“Hee Haw” cast member Lulu Roman is dead at 78.
Her son Damon Roman told the Hollywood Reporter his mom died Wednesday in Washington State, where she’d been living for the past seven months. Roman was raised in Dallas.
Roman made her “Hee Haw” debut in June 1969 and last visited the country music-driven CBS comedy program in June 1993. She credited her friendship with former castmate Buck Owens, who died in 2006, for bringing her onto the show.
Roman told Florida Weekly in 2020 that “Hee Haw”‘s producers said they were looking for a woman who could play fat and dumb and Owens told them, “I got a fat girl for you, she’s perfect.”
She left “Hee Haw” in 1971 following a drug arrest, according to American Songwriter. Roman reportedly battled substance issues in her early years before devoting herself to Christianity in 1973.
Though often surrounded by country stars, Roman established herself as a gospel star after cleaning up her life. She recorded a dozen albums and worked with artists including Dolly Parton and George Jones.
Parton posted audio of herself singing the lyrics “Yesterday is gone, but tomorrow is forever” on Instagram Friday. It’s not clear if that’s a coincidence.
Beth Gwinn/Getty Images
Lulu Roman sings at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in 2012. (Photo by Beth Gwinn/Getty Images)
Roman also appeared on other TV shows, including “The Love Boat” and “Touched by an Angel,” according to IMDB.
Before getting her big break, she reportedly performed a show called “Lulu Roman, the World’s Biggest Go-Go Dancer” in Texas venues run by club owner Jack Ruby, who was convicted of killing President John F. Kennedy’s alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.
Roman’s cause of death wasn’t reported. She was twice married and had two sons, one of whom died in 2017.
Her peers expressed their condolences upon hearing of her death.
Musician Ricky Skaggs remembered Roman as a friend of more than 40 years, as well as “a great entertainer, a great singer and a wonderful Christian lady.”
Singer T. Graham Brown said on social media that he too called Roman a friend of around four decades.
“It’s hard to say goodbyes,” he wrote. “I will miss my old friend.”
