‘Hee Haw’ Actor Gailard Sartain Lifeless at 78

Gailard Sartain — the beloved Southern character actor from “Hee Haw,” “Mississippi Burning,” and “Fried Inexperienced Tomatoes” — has died at 78, TMZ has confirmed.

Teresa Knox, CEO of The Church Studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma, tells TMZ Gailard handed away Tuesday after an extended decline in well being. No official reason behind dying has been revealed.

The Church Studio — the place Sartain’s spouse Mary Jo volunteered — is remembering him as “a unprecedented actor, artist, and comic.”

Victoria Hallman, who performed Miss Honeydew on the TV present “Hee Haw,” tells TMZ Gailard was like a giant brother to her and made everybody on set snort so onerous, they needed to redo takes.

She added, “I knew he wasn’t in good well being and hadn’t been for some time. We at all times idiot ourselves that folks will cling on. I wasn’t anticipating to search out out within the wee hours of the morning.”

Gailard bought his begin within the early ’70s because the wild-eyed Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi on the native late-night sketch present “Uncanny Movie Pageant and Camp Assembly,” which aired on KOTV in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

He joined the comedy selection present “Hee Haw” in ’72 — and by no means regarded again, racking up over 60 movie and TV credit, together with three ‘Ernest’ motion pictures, “The Outsiders,” and “The Buddy Holly Story.”

He was 78.