Gailard Sartain, ‘Hee Haw’ Star, Dies At 81

Gailard Sartain, the Southern character actor and comedian who appeared on the long-running country western-themed variety hour Hee Haw, died Tuesday, June 17 following a long illness. He was 81.

His death was announced on Facebook by The Church Studio, a recording studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma where Sartain’s wife Mary Jo volunteers.

Born September 18, 1943 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Gailard Sartain was a successful illustrator who broke into show business through the creation of a late-night local comedy program he hosted in Tulsa entitled The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting. After being discovered by a talent scout, Sartain was hired in 1972 as a regular on Hee Haw, which was inspired by Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. A victim of the infamous “rural purge,” CBS canceled Hee Haw in 1971 (along with sitcoms The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres and Mayberry R.F.D.). But it immediately found a new home in first-run syndication and remained on the air until 1993. Sartain was a cast member on Hee Haw for 19 seasons.

Sartain also served as a regular on the short-lived variety series Cher from 1975 to 1976, Keep on Truckin’ in 1975, and Shields and Yarnell in 1978. He made his film debut with an uncredited cameo in Nashville in 1975, and was a larger presence in The Buddy Holly Story as “Big Bopper” in 1978 and as B.B. Muldoon in Roadie in 1980.

Other films on Sartain’s resume included Mississippi Burning, The Outsiders, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Grifters, The Replacements and The Patriot. He was also known for his roles in three of the Ernest P. Worrell films starring Jim Varney, and the 13-episode Hey Vern, It’s Ernest! television series in 1988.

Sartain’s final film role was in Cameron Crowe’s Elizabethtown in 2005.