Published: September 24, 2009 09:43 am      

‘Cletus’ patrolling Chicken Fest

By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor

Actor Rick Hurst, perhaps best known as his beloved character “Cletus Hogg,” said he’s looking forward to two things for his first World Chicken Festival appearance: “I want to eat some good chicken salad, and I want to see some good ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ fans.”

Hurst flew into Kentucky Wednesday evening and will be greeting fans and signing autographs during all four days of the 20th annual World Chicken Festival. 

Twenty-nine years after he first began the part, Hurst said he never tires of people recognizing him as the bumbling sheriff’s deputy, “Cletus” from “The Dukes of Hazzard” TV series.

“I love it, I think every actor in the world cherishes the idea of people recognizing him for his work,” he said. 

Hurst is a native of Houston, Texas and started acting at Bellaire High School his senior year. 

“Then I went to Tulane (University in New Orleans) and was going to be a doctor, a psychologist,” he said. “I studied a lot of psychology, which helps in acting, and then, just the way it worked out, next thing you know, I went off to Temple (University), got a master’s in acting, and went on out to California and started working.”  

Now, it seems, acting runs in the Hurst family. His wife is an acting coach and both his sons have taken up the family trade. His eldest, Rick Hurst, appeared in 2000’s “Remember the Titans” and is currently starring in FX’s “Sons of Anarchy” series. His youngest, age 20, is studying acting at Cal-State. 

When Hurst, then about 28, first made his way to Los Angeles, he got his start by doing commercials. 

In fact, he met Colonel Harland Sanders while shooting a commercial for Kentucky Fried Chicken. He recalled that Sanders, wearing his trademark white suit and black tie, showed up to the set in a limo and the pair “sat around chewing the fat one night.”  

“He was wonderful. He was a bright, bright man and very focused, very energetic,” Hurst recalled. “We had a little boy working on the set that night, we were shooting at night, and he was getting cranky and the boy was whining and so Colonel Sanders pulls him over by his shirt and says, ‘You wanna get paid, don’t ya? Well then straighten up and fly right and don’t cry anymore. Just stand there and say your lines and you’ll be OK.’”

Hurst laughed, adding, “The little boy was gold the rest of the night!”

Hurst’s character on “The Dukes of Hazzard,” Cletus Hogg, was a cousin to the tyrannical Boss Hogg and was made a Hazzard County deputy via his cousin’s connections. But Cletus was never the evil mastermind behind Boss Hogg’s plans — more the lovable dim-wit whose cruiser often ended up in the water after a pursuit of the Duke boys. 

Since the series ended more than two decades ago, “The Dukes of Hazzard” has retained a loyal group of followers and remains a part of popular culture. 

“I think it’s the family values,” Hurst said of the show’s popularity. “I think it’s the clean-cut nature of the show, it was aimed for families ... and also just the chemistry of the cast, I think people could tell just how much we really enjoyed each other, how much we really liked being around each other, and I think that shows through... and the car, we cannot ignore the biggest star of the show, which is the car. Nobody ever did those kinds of stunts on television before.”

Hurst said he never got to wreck one of the more than 1,200 police cruisers destroyed during the filming of the series. (And that’s not counting the 300-400 Dodge Chargers destroyed as the “General Lee.”)

“We asked and asked but they never let us,” Hurst said with a laugh. “We could do some little stuff, we could do some slides, little bumps and crashes and stuff.”

Hurst said most of the cast still stay in contact and are “like family.” And he’ll be seeing two of those family members this Friday and Saturday when John Schneider, AKA “Bo Duke,” and Tom Wopat, “Luke Duke,” make appearances at the World Chicken Festival. Corbin’s own Chris McQueen will provide his replica “General Lee” Dodge Charger and other Hazzard County vehicles for the festival for photos. 

All three former cast members will be signing autographs to raise money for the American Red Cross Southeastern Kentucky Chapter, which provides disaster relief and other services to those in Knox, Whitley, Laurel, Bell and Clay counties. 

Additionally, Hurst is raising money for the Christmas program of the Harlan County Sheriff Chaplain Corps.

The World Chicken Festival annually celebrates Laurel County’s “chicken” heritage — the county is home to Colonel Sanders’ first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant and is also where Sander’s nephew, Lee Cummings, co-founder of Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, began his career in 1952 with his uncle. More than 250,000 people attend the festival each year, which has events including a crowing, strutting and clucking competition and a Colonel Sander’s look-a-like contest. 

The festival kicks off tonight from 5-11 p.m. and continues from 10 a.m. to midnight Friday, 10 a.m. to midnight Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. For more details on Chicken Festival events, see Page 9 in today’s Times-Tribune.