Rick Hurst, who portrayed the good-hearted Deputy Cletus Hogg on the long-running CBS motion comedy The Dukes of Hazzard, died Thursday. He was 79.

Hurst’s demise was introduced by the Cooter’s Place museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. He had simply canceled a scheduled July 3-7 look there.

“To followers, he was greater than a personality — he was household,” reads a Dukes of Hazzard put up on Instagram. “His light smile, impeccable comedic timing and kind-hearted spirit made each scene brighter.

“Offscreen, Rick was identified for his generosity, humility and love for connecting with followers at occasions throughout the nation. Whether or not it was a reunion particular or a meet-and-greet at Cooter’s, he by no means stopped sharing his pleasure with the individuals who adored him.”

Earlier than his most well-known function, Hurst performed a prisoner named Cleaver alongside Tom Poston and Hal Williams on the 1975-76 ABC sitcom On the Rocks, which revolved round inmates at a minimal safety facility.

Hurst additionally guest-starred on heaps of TV applications, from The Bob Newhart Present, Gunsmoke, Kojak, Glad Days and Little Home on the Prairie to M*A*S*H, Baretta, Freeway to Heaven, Night Shade and The Marvel Years.

Survivors embody his son Ryan Hurst, an actor maybe finest identified for his flip as Opie Winston on the FX drama Sons of Anarchy.

Hurst first confirmed up as Cletus — the second cousin twice eliminated of corrupt county commissioner Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) — in 1979 on the eleventh episode of The Dukes of Hazzard, starring Tom Wopat, John Schneider, Catherine Bach and a 1969 Dodge Charger nicknamed the Normal Lee. The collection was a giant hit for CBS on Friday nights.

Cletus turns into short-term deputy when Enos Strate (Sonny Shroyer) is away through the second season, and he leaves his junkyard job to grow to be everlasting throughout season three, when Shroyer starred in his personal spinoff collection, Enos.

After Enos returns to Hazzard County, Georgia, from his job in Los Angeles — the spinoff lasted only one season — he and Cletus share deputy responsibility and a patrol automotive via season 5 (1982-83).

Hurst, who regularly ended up touchdown in a pond whereas pursuing these bedeviling Duke boys (Wopat and Schneider) in a single of these nice automotive chases, then returned for reunion telefilms in 1997 and 2000.

Born in Houston on New Yr’s Day in 1946, Richard Douglas Hurst earned his bachelor’s diploma from Tulane College in 1968 and his grasp’s in high-quality arts from Temple College in 1970.

He made his onscreen debut on a 1971 episode of The Doris Day Present, then appeared the following yr on Sanford and Son and The Partridge Household and within the film The Unholy Rollers.

After Dukes, he performed a bumbling chef on Amanda’s, an ill-advised 1983 ABC remake of the British hit sitcom Fawlty Towers that starred Bea Arthur because the proprietor of a seaside lodge (it was her first collection after Maude). Nevertheless, the present aired simply 10 episodes earlier than being canceled.

Hurst’s big-screen physique of work additionally included Tunnel Imaginative and prescient (1976), The Cat From Outer Area (1978), Earth Ladies Are Straightforward (1988), The Karate Child Half III (1989), Within the Line of Fireplace (1993), The Shopper (1995) and Metal Magnolias (1989).