Rick Hurst, ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ Cletus Hogg, Dies

Dukes of Hazzard Deputy Cletus Hogg drove his sheriff cruiser into the great pond in the sky this week.

Actor Rick Hurst — known for this role and many more across TV and film — died on Thursday (June 26) at age 79.

• Actor Ben Jones (Cooter on The Dukes of Hazzard) shared the news on Facebook.
• Before landing the role as Cletus Hogg, Hurst’s best-known role was Cleaver in an ABC sitcom called On the Rocks (1975-76)
• He took part in many of the Dukes of Hazzard reunion projects and remakes.

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On the Dukes of Hazzard, Cletus was a lovable, dim-witted kin to Boss Hogg. He becomes sheriff during the series, and — along with Enos and Roscoe P. Coltrane — is tasked with tracking down, ticketing and maybe even arrested Bo and Luke Duke.

These pursuits often go poorly. Many sheriff cruisers ended up in a pond throughout the show.

Hurst was scheduled to appear at Cooter’s Place, Ben Jones’ Dukes of Hazzard museum in July. He indicated the death was unexpected.

“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 (Coltrane) and Sorrell Booke (Boss Hogg) and Denver Pyle (Uncle Jesse), putting on the funniest show inside those Pearly Gates,” he writes.

The full post refers to the two men’s deep friendship and Hurst’s career before the CBS series.

“He was a fine actor, a splendid comic, and a wonderfully supportive colleague,” Jones shares.

“I had seen him in a Burt Reynolds movie called W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975) and thought that he ‘stole the show,’ so when he showed up in Hazzard County during the time when Sonny Shroyer was doing the series’ ‘Enos,’ everything clicked. He fit right in and never stopped making people smile until this afternoon.”

“Rest in Peace, old friend,” Jones adds.

Hurst is survived by two sons, Ryan and Collin Hurst. He was married twice, most recently to Katherine Shelley Weir until 1991.