demise on Fb after Hurst was scheduled to look at Cooter’s Place in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee subsequent month.
“It doesn’t appear proper that Rick Hurst handed away this afternoon. When one thing so sudden occurs, it’s ‘tougher to course of,’ as the present expression goes,” he mentioned in a press release. “I’ve recognized Rick for over 45 years and there wasn’t a minute of that point that he didn’t depart me smiling or laughing. Positive he was an expert comic, however principally he simply had a coronary heart as large as Texas. He was a advantageous actor, a splendid comedian, and a splendidly supportive colleague. I had seen him in a Burt Reynolds film known as W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings and thought that he ‘stole the present,’ so when he confirmed up in Hazzard County through the time when Sonny Shroyer was doing the collection Enos, all the pieces clicked. He match proper in and by no means stopped making individuals smile till this afternoon.”
Jones continued, “And because the Dukes remains to be enjoying everywhere in the planet, he’ll proceed to make us chuckle! I don’t learn about y’all however I imagine in an afterlife, and I can see Rick up there in Heaven with Jimmy Finest and Sorrell Booke and Denver Pyle, placing on the funniest present inside these Pearly Gates. We’ve all the time considered our Cooter’s pals as ‘Hazzard Nation’, Nicely, Hazzard Nation is bound going to overlook Rick Hurst down right here round Cooter’s, however his presence will all the time be close to us. Relaxation in Peace, outdated buddy!”
Rick Hurst, John Schneider, Catherine Bach, Ben Jones and Tom Wopat in ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ (1979-’85)
Born Jan. 1, 1946 in Houston, Hurst had a number of TV roles on Sanford and Son, The Partridge Household, Gunsmoke, Pleased Days, Little Home on the Prairie, The Six Million Greenback Man and M*A*S*H all through the ’70s earlier than touchdown the a part of Boss Hogg’s cousin on The Dukes of Hazzard.
Hurst has additionally appeared in reveals like Homicide She Wrote, 227, The Surprise Years, Household Issues and Melrose Place, in addition to motion pictures like Earth Women Are Straightforward (1988), The Karate Child Half III (1989), Metal Magnolias (1989), Anyplace However Right here (1999).
