NCS
—
Actor Rick Hurst, greatest recognized for enjoying Deputy Cletus Hogg within the hit sitcom “The Dukes of Hazzard,” has died at age 79.
His loss of life was confirmed by Ben Jones, his co-star on the present, who posted a message on the Facebook web page of the Cooter’s Place museum, which is devoted to the present, on Thursday.
“It doesn’t seem right that Rick Hurst passed away this afternoon. When something so unexpected happens, it is ‘harder to process,’ as the current expression goes,” wrote Jones.
“I have known Rick for over 45 years and there wasn’t a minute of that time that he didn’t leave me smiling or laughing. Sure he was a professional comedian, but mostly he just had a heart as big as Texas,” he added.
“He was a fine actor, a splendid comic, and a wonderfully supportive colleague,” mentioned Jones, who recalled how “everything clicked” when Hurst joined the “Dukes of Hazzard” solid.
“He fit right in and never stopped making people smile until this afternoon. And since the Dukes is still playing all over the planet, he will continue to make us laugh!” he wrote.
“I don’t know about y’all but I believe in an afterlife, and I can see Rick up there in Heaven with Jimmy Best and Sorrell Booke and Denver Pyle, putting on the funniest show inside those Pearly Gates,” he mentioned, referring to different “Dukes of Hazzard” solid members who’ve died.
“Rest in Peace, old friend!” added Jones.
Hurst had some success early in his appearing profession, together with showing in 24 episodes of TV collection “On the Rocks” from 1975 to 1976, but it surely was “The Dukes of Hazzard,” which follows the fast-driving Duke brothers as they try and outrun the authorities within the fictional Hazzard County, that made him a family identify.
Hurst appeared in 55 episodes of the CBS collection from 1979 to 1982, earlier than leaving to seem in “Amanda’s,” a US remake of the favored British TV collection “Fawlty Towers.”
In the a long time that adopted, he appeared in varied TV exhibits and films, making his final look in a TV brief known as “B My Guest” in 2016.