‘Hee Haw’ Ended 30 Years Ago: What Did Its Stars Do Next?
In the latter half of the 20th century, when variety shows were still viable television properties, Hee Haw cornered the market on hayseed humor. The show, which aired on CBS from 1969 to 1971 and then in syndication until 1993, featured an appealing mix of corny jokes, musical acts, and recurring sketches, all filmed in the Country Music Capital of Nashville, Tennessee.
Many of the Hee Haw cast members passed away by the time the series ended — including David “Stringbean” Akeman, who was murdered in 1973 — but the some of the surviving stars continued to work in showbiz for years, as you’ll see below.
Roy Clark
Clark had three onscreen acting roles after Hee Haw: the 1994 family film Gordy, a 1998 episode of The Drew Carey Show, and the 2009 Western film Palo Pinto Gold. He also continued releasing albums, including 1995’s My Favorite Hymns and 1998’s Branson City Limits. He died in 2018 at age 85.
Don Harron
Harron kept acting after Hee Haw, bringing his Charlie Farquharson character to the Canadian sketch-comedy series The Red Green Show in 2003 and 2004. The actor also revisited the character in the books Charlie’s A Broad: Travails In Fern Parts and My Double Life: Sexty Yeers of Farquharson Around With Don Harn. Harron died at age 90 in 2015.
Louis Marshall “Grandpa” Jones
Jones continued his country music career after Hee Haw ended, despite suffering a stroke in 1991. He died in 1998 at age 84, weeks after suffering a series of strokes following a performance at the Grand Ole Opry.
Buck Owens
Owens, who died at age 76 in 2006, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996. That same year, he opened a dinner club and museum called Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, CA. And it was there that he played one last set the night before his death, after hearing that a couple of fans had driven 700 miles to see him perform, according to the Crystal Palace website.
Minnie Pearl
Pearl lent her name to the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation in 1992, after surviving a bout with the disease, according to The Boot. She died in 1996 at age 83, but country stars including Amy Grant and Vince Gill came together to celebrate what would have been her 100th birthday in 2012.
Lulu Roman
Roman has continued to release music, including the 2013 album At Last, which featured a collaboration with Dolly Parton on the track “I Will Always Love You.” And in 2019, Roman released the autobiography This Is My Story; This Is My Song, co-written with Scot England.
Gailard Sartain
Sartain stayed on screens both big and small following Hee Haw, guest-starring in episodes of Chicago Hope and Arli$$ and appearing in the films The Patriot, The Replacements, Ali, and Elizabethtown.
Gordie Tapp
Tapp, who died in 2016 at age 94, received the Order of Canada in 1998 and the Order of Ontario in 1999. In the early 2000s, he pitched Ultramatic adjustable beds in a series of TV commercials. And in 2011, he served as judge for Senior Star: Under the Stars, an over-60 talent competition that was broadcast on Canadian TV.
