Country music fans are feeling nostalgic for the simpler days of watching “Hee Haw” on Saturday nights after learning that “Hee Haw” legend Lulu Roman has passed away.
But they’re also celebrating her truly incredible life story.
The 78-year-old actress, comedian and acclaimed gospel singer was a part of “Hee Haw” for its entire run from 1969 to 1993.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Roman appeared on the first episode of “Hee Haw” on CBS in June 1969. And she appeared on the last one in June 1993.
During her “Hee Haw” years, Lulu reinvented herself as a gospel singer, releasing more than a dozen albums.
She even performed in concert and recorded with country legends including Dolly Parton and George Jones.
And the story of how she got there is nothing short of amazing.
Lulu Roman Defied the Odds to Achieve Legendary Status
Lulu was born Bertha Louise Habel in a home for unwed mothers on May 6, 1946 and raised in an orphanage.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lulu admitted she developed a drug problem while attending W.W. Samuell High School.
After graduating in 1964, she made ends meet performing in a comedy act billed as “Lulu Roman, the World’s Biggest Go-Go Dancer” in nightclubs owned by infamous Dallas businessman Jack Ruby.
But she developed a friendship with country legend and later “Hee Haw” star Buck Owens that would set her life on a different path.
“He liked my sense of humor,” she told the newspaper Naples Florida Weekly in 2020.
“He told me once that he’d just sit and observe me. I said, ‘Lord have mercy!’ He said it was real interesting: ‘You’re a master at quick wit.’ I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but I got hold of it later.”
Lulu Roman’s Conversion to Christianity Changed Her Life
When Buck Owens started to develop “Hee Haw,” he brought Lulu Roman to the attention of his producers, and she started performing on the show.
But a 1971 drug arrest nearly derailed her career just as it was getting started.
In 1973, Lulu’s life was transformed when she became a Christian.
“After I gave my heart to Jesus, the Lord started working on me and making me into quite a different person than when I started,” she said. Lulu convinced “Hee Haw” producers not only to rehire her, but to allow her to sing.
Country Legends Remember Lulu Roman
Roman also starred in the 1978-79 spinoff series “Hee Haw Honeys,” which also featured Misty Rowe and Kathie Lee Gifford. She also appeared in episodes of “The Love Boat” and “Touched by an Angel.”
According to Variety, Misty Rowe paid tribute to her co-star saying, “We were as different as night and day. Working together since 1972 we were the original Hee Haw Honeys and the original Kornfield Friends. Yet we would often squabble and then make up by saying ‘I love you Lu’ and she would say ‘I love you too Sugar.’ Lulu was a gift in my life. She played my mother twice and yet she was just three years older than me. We were Gossipy Girls and now Lulu is my angel in heaven. I thank God for her time here on earth and I know we will all see her again in that big Kornfield in the sky someday. She will sing us home.”
Singer Crystal Gayle also counted her a friend, telling Taste of Country, “I am saddened that Lulu Roman has passed. I have known Lulu since the beginning of my career and she has been a special friend ever since. It’s hard to say goodbyes. I will miss my old friend.”
Lulu continued to perform right up until near the end of her life.
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Hee Haw Legend Lulu Roman’s Incredible Life Story