Los Angeles [US], June 20 : Veteran actor Gailard Sartain, best known for his role on 'Hee Haw', has passed away. He was 78.
Sartain's demise was announced on Facebook by The Church Studio, a recording studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma where Sartain's wife Mary Jo, as per Deadline.
Born in Tulsa on September 18, 1946, Sartain began his show business career there, working as a cameraman at a local TV station before creating a late-night movie host in 1970, he called Dr Mazeppa Pompazoidi.
Dressed in wizard garb, Sartain introduced B-movies and performed comedy skits under the show name The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting. He was even more prolific in film, from an uncredited role in Robert Altman's 1975 classic Nashville and then in 1978 The Buddy Holly Story, according to Deadline.
He was also a part of the projects Mississippi Burning, The Outsiders, The Hollywood Knights, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Big Easy, The Grifters, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot and various appearances in the "Ernest" comedy franchise, among many other credits.
Sartain is survived by wife Mary Jo.