Lulu Roman, who found glory as an actress and comic singer of the television series “Hee Haw” for a race which lasted from 1969 to 1993, died Wednesday at the age of 78. No cause of death was immediately given, apart from the revelation that Roman died unexpectedly.
Beyond his long and successful racing on television, which also included guest spots on “The Love Boat” and “Touched by an Angel”, Roman recorded a long series of albums in the Southern Gospel vein, winning a Dove Award in 1985 and induced in the temple of the Music Gospel Country in 1999.
The Sketch-Comy and the Country Music Show of the Rural Sketch were looking for a more size actress with comic skills to become a member of the overall distribution when “Hee Haw” was broadcast in 1969. Roman perfectly adapted the bill, instantly becoming a family member in many American houses that had the taste of the show’s literal humor.
The colleagues singers and his Costars on television paid tribute to him on Thursday. “We were as different as the night and the day, said Misty Rowe, a pillar” Hee Haw “.” Working together since 1972, we were the original Hee Honey and the original friends of Kornfield. However, we often quarrely, then we invent by saying “I love you read” and she said “I also love you sugar”. Lulu was a gift in my life. She played my mother twice and yet she was only three years older than me. We were chatted and now Lulu is my angel in paradise. I thank God for his time here on earth and I know that we will always see her in this great Kornfield in the sky one day. She will sing us at home.
Roman credited the co-host of “Hee Haw” and the legend of the Country Buck Owens to take her break. “He said,” One of these days, you are going to be a big star, and I’m going to have something to do with that. “I say:” Continue to speak, Cowboy “,” she recalls in an interview for “The 700 Club”. “But” when they organized the show “Hee Haw”, there were some comrades from Canada who had seen “laugh” and think: “It could be a good thing. We could make Country music in this area and do a magnificent Brune and a magnificent brunette; Experier girl and a type of network;
She added, joking: “I was the magnificent blonde, of course … he said:” They will make this show of the country and Western type, and they will call it “Hee Haw”. I said, “Hee what?” He said: ‘Hee HawLike a donkey. I said, “Of course.” He said, “There will be a lot of money”. I said, “Continue to speak”. They put me on a large jet plane and they sent me to Hollywood, took me to the CBS television studios. The first person I saw was Carol Burnett. I will never forget as long as I live. She met us in the corridor and said, “Firm her mouth, child. You set yourself to be one of us. “”
But life outside the Hollywood corn field was difficult for Roman, who admitted that she was “so messed up with drugs … most of the time” by doing the show. “I ended up breaking not one, but twice, for the possession of dangerous drugs. It ended up costing me to lose my position in the “Hee Haw” show for an entire year. In the midst of that, I discovered that I was a lot with the child “, and Unned, who was scandalous for a family show in the early 1970s.
“Hee Haw” was canceled by CBS in 1971, barely two years after its race, in what some call a “rural purge”. But it became a success in the syndication, and Roman joined the casting in 1973, respecting the show until it was ultimately which came out of the air in the mid -1990s.
Lulu novel
Jeremy Westby
His battles with narcotics and overeating are partly abandonment to a child orphanage. Born Bertha Louise Habe in Dallas, Texas, on May 6, 1946, Roman said that she remembered very well from the day she was deposited at the age of 4 by her grandmother, on September 10, 1950. “I think I probably felt her a little more than most of them because I was” the big kid “. “Fat, fat, 2 x 4, I cannot cross the kitchen door”. Sugar became my friend, because it didn’t hurt me and it didn’t tell me; It didn’t call me names. “
This took into account his ticket for fame, ironically. “I learned very early that I could use a quick spirit that the Lord had given me so that people laughed with me instead of me.” This sense of humor was scrambled over a long period of time in the orphans’ homes, because it said: “I have never been adopted. They did not adopt big children. ” When she was 18 years old, she was released from the orphanage in the world.
During her forced interruption of “Hee Haw”, things went wrong enough for a novel that she was imprisoned twice. Gathering later with a friend of the orphanage after she left prison for the second time, she was convinced to attend a religious service. “When I got on my knees and I gave my life to the Lord, in this place, I mean, instantly, he removed these drugs.” The show, well aware of its lasting popularity, even when it was out of the air, took note of its cleaning. “They said,” Are you going to come back? ” And I said, “I’ll tell you this: I’m going to pray about it.”
Roman returned to the show and has glued with him through many changes – including a passage from a prime place from the network to the syndication – until “Hee Haw” finally signed in 1995, 26 years after his beginning.
Roman obtained an allowance to sing Christian songs in the series, and released many albums in the Southern Gospel vein during and after its “Hee Haw” race. She was inducted into the temple of renown of Gospel Country music.
Even if Roman found the satisfaction of spirituality, her physical health has decreased, to the point that she said that she weighed 380 pounds when she was at the beginning of sixties and could only move by using a scooter.
But she dropped 200 pounds from her frame and went from a size 56/58 to a size 14/16. “Now, not only can I walk, but can I run. Not quickly, but I can run, ”she boasted.
Roman underwent lap-band surgery in 2005, then had to withdraw the group due to complications in 2009. At that time, it was “terrified”, it would resume all the weight, but said that it could have maintained it by her faith and the discipline of control of portions.
“You must choose to be forgiven,” said Roman about to find a way to free her biological family from the animus that she had against them to abandon her at 4 years old. “Then, I had to forgive myself all the stupid choices that I made in my life … You can allow the blood of Jesus to define who you are, and it is freedom.”
Many friends of the country and the gospel worlds paid tribute to him on Thursday.
“I am saddened that Lulu Roman has died,” said Crystal Gayle. “I have known Lulu since the start of my career and she has been a special friend since then. It is difficult to say goodbye. I will miss my old friend. ”
“Lulu has been part of my life for 56 years, since the day we met for the first time in WLAC in May 1969, for the first recording of” Hee Haw “,” said Cathy Baker, a member of the distribution. “From this moment, we shared laughter and tears, high, children, we have lost too many friends,” we enriched in consolation and savor the incredible friendship and the family ‘`hee haw’ ‘gave us. It is not easy to say goodbye, even knowing that it is in a much better place, in an endless time circle.
“”“”The talent of Ulu Roman knew no limits, “said another distribution member, Victoria Hallman.” I was honored to play with her on “Hee Haw”, as well as in many stage shows, but more than a casting comrade, Lulu was my big sister. For 26 years of deep love and loyalty, whether tears of sorrow or joy, we were there for each other – always. While the whole world cries an icon, I cry the best big sister we have ever had. »»
Roman was preceded in death by his son, Justin Collin Roman, who died in 2017, “a loss that has deeply shaped his point of view and deepened his faith”, according to his official Necrology.
